Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Art Sony E Mount 578965

Product Information

If you shoot RAW+JPG, the difference between those same-image files will be bigger than the difference between two different brands of raw files.

Ask any photographer what single lens they would rather have if marooned on a desert island. I’ll bet a good chunk of the answers would be the “24-70mm.” This is a classic mid-range lens that covers a useful and versatile focal length. 24mm is just wide enough to capture vast landscapes without much distortion, while 70mm offers just the right amount of zoom to capture shots from a distance.How to Make a Collage in Photoshop (9 Easy Steps!) AI Editing in Lightroom: How to Supercharge Your Portrait Workflow Retouch4me Color Match Review: Professional Color Grading Made Easy White Balance in Photography: The Essential Guide

As seen in the photos below, it complements a full-frame camera like the Sony Alpha A7 III that we tested it wit, although it feels somewhat out of place on a smaller APS-C body. I've been reviewing cameras from all brands for 10+ years, and have been doing high-volume wedding post-production for 15+ years. The Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–70 F2.8 Asph., meanwhile, is by far the most similar to the Sigma 24–70mm F2.8 in specification, even if it is more than 2.5 times as expensive. Its size and filter threads are identical and its weight only 3% greater than that of the Sigma.

The Testing

Early copies had poor dust sealing. I exercised the 4 year warranty and sent my copy in a few months ago and they upgraded the seals and cleaned the dust out as a warranty repair. Thanks to its new VXD motor, autofocus performance is snappy, and focus breathing is also minimal. Tamron has made great strides to improve the overall look of the bokeh in this lens, something which was much maligned in the original version. It has the best magnification of any lens in this article at 0.37x, compared to the Sigma's 0.34x magnification. The score of 0[-]/5[0]/11[+] shows that the Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN Art is quite well-featured with the unique option to get the lens-mount swapped. Bokeh of the pine cone shot looks pretty beautiful, considering the challenging "busy" look that one might expect! Sigma Art primes on mirrorless could shape up to have both sharpness AND "character"... ;-) Focus accuracy and repeatability is critical to consistently produce sharp shots. Repeatability (the accuracy of focus on the same subject after repeated focus-acquisition) of this lens at 70mm focal length is very good (measured 99.1% in Reikan FoCal) with no outliers over a series of 40 shots. There is no focus variation whether the lens focuses from a closer distance or from infinity and I didn’t detect any hunting. At 70mm focal length the lens focuses in around 0.7 sec from infinity to 0.76m (1:10 magnification), which is as fast as the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III but slower than the Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S (on a Z7) at 0.5 sec.

It’s close, but I think that the Lumix 24-70mm has the best overall sharpness here, with Sigma not too far behind it. Both lenses offer excellent image quality. The Sigma is slightly better at the wide end, and the Tamron might edge out the Sigma at the telephoto end, though they are close in both cases. If you’re shooting with a camera in the 24 megapixel range (or less), you probably won’t see a difference at all in resolution. Here is the angle of view that the new Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN Art covers with its 2.9x zoom (with distortion compensation):Uncorrected, the Tamron and Sigma lenses both produce heavier amounts of distortion than I’d hope for in a modern lens, but they have likely been designed this way because of the in-camera corrections that are available with Sony’s cameras (which also correct chromatic aberration and vignetting) as well as lens correction profiles available for Adobe Lightroom and Camera RAW, and other RAW converters. The 24-70 GM II is also extensively sealed against dust and moisture, and includes a rubber grommet at the lens mount. Like its predecessor though, there’s no optical stabilisation, so you’ll need a body with IBIS to iron-out any wobbles, or of course a gimbal. At least the lighter weight will make it easier to balance. No, that is not what I mean. I know that the equivalent lens would be a 28-70/4.0, but I am refering to a standard zoom with f/2.0. It is "just" a little larger image circle.