Sigma - 56 mm-F/1.4 (C) AF DC DN lens, Fuji X-MOUNT mount mount

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With social distancing and all that, the 21mm is currently on a bit of a holiday. So it’s all a bit up in the air anyway. I recently photographed an event though, where I ended up using the Fujifilm 35mm 1.4 and the 16-55mm only. And that worked surprisingly well. For the first time ever, I didn’t feel naked without my 21mm! Interestingly, I had a look on Lightroom afterwards and when I was using the 16-55mm at longer focal lengths, I always naturally gravitated towards the 38-45mm range without knowing that I did. The 56mm f1.4 also scored highly in term sod optical performance. The images it produces are superb, and in every way, I feel this lens compares very favorably with what Fujifilm offers. Optically, the Sigma 56mm f1.4 is as good as I would expect from a modern lens on a mirrorless camera – it’s pin-sharp where it needs to be. I’m not a pixel peeper and don’t pay particular attention to the very edges of the frame because they are rarely necessary to me. What I am concerned about is the autofocus. Thankfully, the Sigma performs as well as I would expect – it doesn’t miss a beat and is rapid. Unless you’re shooting sport at f1.4, you won’t find any issues with the autofocus. The Sigma 56mm f1.4 autofocus is also almost entirely silent. Sigma 56mm f1.4 Fujifilm X Mount Specifications The first thing to do when choosing a lens is decide what types of subjects you’ll be shooting. With the Sigma 56mm f/1.4, it’s clearly a portrait-oriented lens.

So, in terms of build and ergonomics, the 56mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary scores high in my book, and to top it off, it even comes with a lens hood that matches well in terms of size. I tried it, and it works quite well with the lens. It doesn’t get in the way, and it isn’t overly bulky. The images of this lens are too sharp, lower in contrast, with little micro-contrast and low in vibrancy and saturation. Both colours and contrast do improve when stopping down to f2 or f2.8, but were never good enough to satisfy my wants. To me, the colours that a lens produces are incredibly important to me and I’m stunned every time I use my Fujifilm 23mm f2 lens on how much contrast that lens has and how punchy and lovely the colours are. Some of the new Voigtlander lenses also have amazing colour that I am just lusting over. They regularly make me consider adopting the Sony system as well, just so I can use that lovely Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 for instance or the unusual 50mm f3.5 or the 65mm f2! They’re such creamy and unique lenses!I also love the short barrel length of just 2.34 in (60 mm). This is incredibly compact for the capability it offers in terms of focal length and minimum aperture. The focus position of the lens when the ON/OFF (power) switch is turned “ON” or when the camera is restored from power saving has been changed to the specification that the focus position is set to the shooting distance right before the ON/OFF (power) switch is turned “OFF” or power saving is activated. In addition, other great features include nice color and contrast. Flare is also well m-controlled during normal usage. The 56mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary does vignette wide open but that isn’t out of the ordinary. Stopping down one stop reduces vignetting significantly, and by f4, it’s pretty much gone.

The Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN is pin sharp. It’s unfortunate that web-optimized images really don’t show off just how sharp these images are. Sigma has really managed to get it right with this lens. A study of our Image Engineering Tests reveals the lens is sharper in the centre than at the edge throughout the aperture range. Centre sharpness (shown by the solid red line) improves considerably by stopping it down from its maximum aperture to f/2 and peaks between f/2.8 and f/4. Corner sharpness (shown by the dotted red line) doesn’t reach the same level as centre sharpness, but does steadily improve from f/1.4 to f/5.6. For the best edge-to-edge sharpness it should be used around f/5.6-f/6.3. Diffraction has the affect of softening images at f/16. Shading Sigma did announce they would be making their APS-C mirrorless lens trio (16/30/56) for the Fujifilm X-mount at some stage in the future. I don’t know what politics are at play but it seems bizarre to me that they haven’t done so already, or don’t feel like they should be doing so with more haste. Especially after I read the other day that they have released those exact lenses for the L-mount. Which is a complete dead end for APS-C lenses. Absolutely bizarre.

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