Recently, Sigma made the day of a lot of APS-C sensor-equipped shooters with the announcement of the 18-35mm f/1.8 lens. While that was an excellent addition to Sigma’s lineup of great crop-sensor lenses, their latest announcement takes things to another level. The new lens is a 24-35mm f/2 DG HSM Art lens for full-frame Nikon and Canon cameras (a Sigma mount is the third mount option).
That’s right, an f/2 zoom lens for full frame cameras. If that sounds unheard of it’s because it will be the world's first large-aperture full-frame wide-angle zoom lens offering f/2 brightness throughout the zoom range when it arrives at the end of July or early August.
The true strength of the new Sigma is that is will take the job of three of the most common (and necessary) focal lengths with the quality of a prime lens. 24mm, 28mm and 35mm are all happily covered with the constant f/2. Beyond covering these lengths, the lens is further competent, with a minimum focusing distance of 28cm and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:4.4. Portrait shooters and high-bokeh, shallow depth of field videographers alike will love the flexibility of this lens.
To deliver a large-diameter zoom lens for full frame cameras with f/2 brightness, Sigma has gone to great lengths to design a quality lens from top to bottom. The lens incorporates large-diameter aspherical lens elements, requiring advanced technologies to manufacture, one FLD (“F” Low Dispersion)* glass and seven SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements, of which two are aspherical lenses. These highly advanced optics and optimized lens power distribution are tasked with minimizing spherical aberration, axial chromatic aberration and field curvature, which will result in – we hope – incredible optical performance. Sigma promises, “Even at widest aperture, this lens delivers breathtaking image quality.”
Pricing hasn’t been announced just yet, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it won’t venture too far into four-digit range.