The Digital Insider | The best Sigma Art lenses

Image courtesy: Sigma

Different camera brands have lenses with a specific name, such as Canon’s L, Sony G/GM lenses and Sigma Art. Sigma Art lenses are high-end, high-quality optic products designed for professional photography or videography. Sigma offers quite a few Art lenses, and it can be hard to know which ones to get. In this article, we run through the benefits of using an Art lens and recommend the best Sigma has to offer.

The primary purpose of the Art lenses is to ignite creativity by pairing them with your style, camera mount and photographic journey.

What are Sigma Art lenses?

Sigma Art lenses are designed specifically for capturing sharp and clear images. While these lenses are perfect for photographers looking for high sharpness, these lenses can capture high detail for video as well. For example, Art lenses are great for capturing a sharp focal plane. Canon also claims that these lenses offer unique colors — ones that are different than other lenses. So, while you get a sharp image, you also get a unique look as well.

Sigma Art lenses can be used in a variety of situations. This includes portraits and close-ups. That’s thanks to their ability to capture a high amount of detail. At the same time, Sigma Art lenses work great for landscape, commercial and studio as well. It all really depends on what type of Sigma Art lens you get. Each one offers its own effects and will be best suited to different situations.

Art lenses are Sigma’s high-end line

The art lenses are the luxury line for camera and lenses brand Sigma. They are divided into broad categories:

Wide-angle lenses
Large aperture lenses
Telephoto lenses
Standard lenses
Macro lenses
Ultra-wide angle lenses
Fisheye lenses

Sigma lenses have something for every professional photographer, each carefully engineered for sharpness and optical performance. The Art line also has wider apertures from f/1.2 to f/2.8, excellent focus and top-notch construction. Finally, Art lenses are created in all mounts, such as Canon, Sony and Nikon cameras.

Pros/cons of the Sigma Art lens lines

Art lenses produce more vibrant colors than other lenses, such as Canon. Another benefit of Art lenses is they act like native lenses on the camera body you mount them to, making it easier for the lens to communicate with the camera body and retaining all native features. Finally, Art lenses are slightly more affordable than other premium lenses.

As for the cons, the most noticeable is that Art lenses are heavier and larger than competitive brands. The extra size and weight are because Art lenses are made with durable metal.

Is Sigma a good brand for lenses?

After mentioning the pros and cons and what Sigma Art lenses are, the question remains, is it good or better than your camera brand of lenses? The answer, of course, depends. However, though Sigma lenses are third-party, the brand is trusted by many professional photographers worldwide. The quality of a Sigma lens (especially the Art line) is often equal to or even better than well-known camera brands. Additionally, Sigma lenses are slightly more affordable. So when purchasing a new lens, keep Sigma in mind.

Sigma lenses abbreviations

Lens manufacturers use different designations in their lenses in the form of abbreviations. For Sigma lenses, we have three lens categories and class abbreviations:

C (Contemporary): general use lenses
A (Art): has the fastest prime lenses
S (Sport): for telephoto lenses designed with sport and wildlife photography
EX: old high-end lenses, now replaced with the newer version (Art lenses)

Additionally, we have lens format abbreviations which are: