What really matters is Sigma's new 24-70mm Art E-mount lens really delivers the goods and is terrific value at the price. If you need the sharpness lens, you won’t be disappointed with the new Sony 24-70. This lens is sharper than any other 24-70 2.8 lens available. It’s not sharper by leaps and bounds, but it’s quite crisp, even at the corners with minimal vignetting. As with all Sony lenses, the build quality is top notch, and I think the size, ergonomics, and comfort are great. I also like the build quality of Sigma’s 24-70, but I still think Sony takes the win. I really like the Canon here, it’s standing out to me as being the sharpest of the bunch. The Lumix, Sigma Sony, and Nikon are all pretty much playing in the same sandbox right behind it though. Nikon has the Z 24-70mm f2.8 S for 1800 EUR / 2000 USD (after rebates). It got a Highly Recommended in my Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S review.

As usual I’ll have a look at the technical data of the new Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN Art first. I’ve rated the features with a [+] (or [++]), when it’s better than average or even state of the art, a [0] if it’s standard or just average, and [-] if there’s a disadvantage. For comparison I use the Sony 24-70mm f2.8 GM, the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III RXD, the Panasonic Lumix S PRO 24-70mm f2.8, and the Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S. For short I simply use “Sigma”, “Sony”, “Tamron”, “Panasonic”, and “Nikon” in the comparisons below.Unfortunately, despite the dramatic number of points the appearance of the sunstars is quite diffuse. If you are a landscape photographer looking for sharp, clean and dramatic sunstars you may want to look elsewhere. Longitudinal / lateral chromatic aberration (fringing)

The build quality and handling of Sigma’s new 24-70mm Art lens for mirrorless cameras is top-notch. It feels really robust without being overly heavy, and has refined handling in every area, from the smooth-action zoom and focus rings to the various buttons and switches. Autofocus is super-fast, deadly accurate and virtually silent. The F2.8 Art zoom flagship zoom lens series is developed primarily to achieve superior optical performance. As extra-low dispersion glass materials, six sheets of “F” low dispersion (FLD) glass and two sheets of special low dispersion (SLD) glass are lavishly employed while taking advantage of an optical design dedicated for mirrorless lenses. By employing three aspheric lenses, this zoom lens thoroughly subdues aberrations such as axial chromatic aberration or sagittal coma aberration, which are difficult to correct in post-processing, tailors the resolution and achieves uniformity and superior optical performance from the centre to the periphery throughout the zoom range.

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. Above: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III coverage on Sony A7R II (FF) body at 28mm (left) and 75mm (right). 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. But we all know that center sharpness doesn’t mean anything if your edges are bad. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at an edge, shall we? Edge Sharpness 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.