10 Things You Need To Know About The Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN APS-C Lens

Earlier this month Sigma introduced three new lenses The 17mm F4 DG DN which we reviewed in a separate video, the 50mm F2 DG DN (which we also reviewed in depth), and the Sigma 23mm f/1.4 DC DN APS-C lens which shall briefly look at today.

Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN – 10 Things to Know

Here are 10 things you need to know about if you are considering the new Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN lens.

Aperture and angle of view – The lens has a fast f/1.4 aperture with 9 aperture blades.
Angle of view – Sigma 23mm f/1.4 covers an APS-C sensor which is comparable to a 35mm angle of view on a FF sensor. We also tested it both in crop and FF mode on the A7R V and you can see the results below (not too bad actually if you are OK with some vignette).
Image from the Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN shot on the A7R V (FF mode)

Image from the Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN shot on the A7R V (crop mode)
Optical Design – 13 elements in 10 groups with a front element that accepts 52mm filters.
Mounts – it comes in an E-mount, L-mount, and Fuji X mount (it is possible that a Nikon Z mount will be available later on as the rest of the Sigma DC line is now available for Nikon Z mount).
Size and Weight – The lens is just a tiny bit larger than the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 but quite a bit smaller than the 16mm measuring just under 8cm (or around 3”).
Focusing – the lens focused very well both in good and low lighting conditions in stills and video (although our aging Sony A6500 definitely shows its age in this area, we really want Sony to finally update its APS-C lineup).
Sharpness – The sharpness is good in both the center and corners wide open with some improvement around f/2.
Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN sharpness center – f/1.4 (left), f/2 (right) on A6500

Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN sharpness corners – f/1.4 (left), f/2 (right) on A6500
Close-up sharpness – it has an official close-up distance of 25cm (22cm in MF according to our testing) with a pretty unimpressive magnification of 1:7.3. The sharpness in the center wide open was not amazing but it got better at f/2, and the corners were still soft at this aperture.
Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN sharpness close up center – f/1.4 (left), f/2 (right) on A6500

Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN sharpness close up corner – f/1.4 (left), f/2 (right) on A6500
Breathing – the Sigma has quite a lot of breathing as you can see in the video.
Chromatic aberration – the lens certainly has some CA wide open which improves quite a bit at f/2 although it still exists to some degree.
Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN CA center – f/1.4 (left), f/2 (right) on A6500

Pricing and availability

The Sigma 23mm F/1.4 DC DN sells for $550.

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Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.