[Music] Foreign Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today To give you my review video review of The sigma 23 millimeter F 1.4 DC meaning It's for aps-c cameras and then it's DN Designed for mirrorless cameras I've Reviewed this lens previously in Sony E-mount but at that point I was had some Anticipation for checking it out in an Xmount which is now finally here the Reason why I was intrigued by that is That this was a very high performing Lens on Sony e-mount and having already Started to discover that not every lens Is up to the task of looking good on Fuji's 40 megapixel aps-c sensor which Is currently the highest resolution Available on aps-c I was curious to see How the sigma would hold up here because It seemed like a lens that was up to the Task and I'm happy to report that that Is in fact the case we'll dive into it a Little bit further Now what's interesting is is that not Long ago I did my review of the Fujifilm 23 millimeter F 1.4 the lmwr or the new Version of the lens it's a really really High performing lens and what I have Found is that the sigma provides similar Levels of optical performance while Undercutting that lens by about 350 US Dollars now that's not to say that the Fuji doesn't have some advantages it
Does but are they enough to justify that Extra money that's what we're going to Explore today right after a word from Our sponsor Today's episode is brought to you by Phantom wallet the minimalist modern Wallet that is now even better with the New Phantom X that is crafted from Aluminum right here in Canada it is 22 Percent smaller and 35 percent lighter While still making it easy to access Your cards and money when you need them Thanks to their unique Fanning mechanism You could even customize your wallet due To its modular design with accessories Like a money clip cash holder ID display And even chipolo and air tag tracking Integration visit Store.phantomwallet.com to check out Their unique sizes Styles and finishes That span from aluminum to Wood to Carbon fiber and use code Dustin 15 for 15 off when you're ready to check out The 23 millimeter is a very interesting Focal length to me personally on aps-c Because it has the basically the 35 Millimeter full frame equivalent angle Of view that's a really really useful Angle of view that is usable for a lot Of things some people are 35 millimeter People some people are 50 millimeter People in terms of the way that their Brain works but if you're a 35 Millimeter kind of brain person it could
Be one of the most important lenses in Your kit and so that makes this a really Important kind of foundational lens for A lot of people the price point is 549 US Dollars making it a reasonably priced Lens compared particularly to the Fuji Which is 899 so you're basically talking About 550 versus 900 US Dollars that's a 350 difference now there are some Cheaper lenses down at the 300 price Point there's a viltrox and a tokina 23 Millimeter F 1.4 however neither one of Those lenses are anywhere near as high Performing as well either the Fuji or The sigma lenses are As you can see the lens is not tiny but At the same time it is quite compact it Is 65.8 millimeters in diameter or 2.6 Inches that gives you a pretty small 52 Millimeter front filter thread and the Overall length of the lens is right Under 80 millimeters or 3.1 inches it Weighs in at 333 grams or 11.6 ounces so That makes it about 50 grams heavier Than either the tokina or the viltrox But 40 grams lighter than what the Fuji Lens is so again it kind of like like The price it strikes a point kind of in Between the two extremes It looks actually quite similar in size To the Fuji lens if you have them side By side they're more similar than Different in their overall profile and Look of them the lens itself has it is
Pretty Bare Bones in terms of the Feature set Sigma kind of established a Standard for this particular series of Lenses and thus far they haven't Deviated from it even though on the art Series side of things they have Continued to add new features and add Complexity to the design they haven't Done that on this particular series Which falls under their contemporary Branding and so what we have got is a Weather sealing gasket at the lens mount But no internal weather seals so that is One area of differentiation from the Fuji which has a thorough weather Ceiling throughout and here on Fuji in Particular you notice the absence of an Aperture ring which is pretty much Standard on Fuji x-mount almost all Lenses have an aperture ring and so that Lack is going to stand out here there's Nothing like an AF MF switch or ability To de-click the aperture any of those More advanced features all that you've Got on the lens Barrel itself is just The focus ring now the focus ring is Nicely damped it does work well and so No complaints about that it does come With a really nice lens hood that I Would say is nicer in my opinion than The one that you're going to get on the Fuji it's a little better materials There's more you know differentiation in Terms of the textures and the just
Overall function of the lens Hood that's All a little bit better but there's a Whole lot of features that are going on Here now the argument could be made well Yes the sigma has fewer features however It is considerably cheaper than what the Fuji lens is The problem of course with that is that While the viltrox and the tokina 23 Millimeter don't have weather sealing They do have the aperture ring and of Course the new viltrox 27 millimeter F 1.2 lens has both thorough weather Sealing and the aperture ring and it Comes in at the same price point as what The sigma does so at this point I would Say that it's hard to argue that this is Just a price differentiator this is more Something that I think Sigma needs to Adapt to changing conditions on the Ground and add a few more features now What's here is nice it's a nicely made Lens it functions just fine it's just Not particularly feature Rich There are nine rounded aperture blades Inside and so it makes for a nice Circular aperture even as you start to Stop The Lens down minimum Focus Distance is 25 centimeters and that Gives you a 0.136 times so right under 0.14 times Magnification level that is vested by The Fuji which has a 0.20 times Magnification so considerably higher and
It's even bested by the new viltrox 27 Millimeter which finally breaks the Viltrox 0.10 times curse and moves up to 0.15 times so that is actually better Than what we see here on the sigma as Well and so again decent build here but Not a whole lot going on in terms of Features autofocus Here Comes via a Stepping motor STM motor and as has been Kind of the standard all across any of These third-party lenses that I've Reviewed on Sony e-mount as well as Fuji Autofocus performance is better on Sony Than what it is on Fuji I think that There are two factors that play there One of those is the simple fact that Sony autofocus is a little bit better in General so you're getting better more Consistent autofocus in camera and That's particularly noticeable when it Comes to the video side of things the Other Factor here is of course that the Move into the Fuji x-mount space is a It's a new move within the last year for These third-party lenses and so as a Byproduct I think that they're still Maybe figuring figuring out a few of the Ins and outs of Fuji's autofocus as Opposed to these other platforms Now for Stills however the autofocus Actually worked quite well in most Metrics I found that iaf worked very Well I had very good eye detect on People and consistent autofocus on their
Faces and highs also in taking pictures Of Nala for example I got you know she Kind of you know rolled around posing For me I got very good uh focus in the Series on her eye I found that my General Stills performance that Focus Was accurate and even when shooting at F 1.4 and narrow subjects I got Consistently focused results Focus speed Was definitely adequate in most Situations even good enough for a Distant bird in flight but not quite Quick enough for reactionary shots like Nala on the move I wasn't as successful In nailing those I did notice one kind Of quirky what I would call a Calibration type issue that is at some Smaller aperture shooting landscape Distance shots I actually found that on A few of those shots I got what I would Call a focus beyond Infinity to the Place where everything is just slightly Out of focus and it's not a front Focus It's a back focus issue which tells me That the lens Infinity calibration is Not quite perfect now I in all fairness I am reviewing a pre-release version of The lens so it is possible that this is Something that would be fixed in the you Know the retail production or it's Something that could be fixed via Firmware I have brought it to sigma's Attention and they are investigating it At this point
But for the most part in you know 99 of Situations I got very very good Autofocus for uh photography for Stills On the video front is where I have Noticed these third-party issues more And that remains true here and whereas I Had pretty good uh pulls performance for Video work on the Sony side as you can See here the video pulls are a little Bit rough on Fuji there's also as there Was on Sony but it's even more apparent Here there are some really obvious Focused breathing that kind of Highlights some of those focused Difficulties likewise when I went to do My hand test the transitions Um in at least one of the three Cycles Went to the background behind me rather Than moving to my hand that's a little Bit of an odd Quirk for me because the Hand was the kind of obvious thing there And so rather than focusing on the Obvious move to the more obscure but Again I think that these are probably All things that can be ironed out Somewhat via firmware on the positive Front for video I did note that if I was Locked onto a subject say in the wild Flowers in the shot as they moved around Even at F 1.4 I was able to stay locked On them without any kind of problem There wasn't any Focus pulsing or you Know loss of focus and so that all was a Very very much a a positive
I also will say that the video footage Looked very good I was able to I shot Some in 8k on my xh2 and the footage Looks brilliant very highly detailed Colors are nice and so it is certainly a Very nice lens for video capture you Know outside of some of the autofocus Quirks there at this point Now on the image quality front I Commented during that Sony review that I Was very interested in trying it out on Fuji as I've noted not every lens is Holding up all that well at the 40 Megapixel resolution point which is very Very high and so I felt like this is a Lens that probably could thrive in this Platform and as we're going to see on Our image quality breakdown I believe That that is the case let's dive in Let's take a look all right the first Thing that we'll take a look at here is The vignette and Distortion now as far As the Distortion goes it is similar to What I saw on Sony and that there is Some Barrel Distortion but it is quite Linear easy to manually correct which I've done on the right but it has also Have been the trend with some lenses That I first reviewed on Sony and then Subsequently reviewed on Fuji x-mount I Found that there is significantly more Vignette that's also the case here Whereas I needed to correct about two Stops of vignette on the Sony e-mount I
It's closer to three stops here and it's A plus 10 that I've dialed in for Correction now fortunately not Necessarily a huge deal and that Correction profiles will take care of Things however that kind of heavy Vignette and certain low light Situations you may see some additional Noise in the corner where the Dark Shadows have been corrected now in most Situations a longitudinal chromatic Aberrations were not a big deal in this Kind of extreme torture test you can Definitely see there is some fringing Both before and after the plane to focus This is you know this is Sun hitting Like raindrops on the top of something So it's a definitely a torture test no Question about it but you can definitely See some fringing there in a less Extreme situation here lower contrast You can see here that even though we've Got a white subject that is against a Darker background there really isn't a Whole lot of issue there to behold and So in most situations I really don't Think you're going to have an issue you May see a bit of fringing in really Extreme situations Now number one I think the image looks Great here but we're going to take a Look at lateral chromatic aberrations That show up near the edge of the frame Unfortunately you can see that they are
Quite well controlled no significant Issue here no real fringing showing up Here in these bare branches towards the Edges of the frame and so overall this Is a nice neutral performance no problem There Now back when I reviewed this lens on Sony and saw it performed so highly I Thought this is a lens that will hold up Well on the 40 megapixel sensor on Fuji's you know XML platform on some Bodies like my xh2 and it is the most Demanding platform that I test lens is On right now that's equivalent of a Little over 90 megapixels on a full Frame sensor and as I expected this lens Performs really really well even on this Very demanding platform and so here in The center of the frame it's essentially A Flawless performance mid frame looks Really great and as we move down you can See that contrast remains really Excellent and even right down into the Corners right off until that very very Edge you can see a kind of a transition From here to here as we're losing Contrast as we get towards the corners But for the most part it holds up really Really well in fact for some prospective Fuji Zone 23 millimeter F 1.4 is a Fantastically sharp lens and one of the Best that I've reviewed on the platform In terms to just resolution you can see Here however that the sigma is pretty
Much holding its own by comparison and At a whole lot less money mid frame Looks about the same I would argue Throughout here that there's even a Little bit more contrast on the sigma Likewise here I would argue the same Moving off to the edge of the frame you Could probably say that there's a tiny Bit more for Fuji here just as you can Look down in this area you can see it's Not losing as much contrast but overall These lenses are quite close now the Other competitor here of course is the Very new viltrox 27 millimeter F 1.2 and Yes it isn't the exact same focal length However it is pretty much the exact same Price and we can see that at F 1.2 the Viltrox is basically every bit as sharp In the center of the frame and if we Move towards the mid frame they both Look really really excellent lighting's Not quite the same but they both look Really really strong I would say in this Section the sigma is just a little bit Sharper and if we move off into the Corners the viltrox is holding up Contrast better but I would say as far As the resolution that the S the sigma Is maybe a hair better in the corner Though obviously it is very very close There looking over in this Zone however I would say that pretty clearly the Sigma is looking better likewise up here The same is true we move up towards the
Top here I would say that the viltrox is Looking sharper up here so you know Basically as it is so often with these Lenses it really kind of boils down to Where you're looking they're both very Very high performing So for a little bit of real world Perspective here uh here at just 100 Magnification rather than 200 Magnification we can see that you know Already there is good detail that was There contrast is obviously better as You stop it down to F4 here the Resolution was actually looking quite Good and we can see that it stays pretty Consistent yes it's a little bit better As you can see comparing this truck and This truck that contrast is certainly Helping but overall the performance is Really quite similar between the two and So even at F 1.4 this is a lens that you Certainly can get images that you'd be Happy with likewise here another white Aperture shot here at F 1.6 you can see That in the plane of focus detail is Nice and crisp here in the center of the Frame now obviously depth of field is Not going to allow everything to be in Focus when you have some depth to the Seam you can see that it holds up just Fine for landscape type work and then if You're a little bit closer here like we Can see on the subject I mean that's Really it's all the detail you could ask
For at F 1.4 looks really really Fantastic Now in lower light situations and a Little bit higher ISO obviously we're Not going to see things quite as crisp But you can see that even in the setting We've got proper focus on the eyes and Thus detail looks really really nice so If we stop down a little bit from F 1.4 To F 1.8 we can see that yes there is a Pretty noticeable bump of contrast in The center of the frame if we pan up Here towards this Zone you can see that It's just a little bit more consistent In terms of contrast and even going down Into the edge of the frame you can just See that there is some improvement here Though we're still not completely dark Here towards the edge of the frame Better still at f2 and you can see that We're starting to get you know a deeper Blacks here towards the corner of the Frame and also that the detail is Starting to crisp up there Now from F2 to F 2.8 you see that Transformation completed to where we Have good sharpness and contrast all the Way down into the corner of the frame so A great looking performance there Now from F 2.8 to F4 we can see just a Little bit more performance that we're Going to find in the center of the frame We are pretty much peaking here and in Fact if we go on from F4 now to F 5.6
Diffraction is just starting to set in And so this is about as good as it's Going to get looking across the frame Before things start to drop off and so We've reached kind of our critical point And by f8 you'll see the diffraction is Starting to set in on a high resolution Body like this and so things just aren't Quite as crisp now that will carry on Through the minimum matcher which is f 16 but you can see by this point Diffraction has really softened up the Contrast and so I would basically if You're shooting on the 26 megapixel Sensor you could probably shoot up to F11 on the you know 40 megapixel sensor Point I would recommend going no higher Than f8 if at all possible because you Will have diminishing returns after that Now as noted previously our maximum Magnification is very usable here and You can see that also up close Performance remains quite good plan of Focus is fairly flat and there's good Contrast and detail now obviously that Will allow you in certain situations to Get your background fairly to focus Despite the wider aperture here but as We're going to see where I feel like the Weakness of the lens is is that the Bokeh is only so so and that's very Similar to the Fuji performance like I Mean that looks fantastic great detail But as you look towards the background
The background is only okay this image I Think looks quite good but um the you Know if I compare it to the viltrox for Example which does have softer bokeh Filtrox definitely looks better overall And this issue or this image here you Can see that there's a fair bit of Outlining in the bokeh and that just Kind of draws your eye to it more than What I would like so it's not Necessarily ever like super soft and Creamy like the best even 35 millimeter Lenses on full frame are so it that is Kind of the limiting principle here I did find the colors looked good from The lens it's a nice landscape uh it Blends for sure you know skin tones were Nice and here I think you know you can See some of that outlining that I've Referred to some of the cat eye shape Near the edges of the frame in this case We've got a little bit of sun in the Frame but I think the lens is handling The flare real really nice and so you Can see that contrast is held up there's Just a little bit of an artistic look up There likewise here just a little bit More of that but you know details Holding up on the subject a tiny bit of Fringing in that high contrast situation And I would say my only negative here is Really this in here and that there's Just too much of that outlining very Similar to the the Fuji 23 millimeter
Here's another shot here that's less About the bokeh and more about the fact That at a wide angle or wide aperture Even with the sun right there in the Frame contrast is Flawless likewise Here's shooting right into the sun you Can see that that continues to be Flawless even if you stop down a bit bit More there's a little bit more of those Artifacts and here you can get a better Look at the Sunburst effect which I Really think is quite nice with each one Of the blades coming off of the the sun Looking nicely defined here's another Shot here which shows you that it's a Nice looking effect if you you know trap It between Some solid object where you Can squeeze out that sun star looks Really quite nice so in conclusion I Would say that the sigma 23 millimeter F 1.4 DN on x-mount provides the most Valid alternative to the Fuji 23 Millimeter F 1.4 at that 23 millimeter Focal length if that is the focal length That you're looking for the this lens is Very close optically though I will say That the build and the autofocus Slightly favor the Fuji but if you feel Like the things that I've detailed you Can live with those you can definitely Save a pretty big chunk of money the the Sigma comes in at about 61 percent of The cost of the price of the Fuji so That's some pretty significant savings
Now it's not exactly 23 millimeters Obviously but the new viltrox 27 Millimeter F 1.2 is my personal favorite Near the focal length I just like the Blend of the the build the performance And then the Optics particularly with Having that extra extra wide maximum Aperture of f 1.2 the trade-off there is It is considerably larger and heavier Than what the Sigma lens is it's larger In every Dimension it's about 200 grams Heavier and so that is significant and If your idea of using a Fujifilm Platform is the ability to travel light The viltrox is not going to be your Flavor and in that case you might want To consider this Sigma 23 millimeter F 1.4 it's a very high performing lens and It is up to even the 40 megapixel Standard here on Fuji if you're shooting With one of those cameras and that makes It a very intriguing and welcome Alternative to the Fuji x-mount platform I'm Dustin Abbott and if you look in the Description down below you can find link To my full text review also linkage There to my image gallery if you want to Check out photos there are buying links There some of them for XML are obviously Just being populated so be patient and They will be there beyond that there are Linkage to follow myself or Craig on Social media to become a patron or get Channel merchandise please like And
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