Sigma has announced a new portrait-tastic prime lens, the 85mm ƒ1.4 EX DG HSM, at the PMA show in Anaheim, California. It's certainly not the only new product from Sigma, which has also launched updated compacts, re-released a DSLR (the SD15) and announced new lenses including an ultra-wide zoom, but it is the most telling of the company's lens strategy.
The new super-fast 85mm has a nine-bladed aperture diaphragm, manual-focus override (meaning you can tweak the focus with a twist without having to flip a switch first) and a hypersonic focus motor for fast focussing. Sigma has realized that many pros and enthusiasts will almost always buy lenses from their camera maker, especially in the full-frame market. So it has taken a look at what us camera geeks want and tweaked its designs to give it to us.
Today, we buy these ultra-fast, ƒ1.4 lenses not for their light-gathering abilities (our high-ISO cameras take care of that) but for their shallow depth-of-field. Sigma designs its lenses to give great results when used wide open, whereas legacy designs only had these wide apertures as a last resort to get every drop of light onto the film. Those nine blades on the diaphragm also cater to modern photo-fashion, and the nice round hole they form should give great *bokeh*: the quality of out-of-focus highlights.
It's interesting to see specialized lenses like this. And Sigma isn't leaving out the users of crop-frame cameras out, either: the lens hood comes with a special extender to make it stick out a little bit further on APS-C bodies (although this could also, be taken to mean the lens is prone to flare).
The lens will come in Sigma, Sony, Nikon, Pentax and Canon mounts. Price and launch date to be announced.
Sigma releases 85mm 1.4 EX DG HSM [DP Review]
