Before today's protagonist makes an appearance, we want to know about the focal length preference when you choose your first full-frame zoom lens, and blindly guess that 24-70mm should be a big hit, after all, when we do the statistics of excellent photographer equipment, this is one of the hottest focal lengths.
As a general in the well-known "big three yuan", the practicality and ease of use of 24-70mm have been widely recognized. Today, manufacturers are constantly updating their lenses with the most advanced technologies, processes, and materials, as Sigma has recently launched with the 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II|Art.
Focal length differences in standard-change lenses
Taking the most mature 24-70mm focal length as an example, it covers 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm and other classic and commonly used fixed focal lengths, which can be taken in landscapes, humanities, still lifes, and portraits. It's true that there are many people who love large-aperture prime lenses, but zoom lenses largely eliminate the focus of the lens.
A glimpse of Mount Everest from an airplane
The history of the 24-70mm focal length dates back to the early 2000s. In the mirrorless era, for the sake of lightweight, there are also standard zoom segments such as 28-70mm and 28-75mm, which are mainly made at the wide-angle end.
It seems that 24mm is only 4mm wider than 28mm, but as we all know, every 1mm of the wide-angle focal length is expensive, especially for selfie vlogs, using 28mm to take a selfie is too close, using 24mm can not only shoot more surroundings, the proportion of people in the picture is also more coordinated, and when shooting, the arm can also be slightly bent, so as to save some effort.
In addition, there are standard zoom segments such as 20-70mm and 24-105mm, which extend the wide-angle end and telephoto end respectively, which is more targeted to meet everyone's needs for the focal length. Most of these two focal lengths are paired with an F4 aperture, and the few F2.8 lenses struggle to balance portability.
What makes the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 II unique?
This year, Sigma has already made a big show with several heavyweight products, and the 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II, one of the big triads in the Art series, is also well-stocked, which includes 6 FLD lenses, 2 SLD lenses and 5 double-sided aspherical lenses. Compared to the previous generation, although the lens group structure is almost identical, it has been upgraded in terms of materials. As a result, the lens also has excellent infinity image quality, and its close-up capabilities have been further improved.
At the 24mm end, the minimum focusing distance can reach 17 cm, and the maximum magnification is 1:2.7, which is close to the level of a macro lens. Without installing a lens hood, it is almost possible to shoot "close to the face", which is why it is also necessary to pay attention to the problem of supplemental light.
The Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II is about 10% lighter than the previous generation of lenses, weighing about 745g/735g (L-mount/E-mount) and reducing the barrel diameter by more than 2mm. On the outside, it's noticeably lighter, and the lens body is slimmer, but the front of the lens is still 82mm in size.
The Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II continues the exterior design of the Art series, with a textured metal body, equipped with a variety of control rings and buttons, including focus ring, zoom ring, aperture ring, AF/MF switch button, and two AFL buttons for portrait shooting.
It is worth mentioning the zoom lock switch, which is not completely impossible to turn the zoom ring when dialed to LOCK, but pushes it out with a little force. It not only prevents the lens from sticking out due to its own weight sagging, but also responds quickly when encountering sudden shooting opportunities.
In addition, there are CLICK keys on both sides of the aperture ring, the former is used to switch between stepped/unstepped apertures, and the latter can fix the aperture ring in the Auto position.
Although there are differences in the appearance and button design of Sigma's lenses for different series and different focal lengths, they are generally very rich and practical and in line with the operating logic, which is why these lenses can adapt to the needs of various brands of body and photo/video shooting.
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 II in action
We recently traveled to Nepal with the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II to stroll through the Tamil neighborhood of Kathmandu, shooting with F2.8 to blur the crowd as much as possible, avoiding overly complex compositions and making the subject more defined.
Even at the 24mm wide-angle end, there is a noticeable bokeh effect. And when the lens optical compensation in the camera is turned on, the distortion and vignetting angle when the aperture is fully open are effectively controlled.
Coming to the 70mm end, in addition to the bokeh effect of F2.8 itself, the medium focus can also bring a certain degree of compression, the picture atmosphere is great, and the rich and practical focal length of 24-70mm is very suitable for street sweeping.
In the shooting, we used the 24.2 million pixel Panasonic S5M2X, and the 70mm shooting long view may be a bit insufficient, but fortunately, it is very sharp when the aperture is wide open, and the crocodile texture is also very rich after zooming in. If it is paired with a higher pixel model, it will have better image quality performance, and it can withstand magnification and cropping.
Crocodiles in predation
The center of the image above is partially enlarged (due to platform limitations, the image quality is lost)
The little monkey purple under the prayer flag
The center of the image above is partially enlarged (due to platform limitations, the image quality is lost)
A beam of light shines through the gap of the canyon to form the Tyndall effect, and the rock wall of the mountain will see a very slight color edge under the backlight of the maximum light ratio, which can be eliminated by closing the aperture. Dispersion is almost only visible at magnification at such extremes, and is only visible when shooting at maximum aperture.
The center of the image above is enlarged, showing slight color fringing.
The Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II does a good job of controlling flare when it comes to strong light sources, with only slight flare around the sun and no ghosting, making the overall look and feel very impressive, perfect for backlit landscapes or portraits.
Sigma's recent series of lenses have improved in focus, and this 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II is no exception, and it also uses an HLA high-speed linear motor to push the lightweight focusing lens group, such as a person or animal during rapid movement, the focus can be followed well, after all, it is three times faster than the old model~
For example, when shooting a video, the focus is switched between near and far, and the focus transition is natural and smooth. Overall, the 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II is capable of doing a good job of shooting most images and videos, as well as responding quickly to scenes that require fast capture.
Theory test
001 resolution test
TIPS: In order to fully test the resolution performance of this lens, we used the S5M2X's high-pixel mode (rocker) to shoot the resolution plate.
At 24mm, the center sharpness is high when the aperture is wide open, the corners are not soft, and the contrast is high, and the improvement of image quality by shrinking the aperture is not particularly obvious.
Overall, the 24mm end ensures a very good image quality level in the range of F2.8-F8, and the attenuation begins to decrease due to light diffraction from F11.
At F2.8, the 50mm end performs well in the center image, but the corners are slightly different from the center.
Shrink the aperture by one stop, the image quality in the center is improved, and the corners are also greatly increased;
At f5.6, the best image quality at this focal length, performance at F8 is close to F5.6, and there is a slight degradation after that.
The 70mm image quality is slightly different from the wide-angle and mid-focal lengths, with the best image quality at F5.6 at F5.6 and the best at F8 at F8.
Fluctuating MTF curves
002 Bokeh Test
At 24mm, there is an aperture erosion phenomenon at the bottom edge of the maximum aperture, and when it is shrunk to F5.6, most areas of the image can have a circular bokeh spot. There is no visible bright edge and color edge in the light spot, and the performance is relatively excellent, and there is no obvious onion circle phenomenon after high magnification.
The 70mm end also has a caliber erosion phenomenon at F2.8, which is effectively alleviated when it shrinks to F4, and the overall picture has a natural transition between virtual and real.
003 Vignetting test
Slight vignetting at F2.8 is visible at both the 24mm and 70mm ends, which is greatly improved when shrinking to F4.
004 Distortion Test
Before correction, there was barrel distortion in the center of the 24mm end, and the corners were pincushion distortion, which improved after correction.
There was a slight pincushion distortion at the 50mm end before correction, but it was effectively controlled after correction.
There is also a slight pincushion distortion at the 70mm end before correction, and it can basically be horizontal and vertical after correction.
Overall, after applying profile correction, there was basically no effect on the actual shot.
005 Dispersion Test
Tips: We used the S5M2X to shoot high-contrast images at very close range, and took screenshots of in-focus and out-of-focus images at the edges of the frame to judge chromatic aberration.
At f/2.8 at 24mm, there are only very slight orange and blue margins out of focus, which are barely noticeable if you don't zoom in. It can be completely eliminated by closing the aperture by one stop.
Visible chromatic dispersion appears at the maximum aperture at 70mm, and it is still not effectively alleviated when the aperture is reduced, but after all, we shot closely, and the screenshot enlarged the edges of the frame, which is already good in its class.
The point to note here is that since this 24-70mm camera can provide close-up shots as close as 17cm (24mm end), it will also be more difficult to control the chromatic dispersion, and if you need a finer performance, you can slightly shrink the aperture or manually adjust it in post.
006 Color Tendency Test
In the 5600K environment, using the standard color mode of S5M2X, automatic white balance to shoot the Deta standard color card, the color is close to what the naked eye sees, the saturation and contrast are moderate, and the skin tone of the figure is slightly warmer.
007 Respiratory Effect Test
This test was shot at an F2.8 aperture and shot at 24mm and 70mm focal lengths, and when the focus was switched, there was basically no breathing effect, which can be called "unable to breathe", which was very helpful for photography.
008 Glare Ghost Test
There is no noticeable glare ghost when directly illuminated with a strong light source at both focal lengths.
009 Autofocus test
Focusing requires a combination of body and lens performance, so we used single-point focus and sequential focus tracking for this test, both at 24mm and 70mm, and shot at a maximum aperture of F2.8.
In the single-point focus test, the focusing speed of both focal lengths is very fast, and the use of multiple HLA motors and thinner lenses overcomes the difficulties caused by the floating focus design, which can meet the needs of single-point focusing in picture or video shooting, and the focus is decisive and silent in real shots.
In the continuous focus test, the focus frame was able to follow the subject's body or face during the S-shape running continuously and firmly, with a single frame in focus being solid. In real shots, the focus performance is also excellent when combined with the camera's other subject recognition functions, such as vehicles and animals.
Review
As one of the most mature zoom focal lengths at present, Sigma continues to tap the potential of the focal length of 24-70mm in terms of button control and shooting performance.
If you are a novice user, I would recommend you to start with this lens, maybe after using it for a while, you will have a better understanding of your needs for focus length and aperture, so you can choose some prime or other zoom lenses to combine.
If you have been in photography and videography for many years, read countless "lenses", and still think that 24-70mm is the most suitable focal length for you, then I would recommend you to choose this Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II, whether you use it for work, travel, or daily recording, you can feel the practicality and ease of use brought by this lens.
Merit:
1. The image quality is excellent at the maximum aperture at each focal length
2. Excellent performance in single-point, low-light, and continuous focusing
3. The respiratory effect is controlled in place
4. There are abundant control rings and buttons on the mirror body, which is easy to control
Shortcoming:
1. There is chromatic dispersion at the maximum aperture at the 70mm end
● 相关阅读 | Read More
单评 | 适马24-70mm F2.8 DG DN | Art
极限拆解 | 适马24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Art拆解
● 图片样片 | Sample Image
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