LENSES

Kevin Carter tests Sigma’s high-speed wide-angle lens for MFT cameras

Kevin Carter rates two optics

Sigma’s Contemporary lenses might not have the same cache as their

Art series, but then this lens could probably double as one. Sigma describes it as a compact lens, but that’s a bit of a stretch; this is another of those relatively big and heavy lenses that have proliferated in the last few years. As a 16mm it makes more sense on the Sony APS-C bodies as a 24mm equivalent, than a 32mm on the Olympus and Panasonic bodies. Nevertheless, that’s just being picky.

In the hand it feels well made thanks to a metal outer barrel. And because there are no distance scales handling is very good, as there’s more room for a large focus ring. It’s silky-smooth in operation and well damped for an AF lens. The ring is not too highly geared either, allowing you to manually focus with some precision, even at x10 magnification. Autofocus is exceptionally quiet and fast, even in low light, but using the face and eye AF detection modes on an Olympus E-P5 often resulted in it being front-focused at f1.4.

As for image quality, this lens has Sigma’s characteristically warm look, particularly with foliage. Wide open it has high contrast but sharpness improves noticeably across the field on stopping down to just f2.0 and again to f2.8. Peak performance is between f4-5.6. There’s some mild barrel distortion and fringing is very low, though some slight lateral, axial and spherochromatism is there if you look for it closely, the latter in particular.

Below FRINGING Some fringing is inevitable and it’s pretty well controlled, but some slight spherochromatism is noticeable in the specular highlights

Left DEFINITION Optical quality like this doesn’t come cheap but this lens disproves that theory. It’s a fine performer, especially when stopped down a little