[Music] Greetings again everyone now the sigma Corporation have been around since 1960 And in a few ways they're pretty unique Rather than being some faceless company They are familyowned and keep their Manufacturing within Japan which is more Expensive but for many people a bit of An extra seal of quality but my favorite Thing about Sigma is their busy history Of marketing crazy amazing cameras and Lenses that no other manufacturer would Even dare to try they're a really Experimental company which has obviously Paid off for them over the years as Their interesting Creations are not only Quite popular on a market but give the Company a prestigious name especially in More recent years they were the first Optics company to offer a telecon Converter back in 1961 and the first to Market a zoom lens That starts as wide as 21 mm back in 1979 the First with a 10 times Magnification super telephoto zoom lens The 50 to 500 mm back in 2000 the first To bring out f1.8 zoom lenses for Digital SLR cameras not to mention being The first company to experiment with Faon image sensors in their cameras so Today I'm going to take you all on a Whistle Stop tour of some of sigma's Craziest camera lenses over the past few Years all of which I've actually tested
Out at one time or another on this YouTube channel so enjoy by the way down In the description below you can find Links to all my original reviews of These crazy lenses as well as affiliate Links to buy them if you want to support My channel in that way and thank you to Everyone who does by the way going in Order from oldest to newest back in 2001 We saw the arrival of something Sigma Would come to be known for a big Telephoto zoom and their 50 to 500 mm Lens had a groundbreaking Zoom range for Its time proving really popular for People going on Safari traveling or or Bird watching a lens this big with such A zoom range was unheard of at the time It really was the ultimate super zoom And it quickly picked up the nickname The bigma it also happens to be one of The first lenses I ever tested on this YouTube channel all the way back in 2011 I think I made that review on a Windows Movie Maker at the time this original ex DG HSM lens from 2001 has image quality That is pretty terrible to be honest It only offers soft images with quite Low contrast although back in 2001 Digital Asar cameras hardly had high Resolution demanding sensors in 2010 Sigma launched a redesign which had way Sharper image quality and image Stabilization so if this kind of lens is For you then look out for the newer dgos
HSM lens which is actually fairly good Hot on the bigma heels came the Sig Monster in 2002 an absolutely crazy 300 To 800 mm F 5.6 extreme telephoto Zoom Optic with a nice constant maximum Apture of F5.6 with a weight of over 6 kg and a Length of over half a meter this Gigantic optic is physically imposing Not to mention quite difficult to carry Around with you its Electronics were Sophisticated enough for the time with An ultrasonic autofocus motor and Fulltime manual focus although image Stabilization technology unfortunately Wasn't in Broad adoption by this point So you really do only want to use it With the help of a sturdy tripod the Copy of the lens that I ended up testing Seemed to be a little Des centered so it Could have been sharper probably but its Images were still perfectly usable which Is what you want on a lens that still Cost so much money okay next the 20 mm F1.8 from 2008 this was the first and For very long time the only Ultra wide Angle lens in the world with a maximum At as bright as f1.8 over twice as Bright as anything else available at the Time at 20 mm making it a really popular Choice for more artistically minded Photographers I'm personally obsessed With ultra wideangle lenses with bright Apertures I love the kind of Unique
Images they produce pushing your Background away while simultaneously Throwing it a little out of focus nice Lenses like this can can also be Fantastic for Astro photography but you Wouldn't want to use this original lens For that purpose because unfortunately It has notoriously soft image quality With some of the strongest levels of Vignetting I have ever seen this f1.8 Lens was eventually superseded by a 20 Mm f1.4 art lens though which was Massively Superior in just about every Way you could imagine and was itself Recently updated for mirrorless cameras Into something fantastic plastically Sharp and Useful in the same year of 2008 Sigma Decided to develop their tradition of Marketing gigantic telephoto zoom lenses By pushing their designs to the absolute Limit with this the Green Giant the Sigma 200 to 500 mm f2.8 lens is Absolutely ridiculous it's enormous size And back breaking weight of 16 kg means You will need a seriously heavyduty Tripod to work this thing as well as the Associated upper body strength the lens Itself is battery powered for both the Zoom and focus mechanisms which will be Much too slow for shooting sports or any Fast moving subjects it even comes in a Box originally designed for transporting Assault rifles which itself weighs 24 kg
So this is perhaps not the best lens for A bit of Light Street or travel Photography the images it can get of Course are incredible especially when You're zoomed in it's currently still The only 500 mm f2.8 lens available I Believe it even came with a two times Telecon converter to get you 1,000 mm Images at F5.6 although that converter takes a Heavy toll on image quality still you Can still find these camer lenses lying Around for purchase nowadays if you have A spare £15,000 burning a hole in your pocket That is all right let's move on to 2013 and sigma launched the first f1.8 Zoom lens for digital aslar cameras onto The market well apsc digital aslar Cameras anyway some people scratched Their heads over the zoom range of the 18 to 35 mm f1.8 when it first came out But nobody had any serious issues about Its image quality in fact this thing was Sharper than many f1.8 prime lenses that Were available at the time I used the 18 To35 on my Canon 70D for quite a while To inire quite a lot of serious video Work with it even taking it for a video Project in South Korea where it Performed fantastically well although I Did miss having image stabilization Still a beautifully Innovative camera Which in 2016 gained a bigger brother
The 50 to 100 mm f1.8 which was Similarly fun to use and now the 2020s Arrive and sigma went back to the wide Angle routs probably encouraged by the Fact that the mess camera systems which Have now taken over the world are easier To design smaller brighter wideangle Lenses for first in 2023 came the ridiculous 14 mm F1.4 this giant expensive fullframe and Extreme wide-angle lens has an equally Extremely bright maximum aperture making It an utter dream come true for Astro Photography or for shooting architecture And doors or for simply getting more Artistic images that leap out of the Screen you people like me got a bit over Excited about this lens although many Other photographers won't feel the need For such an extreme and and physically Larged design oh and did I mention it's Fantastically sharp as well I was Worried about shooting my test charts With this thing so close to them and at Such bright Apes but no problem the lens Handled it fine and hot on its heels Came the 15 mm f1.4 fullframe fisheye Lens which is essentially the same thing Except with a 180° fisheye projection to It if anything even better for Astro Photography although the fisheye effect Is not to everyone's taste for normal Photography this lens is incredibly Sharp also not to mention big and rather
Expensive which finally brings us to Today the 28 to 45 mm f1.8 art is the Brightest aperture fullframe zoom lens Ever made although it too is big and Expensive and doesn't have a big Zoom Range still this really is a wonderful Lens getting you beautifully out of Focused backgrounds and very fast Charter speeds over a useful wide angle Zoom range what's more it is sharp with Excellent image quality all around so it Could quite easily replace two or three F1.8 prime lenses and you won't see any Difference in fact if anything it seems A little sharper than most f1.8 primes That I've tested so far like the rest of The lenses on this test it won't be an Optic for everyone obviously but it's Still enormously fun and sigma deserve Tons of credit here for being so Ambitious I mean if you were running a Camera and lens business would you just Want to put out the same lenses year After year with only little improvements Edging things forward or would you want To live a little and complement those Popular everyday Optics with something More exciting that's something Sigma Have shared in common with Canon over Recent years which makes it even more Annoying that Canon won't let these Full-frame Sigma lenses onto their eosr System which is truly our loss as Canon Shooters if you're a cannon shooter oh
Well Sony e and l Mount camer users get To enjoy all the fun here and I'm Looking forward to whatever Sigma have Up their sleeves to offer us next
