The Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN Art review

Sigma's newest addition to their DN series of Micro Four-Thirds lenses, the 19mm f/2.8 DN Art, promises to be one of the bargains of the century. With a design that spells lust everywhere you look and a spec sheet that is worthy of lenses costing hundreds more, what's there not to like about this little lens from Sigma?


Specifications:

• 19mm focal length, equivalent to 30mm on APS-C and 38mm on m4/3
• Maximum aperture of f/2.8 with 7 aperture blades, capable of stopping down to f/22
• 8 lens elements in 6 groups, 3 of which are aspherical elements
• Ultrasonic linear autofocus with Full-Time Manual override
• Metal construction, including lens mount
• 46mm filter size
• 140 grams

The 19mm f/2.8 DN Art is the successor to Sigma's previous attempt at making an affordable standard prime for the m4/3 system - the 19mm f/2.8 EX DN. But that lens was kinda rubbish. It was basically a shrunk down version of one of Sigma's ugly DSLR lenses, not to mention the slow and noisy DC micro motor for focusing.

The new Art version promises to correct the shortcomings of its predecessor, offering up a much sexier design with a full metal barrel instead of the rubber and plastic of the old one, as well as an FTM capable ultrasonic focusing mechanism.

Packaging and freebies

An off white box, marked with the lens' identity and some fine print is what the lens ships in. The innards of the box is pretty bare-bones too, unlike first-party packaging which tend to go fancy with the design of their boxes. Stuff shipped along side with the lens is a nifty little lens pouch and yes, a LENS HOOD! Hurrah for a lens this cheap.

Handling the lens for the first time gives an immense impression of quality and class. The buttery smooth yet concise metal focus ring just oozes lust. A metal mount and a beautiful front element seals the 19mm f/2.8 DN Art as one of the sexiest lenses I've ever held. And the shiny "A" logo on the side of the lens barrel serves to remind you that you've just bought into Sigma's Art line of lenses. Lovely.

Autofocus is dead quiet with the ultrasonic wave-driven motor, with more than adequate speed on my little PEN E-PL1. Continuous AF focus pulls are very smooth too, unlike those done on a DC motor driven lens where cAF is pretty choppy. In low light situations however, the lens does tend to hunt for focus, although this is probably attributed to the mediocre contrast detect AF performance of my E-PL1.

The focal length of the 19mm DN Art is equivalent to 38mm on a 135 format (full-frame) camera, which works out as a nice standard focal length usable for just about every situation. Landscapes? Check. Portraits? Check. Architecture? Well, sort of check. Street photography? Definitely check.

The financial district, just after the countdown to 2015. You can see the lovely 14-point sunstars from light sources in lieu of the lens' 7 bladed aperture.

Who says you need a wide-angle to do architecture?

This wasn't shot with the Sigma, but a lens of similar focal length, the Canon EF 40mm f/2.8. 40mm is an exceptional focal length for street shots.

So far, this lens is really turning out to be a heck of a useful piece of kit! But there is one flaw, and that is with its relatively slow maximum aperture of f/2.8. f/2.8 is the lowest aperture that is capable of stopping action in most situations without resorting to crazy high ISOs, but with a first gen micro four-thirds sensor such as the one in my E-PL1, ISO performance isn't that good with a usable limit of ISO1600. An f/2.8 aperture with just ISO1600 doesn't exactly spell action stopping, but for stationary subjects, the sensor-shift image stabilization inside Olympus' m43 bodies is sufficient for shutter speeds as low as 0.5s. The lack of optical image stabilization should be of worry to users of m43 bodies that lack sensor-shift IS such as Panasonic's bodies.

Hand-held shot of a Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro at night. 1/30s . f/2.8 . ISO1600

Image quality is typical of prime lenses, crisp and sharp from the center of the image all the way to the sides. Noting that the Sigma 19mm is actually a lens designed to fit the Sony NEX system of mirrorless APS-C cameras, its no surprise that it is optically excellent on the smaller micro four thirds sensor. As with many lenses with wide focal lengths, the 19mm DN Art suffers from a slight bit of barrel distortion and does display some chromatic aberration on contrasting edges. However, the distortion characteristic is extremely simple to correct in Photoshop or a built-in lens profile in Lightroom. Chromatic aberration disappears in Lightroom with a +3 setting on both green and magenta fringe correction sliders. Even so, I'd reckon that many users would be more than satisfied with the out-of-camera, unedited JPEGs shot using the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN Art.

Conclusion

Overall, this little lens is a very competent performer and I dare say, on par with lenses costing twice as much, as long as you don't mind the slow f/2.8 aperture. Compared with Olympus' old f/2.8 prime, the 17mm f/2.8, the Sigma blows it out of the water completely. Granted, the Oly was a pancake and the Sigma is around twice the physical length of that lens, but hey for $199 and looks that can attract a wolf whistle from a mile away, the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN Art is a highly recommended lens.

A real gem of a lens