Sigma’s 85mm F1.2 for Sony and L-mount portrait photographers is here and costs $1599
For those who need their backgrounds as blurry as possible.
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Sigma is finally releasing its 85mm F1.2 DG Art for E and L-mount, after announcing that the lens was in development early this year . This is the company's third F1.2 prime, following 35mm and 50mm options , and provides a classic focal length for portraiture.
The lens has 17 elements in 12 groups, with two SLD elements and three aspheric lenses. It has 13 aperture blades, which is a few more than we'd typically expect. It can focus as close as 84cm (33″), for a maximum reproduction of 0.11x.
Sigma says the lens is the "smallest and lightest in its class." It weighs 905g (31.9oz), which is around 24% lighter than Canon's 85mm F1.2 for RF, and 22% less than Nikon's Z 85mm F1.2 S. (Of course, this lens doesn't directly compete with those options, as it's not available on those mounts.) The E-mount version is around 122mm long – the L-mount version is 2mm shorter – and both have an 87mm diameter. It can accept 82mm filters, and is "dust- and splash-resistant."
Despite its focus on being relatively light, the lens still feels premium, and has all the features we'd expect of a high-end prime. It has an aperture ring, which can be clicked or declicked, a switch that locks it into or out of 'A' mode for aperture (which hands over control to the camera body) and a customizable button, duplicated in the portrait and landscape shooting orientations.
The lens has just the right number of controls and switches.
Its autofocus is handled by dual linear motors, and the company says it's designed to have minimal focus breathing for video shooters.
As my colleague Richard Butler pointed out when this lens was first announced, its release means that all four major full-frame mirrorless systems now have an autofocusing 85mm F1.2 option; the lenses previously available for E and L-mount only went down to F1.4 (though relative newcomer SongRaw has announced its own 85mm F1.2 for Sony and Nikon systems, but it doesn't seem to be widely available yet).
While Nikon and Canon's 85mm F1.2s retail for $2999 and $3099, respectively, Sigma's comes in at substantially less. It costs $1599, and will be available starting October 6.
Choose product variation L-Mount E-Mount
L-Mount
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All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer's distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting. The profile corrects an extremely minor amount of pincushion distortion, but we don't consider it essential if you don't prefer to use it, or if your workflow doesn't support profiles.
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Sigma 85mm F1.2 DG Art specifications
Quick Specs
About the Author: Mitchell started taking pictures at 10 and hasn't stopped since. It's been a wide-ranging adventure, spanning a wide variety of genres and locales, and occasionally dipping into fascinations with video and filmmaking. They honed their technical knowledge doing documentation, programing and QA, writing for The Verge, and just generally messing around on the computer to see what breaks.
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