Lens review, SIGMA 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM

Hey everybody,

the last few days I had the chance to take the new SIGMA 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art for some test shoots and today I want to share some thoughts about it with you.

Let’s start with some technical facts: The lens covers a focus range of 24 to 105mm and the angle of vision reaches from 84,1 – 23,3 degrees. The lens weighs about 885 grams and the filter diameter is around 82 mm.

The lens has a consistent luminosity of 4 and can also resort to an image stabilizer. The closest focusing distance is 42 cm and it comes with a lens hood. The first thing I noticed when holding the lens in my hands, was its high-quality processing.

Some of you might wonder if the new SIGMA 24-105 is as good as the rest of the Art series lenses, like the 35 Art or the 50 Art.
I’d have to answer that with YES and NO at the same time.
A zoom lens can never be compared to a fixed focal length. If a fixed focal length wouldn’t still be better, the fixed focal length lenses would be totally useless. Nevertheless is the 24-105 a very good lens with top optical capacities, great focus and amazing focal distance coverage!

Among the benefits of this particular lens are of course the excellent processing and its high quality. The high focal distance coverage is perfect for travel photography, but also for all kinds of photo reportages. Since there is no need for time-consuming lens changes, it allows you to work faster and more efficient. It’s also a great lens for portrait photography, especially with the focal length between 50 and 105mm, which is basically a “classical portrait focal length” already. Another benefit is the image stabilizer, which is able to compensate at least 1 or 2 apertures. The lens also possesses an image stabilizer when it comes to videos. The 45cm closest focusing distance allows you to get really close to your objects. Even with a wide opened aperture (f4) the lens convinces with its excellent sharpness.

The zoom is fast and easy to handle, I didn’t have any troubles with it and was convinced by it, even in conditions of sparse light.

But, after all that praise, I also noticed some things about it, which I didn’t like. When it comes to the short focal lengths in combination with an open aperture, there is obvious vignetting visible. You can easily remove it with the RAW converter though.
The heaviness of the lens is also not really an advantage, but who would complain about that when considering its high quality of processing.
The lens also shows some distortion when it comes to a focal length of about 45mm and one other thing I would criticize is that the 24-105 lens only comes with an aperture 4. It would definitely be awesome if it would come with a higher luminosity level, but one has to remember that the only comparable lens (Canon 24-105mm) also only comes with an aperture 4.

In total, the lens really convinced me with its versatility, speed and really great sharpness.

Yours , Tamara 🙂