The all new Sigma 28-105mm 2.8 DG DN Art L Mount lens is ready to go to work for you!
Features of the lens
Art Series Quality - Well Built
F/2.8 through the entire range - Great for versatility
Razor Sharp - You'll see the difference
Fast Auto Focus (great for wildlife)
28-105mm focal range - Can shoot multiple subjects and styles
Manual aperture ring w/ auto setting - Love this for a classic feel
Can switch between smooth and clicking when changing aperture
Weather sealed construction - Feel free to shoot in light rain or snow
Auto/Manual focus switch
Fits nicely in my hands for easy handheld use
Close Focusing
As many of you know, i've been and still am a huge fan of the Sigma 24-105mm F/4 DG DN Art Lens. For almost 11 years I've used and loved my Sigma 24-105 almost exclusively except for ultra wide & astro shots. The Sigma 24-105mm has been my "go to" lens for normal, daily shooting. When I was approached by Sigma to test and give an honest review of the new Sigma 28-105mm 2.8 Art lens I was in Oregon getting ready to host a small workshop. I knew if we both worked in a timely manner we could make this happen. I didn't want to miss this chance.
When I realized I was going to have the lens soon, I kept wondering how much different could it be than the 24-105 F/4? Would 4mm really matter on the wide end? Would the images be sharp edge to edge at 2.8? It wasn't long before I got to see for myself.
Being that this was an L mount lens, I had the opportunity to use it on both the
Lumix S5ii (24mp) & Sigma fp L (61mp) cameras. This was fun and interesting to me since I had never had the opportunity to use 2 different cameras with the same lens. Wondering how well the lens would resolve the light onto the sensors had me thinking.
The first few days after getting the gear, the weather was typical July coastal fog. This gave me plenty of time to play around in various lighting conditions with the Sigma fp L & Sigma 28-105mm F/2.8 Art lens. I really wanted to make sure the lens had a high resolving power for the higher MP cameras. It does. It also handles shooting into sunlight very well. I focused this image just above the cabin of the boat where it says "Garmin" and the image held up perfectly.
It was time to test the lens in a little more complicated area. I knew this waterfall was flowing from when I arrived in town a week before. I thought, with the low clouds and tree canopy, this would be a great place to work with some soft natural light. Also giving me a chance to stop the lens down and shoot at something more normal for landscape photography. When stopped down to F/11, the entire scene came into focus beautifully. There was almost no wind and this allowed the sharpness to come through even more.
Before we dive into more images and what this lens is capable of, take a look at the actual lens. This gives you an idea of the size and build of the lens. You can see the ART quality construction and size for a 2.8 lens. Yes, it's roughly 3oz heavier than my 24-105mm F/4 Art lens and that's to be expected. The F/2.8, newer lens technology and close focusing all come at this small amount of extra weight. I've used this lens many times for hours hand-holding and never felt like it was too big for me. I actually loved the way my hand gripped it and was able to really steady it to shoot.
One morning just as the sun was rising I noticed a flock of gulls flying over the ocean. I literally held up the camera, pressed the focus button and shot this image in probably less than a second. When I got home to look at the images I could not believe how sharp this image was. I figured it would have been blurred by how fast they were moving but the Sigma 28-105mm 2.8 DG DN Art did a fantastic job of locking focus almost instantly to allow me to capture this moment. When shooting landscapes or astro, quick auto focus isn't something that's usually a concern for me. It's nice to know this lens is super fast so that I won't miss moments like this.
Shooting landscapes with the Sigma 28-105mm 2.8 Art was like a breath of fresh air. I felt like grade school kid that just got a new pair of shoes. The lens is just fun to shoot and the image quality makes you want to take more pictures.
By now I had enough experience with the lens to know that it works perfectly well with both types of cameras. The lens does a great job on 24mp and 61mp. My time in Oregon was coming to an end but I didn't have a chance to shoot any night images with it. Sigma kindly gave me an opportunity to keep the lens a bit longer to do some astro when I got back to Colorado, and then on a short trip to Kansas.
Anytime I get a lens to use for night photography the very first thing I do is test for coma (stretched or saucer shaped stars in the corner). I wanted to make sure I had a good clear view of the Milky Way. I set the lens to 2.8, made my precise focus on the stars in the center and then took a test shot. What you see up above is an un-edited image where I have made the corners a bit bigger as well as the center. You can clearly see that all the stars are nice pinpoint dots, not stretched or saucer shaped. This was a great feeling. Generally prime lenses are typically known to be better quality when it comes to sharpness and minimizing coma. That being said, over the years I have switched most of my primes for zoom lenses because the quality of Sigma Art lenses is equally as good for my type of shooting. In cases like this with newer lens technology, even better. Once I knew what I was dealing with, I could go about my normal process to capture the following image.
Knowing the lens is capable of capturing the night sky without any coma really gives me a positive feel for the potential to eliminate one more lens from my bag.
I talked a little earlier about the close focusing ability of the Sigma 28-105mm 2.8 Art.
The lens performed at a very high level at all focal ranges. With a very close focusing distance of about 6 inches at 28mm at roughly 8-9 inches at 105mm, I don’t have the exact specs yet, this is just what I found with how I used it. With the close focusing comes a beautiful bokeh when shooting wide open.
The close up ability of this lens far surpassed my expectations. When I was told it had close focusing I wasn't really sure what to expect with a 28-105mm lens. Please note these are crops from full frame images. I think they do give you an idea of what's possible simply based on the size of the ladybug.
Sigma's team of designers and craftsman really did a fantastic job with this lens. It works well for landscapes, astro, close ups & it's quick focusing will allow you to capture fast moving subjects too.
The last set of images I shot before sending the lens back was a few of my daughters senior photos. I get a lot of questions on a regular basis about lenses for this or that. While I'm not a portrait photographer, I would highly encourage anyone who wants to get started in portraits to take a look at the Sigma 28-105mm 2.8 Art lens.
Based solely on my experience (ask me questions) with this lens, it's an all around performer. A true workhorse that can do it all!
Having this one lens in your bag is the same as having the following lenses
28mm 2.8 - approx $280
35mm 2.8 - average $320
50mm 2.8 - average $550
85mm 2.8 - Roughly $400
105mm 2.8 - $400-1300
Wouldn't you love a lens that can do it all to save you space in your bag and not have to always be changing lenses. Imagine waking up in the morning and heading out to shoot the sunrise then walking over to some small flowers to photograph them before heading home... Later that afternoon you meet up with your client for a portrait session before taking off to find dark skies to photograph the milky way without ever taking the lens off your camera!
I'm hooked!
After 11 years I'm ready to make this lens my new workhorse and take advantage of all the advances that have been made since purchasing my 24-105mm. With it being a 2.8 I'll be able to also find more creative ways to use it in addition to my normal shooting.
Thank you all for taking the time to read and I hope you'll reach out to me with your comments and thoughts. I'll be posting images from this lens on all my socials so be sure to check for all the details on each shot!
I want to take this time to thank the following companies for their support.
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