Sigma Releases World’s First Full-Frame Mirrorless f/1.8 Zoom Lens

Sigma just announced the release of a very exciting new lens that is the first of its kind. The brand-new 28-45mm f/1.8 DG DN Art Lens is the world’s first full-frame mirrorless zoom lens with a constant maximum aperture of f/1.8. This fast and bright zoom will cover a nice range of focal lengths from wide angles to normal fields of view and will excel in low-light situations. And with exceptional optical performance, it just might end up replacing multiple fast prime lenses for some photographers. It seems that Sigma has done it again and released a very impressive and high-performance lens!

I recently wrote an article discussing the noticeable quality of many lenses in Sigma’s current mirrorless lineup and asking if they stacked up well against the very best offerings from first-party lens manufacturers. I came to the conclusion that indeed many of Sigma’s best lenses are very comparable to top-tier offerings from Sony, Canon, and Nikon and with the release of this new lens, my praise for the brand has only strengthened.

Let’s take a look at this exciting new lens and dive into all the nitty gritty details!

Sigma 28-45mm f/1.8 DG DN Art Lens

Specs:

• Price: $1,350 USD

• Full Frame | f/1.8 to f/16

• Superfast Wide-to-Normal Zoom

• HLA Focus

• 11.9” Minimum Focus Distance

• Aperture Ring with Click & Lock Switches

• SLD and Aspherical Elements

• Nano Porous & Super Multiplayer Coating

• Dust & Splash Resistant

Overview:

The brand-new Sigma 28-45mm f/1.8 DG DN Art Lens is a very exciting new offering from Sigma, to say the least. It’s the world’s first mirrorless full-frame zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 and as part of Sigma’s Art line, it will deliver great optics in a well-designed and well-built package. With a fast and bright maximum aperture of f/1.8 across the entire focal range this lens will work great in low-light situations and is expected to produce sharp and crip images no matter what you throw at it. Let’s dive in and break it down further.

We’ll start out by discussing the most noticeable and attention-grabbing spec, which is of course, the fact that this is the first-ever full-frame mirrorless zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8. Sigma has broken new ground with this lens, and it is very fast and very bright for a zoom lens at these focal lengths. With a nice wide aperture of f/1.8, the lens will perform great in a wide variety of low-light situations and will even be a really nice option for some astrophotography as well. Of course, it only zooms out to 28mm but if you don’t need a super-wide field of view this thing will get the job done. That fast aperture will also allow photographers to achieve stunning blurred backgrounds, subject isolation, and of course very nice bokeh. The lens has a very smooth and even transitions between in-focus and out-of-focus parts of an image and when it comes to optics there’s really not much to complain about.

As part of Sigma’s Art line, the new 28-45mm f/1.8 features top-tier optics and glass elements creating very sharp and crystal-clear images. This lens features 18 elements arranged in 15 groups including 3 aspherical and 5 Special Low Dispersion elements to greatly reduce flares, ghosting, and aberrations. This exciting new offering features such nice optics that it will certainly compete well with many prime lenses at similar focal lengths. You’ll likely still get slightly better optics out of some of the best primes, but the differences in quality might be smaller than you’d think. It’s also worth noting that while shooting at the maximum aperture you will encounter some darkening and very slight loss of sharpness towards the edges and corners of the frame, but these are eliminated by simply stopping down to a narrower aperture of f/4. This slight reduction in sharpness is quite minimal and quite common in similar lenses. Overall, this lens features very nice optics as we’ve come to expect from the Art Line.

And it’s not just the Art Line optics that are top-notch, the lens has been carefully designed and crafted to produce a great user experience. Of course, it is fully weather-sealed, so you’ll be able to use the lens in a variety of conditions without having to worry too much, and all of the buttons and control rings are thoughtfully placed and work smoothly. This lens features two AFL buttons, a focus mode switch, custom function buttons, zoom and focus control rings, and an aperture control ring. The lens features Sigma’s HLA Autofocus system and it works quite well. The AF is very quick, very snappy, very accurate, and will smoothly shift focus and track subjects whether you’re shooting video or capturing stills. When it comes to build and handling, this thing is great!

It's also worth noting that this lens has a constant minimum focus distance of only 11.9 inches throughout its entire focal range making it a great option for capturing up-close shots of small and detailed subjects. At 45mm this lens will give you a 1 to 4 life-sized reproduction. If you’re looking for a nice and flexible lens that will allow you to dabble with macro photography then this could be a great option for you.

Conclusion:

Overall, the brand-new Sigma 28-45mm f/1.8 DG DN Art Lens appears to be quite an impressive feat. It seems that Sigma has taken on a unique challenge and produced a lens that is not only the first of its kind but also a very high-quality and high-performance offering that stacks up well against the competition. It will be interesting to see if photographers will ditch one or two of their nice prime lenses for this flexible zoom but only time will tell. This seems to be a really great lens and if you’re looking for a fast and bright zoom lens for your full-frame camera then definitely be sure to check this one out.