Sigma’s new 24-105 F4 Lens
Sigma Corporation of America (www.sigmaphoto.com), today from PhotoPlus Expo 2013 announced the pricing and availability of its new 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM Art lens, aimed directly at the DSLR market.
Notably, Sigma will release the lens first with the Canon mounts, for the street price of $899. The full frame lens, which will also work with APS-C sensor cameras with an effective increase in focal length, will be available in Nikon and Sigma mounts in December, and Sony mounts will soon follow. All but the Sony mounts will incorporate Sigma’s proprietary Optical Stabilizer (OS) technology to compensate for camera shake. This functionality is omitted from Sony mounts to accommodate for that manufacturer’s in-camera image stabilization system.
The lens will compete directly with Canon’s popular L-series lens with the same configuration, which currently sells for approximately $1100 on web sites such as Amazon. This configuration is often the “go-to” lens accompanying DSLR kits in the Canon prosumer DSLR cameras, with Nikon (and Sony) offering similar configurations for that market.
Having used Sigma lenses extensively in commercial photography and more recently in DSLR-based video, I can say that the lens probably will be a surefire success (at least for Canon mount users, which now will include the Black Magic Cinema camera users). Here are more details from Sigma’s release about the lens:
The 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM covers the basic shooting range from wide to medium tele with an inner focusing system that eliminates front lens rotation, enhancing the lens stability and allowing the use of circular polarizing filters. Moreover, it was designed to surpass the required quality inspection of every Global Vision lens with Sigma’s own modulation transfer function (MTF) “A1” measuring system to create a new optical standard to align with the high-spec cameras on today’s market.
The lens offers the largest possible fixed aperture to zoom ratio that will maintain optimal integrity for many kinds of photography, including landscapes, architecture, portraiture and still-life. With a minimum focusing distance of 45cm and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:4.6, this lens is also excellent for close-up photography.
High-performance glass elements, including SLD and FLD, which is equal to fluorite, and glass-molded single- and double-sided aspheric lenses have been included into the optical system to prevent aberration, field curvature, distortions and color aberration. The 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM lens is also able to suppress chromatic aberration very effectively at the telephoto-end, and can achieve superior image quality throughout the zoom range. Unlike lenses with similar specifications, this lens overcomes low peripheral brightness. Although it is designed for full frame cameras, it also works with APS-C sensors, giving an increase to focal length.
The lens’ Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) ensures a silent, high-speed auto focus function and enables full-time manual focusing capability. The 24-105mm is also compatible with Sigma’s USB dock allowing photographers to update its firmware and change focus parameters using Sigma’s Optimization Pro software. It is also compatible with Sigma’s recently announced Mount Conversion Service.
For information about Sigma, go to www.sigmaphoto.com.
