Sigma 85mm f1.4 Review

Looking for a compact lens which is sharp, lightweight, and ideal for portraiture and low light photography? If so, you’re in the right place, because this could be the ideal lens for you.

After a few years of personal use, in this blog I’ll be reviewing the ever present Sigma 85mm f1.4.

I use this lens paired with the Sony A7 IV, which you can read the review of in a separate blog here.

Why 85mm?

Being a focal length of the longer variety within the prime lens range selection, a 85mm is a powerful tool for a numerous amount of reasons. When you combine a long range prime and a low aperture combination that they give (in this case f1.4), the opportunities opened up to you are endless. This focal length gives you the added benefits of featuring compression within your photos, allowing you to pinpoint in on the subject whilst bringing the background closer to you, a distinct and unique technique used to create depth.

As a result of this, this lens is excellent for portrait photography, weddings, and any other type of event work. The duo of the range and low aperture creates beautiful results enabling you to make your subjects pop and stand out from the crowd, creating subject separation and a sense of feeling and focus on one particular area of the frame. Furthermore, the Sigma 85mm f1.4 is a popular lens for night photography, and for good reason. The low aperture is the key here, however once again with the added benefit of a longer focal range, it allows you to single out and focus on specific features in the crowd. Whether it be used indoors or outside, the 85mm is a versatile lens and one which allows you to be extremely creative.

Build Quality & Ergonomics

A great reason why this lens ticks all the right boxes is because of its compact nature and size. Even with all the bells and whistles that comes with a prime lens, Sigma have created a piece of equipment that somehow manages to be compact, lightweight, and still all the more powerful with its performance.

As with most of the newer generation of Sigma models, the build quality is much improved and creates a great impression straight from the off. Its mainly metal based exterior creates a bold statement, reflective of the fact the lens is as tough as they come and is built to last. The materials and the ins and outs of the lens are well constructed and pieced together, allowing for an easier and pleasurable user experience. Even though the switches and a number of buttons on the outside of the lens are made of plastic, they are all well adjusted and perfectly placed to avoid any possible damage or mishaps.

Not always the case but a handy benefit if shooting in the rain is your thing, this specific lens is weather sealed, meaning even without a cover or other form of rain protection, you can take this lens out and about without having to worry about it getting damaged.

One thing you’ll notice with the Sigma prime lenses compared to their zooms such as the Sigma 24-70mm f2.8, is that they feature the major benefit of an aperture ring. This comes as a huge bonus, simply because it enables you to change aperture directly at your fingertips whilst holding the lens, rather than reaching back and fiddling with the settings on the camera, saving you precious time when shooting in fast changing situations.

Of course, the lens also features the ever present focus ring at its top end, both rings of which give good resistance and are easy to manoeuvre. A few other buttons and controls on the lens exterior such as a focus mode switch, a aperture ring lock and a separate click switch, and an a autofocus lock (AFL) lock button, all contribute to an extremely tactile and enjoyable piece of equipment to use.

Image Quality

One of the major beneficial factors of any prime lens is the sharpness and depth of field they bring, and the Sigma 85mm f1.4 is no exception. In terms of image quality and the details this product produces, this lens is incredibly sharp, creating stunning imagery at every turn. The benefit of it having a low aperture of f1.4 is that it also gives you beautiful results in low light and indoor situations, there is no event or conditions this lens will have trouble shooting in.

If you specialise in portrait photography, then this lens is a must have in your collection for the image quality it produces alone. As mentioned previously, the ability to create subject separation and depth within your photography is a huge plus, and this lens provides just that. The unique mix of the focal length and wide aperture allows you to enable and enhance a layer of bokeh in your photos, creating that dreamy blur effect to force the full focus on the subject in hand.

Below are some of my favourite images that I’ve taken using this lens over the past 6 months:

Autofocus

With a lens built with very much a portraiture style of use in mind, the focus features here were needed to be constructed spot on in order for the lens to be viable and a worthy purchase. Thankfully, Sigma have once again produced the goods on this front, as the autofocus features this lens brings, especially when combined with an already great camera body such as the Sony A7 IV, makes for an highly impressive piece of kit.

The lens can be used in a variety of scenarios inside or out, regardless of the situation or the task at hand, the auto focus performs fast and keeps up with the action with ease. Shooting in low light in regards to focusing, with the help of its aperture of f1.4, the lens handles itself remarkably well, keeping track of what’s needed at all times. For photography genres such as portraiture, the autofocus is incredibly responsive and quick to react to facial recognition and the eyes.

Summary

As far as an all-round package goes, the Sigma 85mm f1.4 provides just that. Its compact and lightweight nature makes it an enjoyable lens to travel with, allowing you to be versatile and creative with your photography without feeling like you’ve been holding a bundle of bricks in your hands while shooting all day long. The small size of the lens effectively makes it the ultimate pocket rocket choice, backed up with a sturdy and adequate build quality, and the image quality to die for, you can’t ask for much more.

This lens especially appeals to portrait photographers and those who enjoy shooting within the night, the perfect duo of focal length and the wide/low aperture really enhances the sharpness and details within the photos taken. With the ability to create a further sense of focus and subject separation, this lens is a powerful tool which with time will allow you to enhance your photography game to the next level.

With a retail price of £979.00, the lens provides more than adequate value for money with the many positives and features it brings to the table. With the Sony equivalent being more expensive, and in comparison matching each other and relatively being the same, the Sigma is a very worthy choice for a 85mm lens, the only difference being you’re not paying for the brand name.