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Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art

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Specifications

BrandSigma
CategoryWide Angle
Prime or ZoomPrime
Focus TypeAuto
Focal length (mm)35
Aperture (max)1.4
Angle of View63°
Filter Size (mm)67
Weight (g)755
Length (mm)118
Diameter (mm)77
Weather Sealed✘
Image Stabilization✘
Min. focus distance (m)0.3
Max. magnification0.19
Release Year2019
Release Price (USD)899
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Description and Reviews

Key Take-Aways:

The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art is a discontinued full-frame wide-angle prime, the first lens of Sigma’s Art line, which Photography Life’s Nasim Mansurov dates to its announcement at Photokina in September 2012. Sigma’s page lists the L-Mount version at 755 g and 77 mm across, with a length of 118 mm, a 67 mm filter thread, a 63 degree angle of view (Sigma gives 63.4), a 0.30 m minimum focus distance and 13 elements in 11 groups, and Sigma America’s archived US store page shows a regular price of $899 for the L-Mount selection. Sigma makes no sealing claim. As of Oct 2026, seven written reviews and twenty-one videos are linked. Cameralabs’ Thomas found image quality he would not have thought possible wide open at f/1.4, with outstanding corner performance on a high-resolution full-frame sensor, quiet and fast autofocus and good build quality, and noted the lack of weather sealing and a more nervous background rendering than the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G. Photo Review called it an excellent walkabout lens and a winner with excellent resolution and a very competitive price, large and heavy but well balanced and not water-resistant. Digital Camera World’s Jon Stapley called its image quality astounding, its value terrific and its build immaculate, with no weather seals as the one reason to avoid it. In his video description Dustin Abbott sets it against the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II and the Tamron SP 35mm f/1.8 VC, Christopher Frost retested it on a 42-megapixel Sony a7R II, and Spencer Lupul calls it one of his favourite lenses for creative photography.

From Sigma:

Sigma has always leveraged the most advanced optical technologies to offer photographers the highest level of lens performance. Now, Sigma is proud to offer the first lens in an all-new product line: the 35mm F1.4 DG HSM. This wide-angle F1.4 lens delivers the highest level of brightness and beautiful bokeh effects. It offers the unique characteristics that only a large-aperture F1.4 lens can offer: shallow depth of field along with superior low-light and hand-held performance.

Several types of optical aberration can affect the image quality of a lens. Chromatic aberration is among the most important, and minimizing it is essential. There are two types of chromatic aberration: transverse, which can be corrected for with digital processing; and axial, which is difficult to minimize after a shot is taken. In the 35mm F1.4 DG HSM, FLD (“F” Low Dispersion) glass, which is equivalent to fluorite in its characteristics, and SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass help optimize the power distribution of the lens. This optimization minimizes axial chromatic aberration by causing the different wavelengths of light to strike the same focus position while also minimizing transverse chromatic aberration. In addition, aspheric lenses help minimize astigmatism and field curvature. Thanks to these features, resolution is extremely high from the center to the edges of the photograph.

The aspheric lens at the front of the lens series helps minimize both distortion and vignetting. The rounded diaphragm produces an attractive round bokeh effect at large-aperture settings. Optimized power distribution minimizes sagittal coma flare. Coma of point light sources near the edge of the image and axial chromatic aberration are both minimized, making the lens an excellent choice for photographing nighttime landscapes and heavenly bodies.

When photographing with point light sources such as electric lights or reflections on a body of water in the background, the rounded 9-blade diaphragm helps produce an attractive bokeh effect—even at large-aperture settings.

Official Website

Sigma has discontinued this lens. It is the predecessor of sigma-35mm-f1-4 (the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art): the DG HSM is a DSLR design that Sigma also offered in L-Mount, which is why it is large and heavy. Specifications are the L-Mount figures from Sigma’s English page (angle of view 63.4 degrees entered as 63, maximum magnification 1:5.2 entered as 0.19). Sigma America no longer lists an L-Mount selection, so the price is the regular price of the L-Mount selection on Sigma America’s own page as archived on 8 Nov 2021 (web.archive.org/web/20211108143603/https://www.sigmaphoto.com/35mm-f14-dg-hsm-a), where $849 was a sale price; the 2020 and early 2021 archive copies show the same L-Mount option. Dustin Abbott’s and Christopher Frost’s Sony E videos and several other videos cover other mounts of the same lens.

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