Today we are taking a look at two new 50mm lenses announced in early 2023 by Sigma – the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens and the more recent Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN contemporary lens.
Intro
In early April 2023, Sigma introduced 3 compact lenses. The 17mm F4 DG DN that we reviewed in a separate video, the 50mm F2 DG DN that we shall be testing today, and the Sigma 23mm f/1.4 DC DN APS-C lens (which we also got but will only cover briefly). Just a few weeks prior to this announcement the company introduced another 50mm lens, the 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art.
This gave us a chance to compare the two 50mm lenses which is what we shall be doing in this article.
The Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN (left) and the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art
Optical Design
The 50mm F2 DG DN has an optical design that includes 11 elements in 9 groups with 1 SLD and 3 aspherical elements.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has a more complex optical design which includes 14 elements in 11 groups with 1 SLD and 3 aspherical elements.
Materials
The 50mm F2 DG DN has the same fantastic metal design and build as the rest of the Sigma I series and is fairly compact.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is a much bigger and bulkier lens similar to other recent Art series lenses but with a few additions that we shall discuss in a moment.
The gorgeous build of the Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN
Size and weight
The 50mm F2 DG DN is a very light lens at under 350g / 12.3oz (without the metal hood). It is also pretty compact at about 8.5cm / 3″ long.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is a more substantial lens at around 660g / 23.2oz (without the plastic hood). It is also much longer at about 12cm/4.5″ long.
Rings
The 50mm F2 DG DN has a fairly narrow focus ring in the front and a very thin aperture ring closer to the camera. The focus ring is very well dampened and the aperture ring moves in clicks only.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has a very wide focus ring in the front and a narrow aperture ring in the back. The focus ring has slightly more resistance to it compared to the F2 version and the aperture ring can also be de-clicked for video shooting.
Buttons and switches
The 50mm F2 DG DN has a single AF/MF switch. We would really like Sigma to start adding an aperture lock and a de-click switch to this line.
Luckily both of these are now present on the 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens as well as an AF/MF switch and a programmable AFL button.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art – buttons\switches
Sealing
Both lenses are marketed as dust and moisture-resistant with rubber gaskets at the back.
Mount
At the moment both lenses come in a full frame E mount and L mount variants (we tested the E-mount version).
The Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN
Hood
The 50mm F2 DG DN has the same metal hood as the rest of the I series adding around 4cm/1.5″ to the length of the lens.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has a much larger plastic hood which adds 6cm/2.5″. It also has a release button which is a nice touch.
Aperture
The 50mm F2 DG DN has 9 aperture blades.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has 11 aperture blades. We will see later on in the review how both perform in the bokeh department.
The aperture ring on the 50mm f/1.4 DG DN
Filter
The 50mm F2 DG DN has a small and not-so-common 58mm front filter thread.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has a much larger 72mm front filter thread.
Performance
Focusing
We tested focusing on both lenses. The 50mm F2 DG DN focused very quickly and priestly in good lighting conditions on our A1 in video but struggled a bit in very low lighting conditions (ISO 12,800). In stills, it also struggled a bit in low light but it was accurate in both situations.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art seems even faster to focus and had no issues focusing both in good lighting conditions or very low light in stills or video.
We also tested the focus throw of both lenses and sadly like all other Sigma lenses we tested to date, they do not have a linear throw which means that you won’t be able to achieve precise repeated focus pulls when shooting video.
Image stabilization
Both lenses have no built-in image stabilization so you will have to rely on sensor stabilization.
Sharpness
We tested the sharpness of both lenses using our special large professional Imatest high-end chart on our Sony A1.
The 50mm F2 DG DN is quite sharp and wide open with a small improvement at around f/2.8 in the center.
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN CA sharpness (center) – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
In the corners, the lens is not as sharp with an improvement between f/4 and f/5.6.
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN CA sharpness (corner) – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has so so sharpness wide open in the center with a huge improvement at around f/2.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art sharpness test (center) – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
The corners are actually fairly sharp even wide open but they do get significantly brighter as you close down.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art sharpness test (corner) – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
We recently completed a review of the Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II and since we have it for a few more days we compared it to the new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art and you can see the results wide open both in the center where the Sigma seems to have a small advantage over the Samyang.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art (left) vs. Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II (right) sharpness test (center) @f/1.4
As well as in the corners where the Sigma seems to have a big advantage over the Samyang.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art (left) vs. Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II (right) sharpness test (corner) @f/1.4
Close up performance
The 50mm F2 DG DN has an official minimum close focusing distance of 45 (and 42cm in our test with manual focus) with a maximum macro magnification of 1:6.9.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has the same official minimum close focusing distance of 45cm (but around 41cm with manual focus in our test) and has a maximum macro magnification of 1:6.8.
When it comes to sharpness close up the 50mm F2 DG DN isn’t very sharp wide open in the center of the image but improves considerably as you stop down. The corners however stay pretty blurry even at f/5.6.
Sigma 50mm f/2 DG DN close-up sharpness test (center) – left f/2, center f/4, right f/5.6
Sigma 50mm f/2 DG DN close-up sharpness test (corners) – left f/2, center f/4, right f/5.6
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art also isn’t very sharp wide open but improves considerably in the center starting from around f/2. The corners improve quite a bit starting from f/2.8.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art close-up sharpness test (center) – left f/1.4, center f/2, right f/4
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art close-up sharpness test (corner) – left f/1.4, center f/2, right f/4
Breathing
Both lenses seem to suffer from quite heavy breathing in our testing as you can see (check our video).
Chromatic aberrations
The 50mm F2 DG DN seems to have chromatic aberrations well controlled in our longitudinal chromatic aberrations test.
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN CA test – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art demonstrates more or less the same performance.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art CA test – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
Flare
Both lenses seem to have some flare when faced with bright front light sources with some purple and green tint as well as quite a bit of haze, especially on the 50mm F2 DG DN (see a demo in our video).
Vignette
With shading compensation turned off in the camera the 50mm F2 DG DN has quite a lot of darkening in the corners wide open which cleans up nicely between f/2.8 and f/4.
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN vignette test – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has a ton of vignette wide open which doesn’t really go away completely when you close down and at f/4 is more visible than on the 50mm F2 DG DN.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art vignette test – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN (left) vs. the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art (right) at f/4
Barrel distortion
Looking at the geometric distortion of both lenses with camera distortion compensation turned off we see an interesting difference.
The 50mm F2 DG DN has fairly minor barrel distortion in our test.
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN – a little barrel distortion
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art on the other hand has a very pronounced pincushion distortion which is quite surprising for a lens at this focal length.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art – strong pincushion distortion
Bokeh
The 50mm F2 DG DN has fairly large bokeh circles, however, these are not round or super clean wide open although at f/2.8 they improve considerably without losing too much of their original size.
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN bokeh test – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art shows a similar pattern however this starts at f/1.4 with around f/2 being the optimal aperture in terms of bokeh shape and size.
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art bokeh test – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
Sample images
We had a very short time to shoot with both of these lenses before the official announcement. Here are a few shots we captured with our A1 and A7R V with both lenses (no editing was done apart from crop/resizing):
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art images
Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN images
Conclusion
Both of these new Sigma lenses impressed us in their own way. The 50mm F2 DG DN has a fantastic build quality, very good image quality, and is small and light and great for travel.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is a faster lens and hence larger, heavier, and more expensive, but you do get what you pay for with this lens with useful features such as an aperture lock, de-click mode, and a programable AFL button. Image quality is very good across the frame and it is sharper than the 50mm F2 DG DN at F/2 or the Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE II wide open.
Both lenses have some quirks and limitations that we have covered, some can be overcome with in-camera corrections (or in post) but none are really deal breakers in our view.
We are living in a time where we have a huge variety of 50mm lenses to choose from for Sony cameras. After testing both lenses you are not going to go wrong with any of these them, depending of course on your needs and budget.
Size comparison between the Sigma 50mm 1.4 and Sigma 50mm f/2 lenses
Pricing
Talking about budget, the 50mm F2 DG DN will sell for $640.
The 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art currently sells for around $850, about 260 dollars less than the Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE II (the Samyang price fluctuates).
You can check out more LensVid exclusive articles and reviews on the following link.
Iddo Genuth 
You can support LensVid by shopping with our affiliate partners
Affiliates: Amazon, B&H, Adorama and E-bay.
Why should you trust us?
Hi, what are your thoughts on the Sigma f2 vs the Zeiss 55mm 1.8? I own the Zeiss but I’ve always had a few niggles with it’s image quality and I find the body scratches very easily.
I’m trying to work out if it’s word trading for the sigma f2.
Hi Darren. Since we own the Zeiss 55mm and hoestly are not big fans of this lens we can say that the Sigma is better – we didn’t do a side by side buy we did do a side by side to the Samyang 50mm f/1.4 II and the Zeiss and since you can see in this review a comparison betwen the Samyang and the faster Sigma 50mm f/1.4 – you can sort of extrapolate. Again its not a direct comparison but you can sort of get the idea.