We, astrophotographers, commonly refer to fast telescopes as "light buckets". But I can easily say that this Sigma is a light bucket too. The optical engineers did a really good job. Thanks for the review! 👍👍👍
I got this lens a week ago and got to take some shots of the Milky Way at Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a new moon and the shots were simply spectacular. I'm soooooo happy with this lens. Also happy to find this channel. I've subscribed.
@sigmaphoto how can we help apply pressure to Canon so we can finally get you to start building the world’s most magnificent RF glass? Please & thank you.
Congratulations 🏆 on a magnificent job done. You are always first in the astro photography field. thanks as always for making us share your tips, tricks and share your experiences in this field. Greetings from Luca (Switzerland)👍
@@LonelySpeck Exactly. I guess in theory, you should be able to set focus, lock it and never touch it again no matter how many times it goes in and out of the camera bag.
Damn, that is actually really impressive wide open. I'd consider myself a pixel peeper and I think I'd use this wide open... If it didn't weigh as much as my 100-400 😅
I've been putting off getting the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 for quite a while now hoping that a f/1.4 eventually comes out, so this seems like an answer to my prayers..!
@@LonelySpeck That would be super helpful, i bet a lot of people is sitting at the fence now trying to decide if the extra weight and size of the Sigma is justified. I am a firm believer of brighter the better at night, even 2/3 of a stop is huge gain for me if no other compromise optically. Looking forward to see your next video .
@@Tugela60 the Sony 15mm/1.4 is made for covering APS-C sensors only so it's a completely different class of lens that's not comparable. The 15/1.4 has a diagonal angle of view of 86° on APS-C cameras. The full frame Sigma 14/1.4 DG DN Art here has a much larger diagonal angle of view of 114° on full frame sensors.
@@LonelySpeck My camera has a crop sensor, so this lens is pretty much the same as the 15mm F1.4, other than the extra 1 mm in focal length. And about 5x heavier of course. The image per square inch is the same, the only difference is the size of the sensor, meaning the 15mm would have viginetting since it was not designed to cover a full frame sensor. You could stick the 15mm on a full frame camera btw, you would only lose the corners.
Glad to see you post new video, i learn so much from you since i started this hobby. For hyperlapse i always use sigma 16mm f1.4 + sony a7s classic on a gimbal and crop some vignette in post. This sigma 14mm f1.4 however really suite my need. Great review Ian, clear skies
Hi John, awesome video... finally i was able to find a video where the lens is actually tested with astrophotography... i really enjoyed this content and i was wondering if you may have some sample raws of the stars and milkyway that we could download. I'm feeling very tempted to dive into astrophotography and this lens looks amazing but i would love to see some shots i could play with in lightroom to see if i move one step forward. Thanks in advance for such a great video!
Hi Ian 👋 . Great to see you're still doing reviews like this. Some beautiful shots in there. I really want this lens. Annoying they're not making it for my ancient Nikon F mount. Guess I'll have to look into adapters from Sony to Z to F 😂. Or change systems.....
@@lastquarterphotographyThanks !! You'll need to grab a new camera for this one. With such a short flange focal distance, the only cameras you can mount to are Sony E or Leica L.
@@LonelySpeck it's Chris from Lake Tekapo in NZ by the way. Yeah I knew they weren't making them for any other mount. However the nikon Z mount is an even shorter flange than sony (18mm) at 16mm. Thought they might make it for Z mount but alas, no plans that I've heard of.
@@lastquarterphotography Chris! I didn't look at your username. If you needed to justify buying a Sony body, you could take the route of getting one and then adapting your Z lenses to that body. Best of both worlds?
@@LonelySpeck except I don't even have z mount 😥 . Still using the old DSLR dinosaur D810A and F mount lenses. Still a great camera and the Sigma 14 f1.8 still a nice lens for astro.......would be nice though. One day.
Great review, I really hope Canon's new third party deal means that those of us who've stuck with that ecosystem will get our hands on a beast like this sometime soonish.
If Canon allowed Sigma DN Art lenses for RF mount, I'd probably switch to Canon in a heartbeat. I just love Canon's camera designs from an ergonomics perspective.
Hey Ian, the E mount with tripod collar is sweet! I have had an EF version which doesn't have that. On my 6D Mark ii, it takes amazing shots. I've never stacked any but those MW shots of yours inspire me to do that at some point. And those hyperlapse images are awesome. When you can check out the 105mm f1.4, a beast of a lens! AND Glad you didn't encounter any gators! They're pretty common there.
Alligators! Out here in AZ it's usually the javalinas that scare the hell out of you at night. 😀 Great review! Likely will rent this one to check it out. I'll often lightpaint if possible for Milky Way, so that 1.4 will really help there. Beautiful looking lens, great review. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the review, Ian 🤗. It was great review and beautiful cinematography 🤩. Technically the lens is magic, but the size and weight are the elephant in the room.
Great review as always Ian, I really hope that Canon and Sigma sort things out so that they make a RF mount for this lens so I can keep my Canon Ra. Some how I think I could be waiting a long time lol. Hope you and the family are keeping well, best wishes from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK ✨😉
I'm right there with you. I wish Canon could just see that if they opened the RF mount, it would just bring more people into their system. I want to see modern Sigma Art glass on an R5.
Nice review. Looks like a good lens. I want it on z mount without having to use an adapter. PS what I would say is aberrations hide a bit when shooting in moonlight - ie less contrast. But from what I seen from Nico, this looks very nicely done.
I wonder how this compares with the f/1.8 GM lens. I'm interested because I have a Nikon 105 mm f/1.4, which I chose over the Sigma equivalent mainly based on the Nikon version having greater transmission at f/1.4 (or any other aperture for that matter) - amounting to about two-thirds of a stop. So, the Sigma let through similar amount of light to a hypothetical f/1.8 Nikon. If the GM transmits two-thirds of a stop more light than the Sigma, both should have similar exposure despite the aperture difference. But I want one of the two.
14mm f/1.4 is fastest single 14mm lens made, yes, but I shoot 14mm f/1.0 ... using Sigma 20/1.4 in EF mount with speedbooster in FF mode despite vignetting . Heck, on m43 GH5S I can use a 0.64 speedbooster, go f/0.9 ... or use Rokinon 35/1.2 at f/0.77 ... or Mitakon 50/0.95 at f/0.6 ... of course not as wide because of small sensor. 😊
Fantastic Story. Now the question stand is - who wrote the story, sigma or you. 2nd question - who will write the book. Voice is good as well. From INDIA
Another BIGMA lens, weight 1170 g (2.58 lb), Length 150 mm (5.91″), Diameter101 mm (3.98″). I am very happy with my Sony 14mm 1.8 GM which are MUCH smaller and lighter weight 460 g (1.01 lb), Length 100 mm (3.94″), Diameter 83 mm (3.27″).
I (quite often) still shoot Sigma EF glass adapted to my R5… because it is just. that. good. Don’t get me wrong, RF glass is amazing. My point here is, I’m ready for Canon to release RF mount mojo to third party lens manufacturers.
Very much agreed. I feel like having Sigma glass available in a camera system instantly adds so much value to that system as a whole. RF mount could really benefit here.
Sony 14mm 1.8 is 1/3 the weight much and much smaller. Let’s not forget even a slight breeze acts like a sail on your rig. This would work well in a lab with four walls but we all shoot outside in weather conditions and would cause more vibration with wind on long exposures. As far a being fast, I have never shoot a lens that wasn’t stopped down 1 to 2 stops as works much better especially in the corners. The 20mm Sony came close. I do think the Sony 14mm 1.8 price used will plummet.
I ran the numbers on Photopills Spot Stars between 14mm f/1.8 and 14mm 1.4 using your camera listed A7iii. Accurate is 7.64s and Default is 15.27s and 1.8 is Accurate is 8.08s and Default is 16.16. The S cameras were on average 10s for Accurate and 20s for default. I took the bait and hook for Sigma f/1.8 was a tank and coma and elongated stars in corners had to use at f/4 mostly. I do understand using a lens a few stops up just for the reason of comas wide open. You used 6s so you were going for accurate. I have the Sony 14mm f/1.8 and it is sharp at the closest to camera with sea shells and grains of sand to the horizon where the buildings of a beach city are lit and comm towers are also sharp and in focus enough to make out what they are, I see 20/10 so even my vision sees them clearly at night. But the Sigma 14mm 1.8 was not as also Milky Way Mike pointed out in a video. I made my point so the added switches do make some things easier but must ask does that manual lock work if turning the camera off and on, I run and gun so I will turn off some times and wait for another framing and a lens with the new rail focusing you have to refocus to infinity manually but the Sony 1.8 lens does AF on the stars so going manual it is real close and manual keeps it there. But if history stays the same Sony will have the 1.4 soon. I would like to see Sony come out with instead a 12mm 1.8 or 1.4 like the APS-C E 10-18mm f/4 OSS (15-27mm) but can be used at 12mm-18mm (18mm if you remove the light shield) in FF, I used at 12mm in '15 before a 12mm was ever thought of and yes pinpoint stars at f/4 20s, the best part all so small and threads for front filters and with today's Haida rear lens filter holder you can use the clear night in back and the 100x100 filter mount using the threads and using the Star Glow up front keeping just above the horizon, that would be kicking it. and the lens is smaller than the 14, 20 or 24 and no need for a filter holder like the 14 or 12-24mm tulip fronts. Were the 14mm comes in handiest is late season (July and August) MW ARC panos when the ARC top is so high in portrait view and and the late season when vertical and doing a landscape view pano going vertical. If you do panos at night then no need for a 14 or even a 12. Lastly I have been following and learning from your site since you started and even though the place you went had no real great foreground your images are greater than great, Awesome!!!!
I like that you dont believe in the '500 rule', and even 250 is too sloppy. now you are talking the125 (via the app calculations) At this point you should probably buy a track mount, then you can expose as long as the accuracy of your polar alignment. then panorama to get rid of the bad edges. and when the lens decentres itself over time, just use ai sky replacement. But seriously, 40mm sigma and a tracked panorama is where it is at. Huge resolution to pixel peep with.
Looks interesting, but at this price and weight point, I'd stick to either my laowa 12 2.8 or sony 20 1.8, with or without a tracker. Anyone serious enough to spend 1600 on a single lens for just astro, would have a tracker, so the 1.4 aperture wouldn't be necessary. The only real scenario it would made sense is with aurora photography, where you need relatively short (for astro) duration but get as much light as possible.
Like I said in the review, I still think there is a tangible benefit of f/1.4, especially for timelapsing. That's a task that doesn't necessarily pair with a star tracker, so any extra light gathering makes a difference.
You were here too early. It takes time for RU-vid to process uploaded videos for higher quality versions of those videos. If you watch now, you should be able to watch it in formats up to 4K.
the last sigma lens I bought for astro, I had to buy a collar seperate. same with the last Tamron (the collar retained resale value!) I hate that. The last time I had a sony FF, I had to focus on stars manually (10x focus peak zoom on 14mm lol) I hate that. I also used the rear filters on that last sigma, (dust city!) and well... I hated that. Interesting the dark sky park. ahh, its a pivot for an alligator infested area. Quick question, how did you drive your van out without breaking the white light rules?
The cameras used for this video were the Sony a7C (mostly filming) and Sony a7III (mostly stills) along with a Google Pixel 6a for certain equipment shots.
Looks great! Let’s hope Sigma will release it in Z mount version soon. By the way, have you tried Lightroom’s new AI denoise? From my tests it performs even better than stacking 19 individual exposures with Starry Landscape Stacker… I’m still taking the extra exposures just in case, but it really looks like we won’t have to anymore! 😮
@@johnbenoy7532 unfortunately AI denoise only works with raw images, it doesn’t work with tif files, like the ones you may get out of Starry Landscape Stacker.
I think if I were gonna attempt a hyperlapse like that I'd put the rig on wheels. Can't imagine picking it up over and over again like that. That seems like hard-mode.
What is the wrap you put on the lens help with? I am always dealing with moisture on my lens at -20 shooting the Aurora from fog. Have to stop shooting to dry the lens. That moisture wrap would help me. Can you help me by explaining on the Sigma in more detail about the gap near the end of lens & why the wrap would be needed? Any info would be greatly appreciated!
It's called a dew heater. I use the "Haida Anti-Fog Belt", but they all tend to be similar and are typically powered via a usb power bank. Here's a B&H affiliate link with the one I use: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1674102-REG/haida_hd4635_anti_fog_belt_lens.html/BI/19611/KBID/12104
The 16/1.4 DC is a whole different tool since it's an APS-C lens. Narrower field of view and smaller image circle than this one. That said, it'l is a wonderful lens in its own right.
Why would sigma only release it for Sony which already have a 14 mm 1.8? Why not for Nikon Z mount? I have been waiting. For native Z mount wide angle prime (14 mm) for Z mount since Z mount was introduced.
It's also available in L-mount for Panasonic, Leica, and Sigma. As I understand it, they've been licensing the use of the Sony E mount for many years and only just made a deal with Nikon for the Z mount with their first Z lenses released in February. I imagine that this lens was in the works for a long time before the Nikon Z deal and they likely need to perform some additional engineering to start bringing their existing lens designs to Nikon Z.
@@LonelySpeck Thank you for your reply. I am really waiting for such a lens. And I am a #nikon shooter, with the addition of Z8, things have really streamlined.
Love Sigma Art glass! Sigma used to be crap. They reinvented themselves. I own a 20mm, 35 and 50. I hope they releases this for Canon EF mount. I presently use the MF Rokinon 14mm F 2.8, and a Tamron 15-30 mm, f 2.8 with IS and auto focus. I've taken some 1 second+ handheld astro shots that blew my mind with this lens.
Thank you for the review, but one important detail missing: how would this lens perform on a high-res sensor like the Sony A7RM4 or M5?! Any thoughts on that? TIA...
@@LonelySpeck - I am not sure how that statement could be made. The lens needs to have the resolving power in the first place to deal with a 60 MP sensor. That is not a given. I really think this lens needs to be tested on an A7RM5 to pass any judgment with any credibility. I had a lot of Leica R mount lenses I used to shoot with my Nikon D700 and D3 cameras. They were the greatest lenses I had ever seen... on a 12 MP camera. When the Nikon D800E came out (and I bought one), suddenly these great Leica R lenses were exposed as frauds. They were just ugly on a 36 MP sensor, and I sold all my Leica R lenses. So while I appreciate your reviews, IMHO, your reviews are not complete until you put them through the acid test of a 60MP sensor!
@@royprasadell the metric by which I gauge a lens for astrophotography, is aberration size, relative to the frame height, rather than resolution. In this case, that means that the 6 pixel length of the aberration at f/1.4 on a 24MP camera is 0.15% of the frame height (4000px). Because this gives us a measurement relative to the sensor size, it doesn't change for a higher resolution camera like the a7RV. Basically, I would expect the aberration to be about 9 pixels on the 61MP sensor... also 0.15% of the frame height. My threshold for recommending a lens is usually when it can have less than 1.5% of the frame height for the aberration size. This lens is an order of magnitude better than that even. You can read about this here: www.lonelyspeck.com/a-practical-guide-to-lens-aberrations-and-the-lonely-speck-aberration-test/
@@LonelySpeck - Interesting (and probably the correct) way of gauging the aberration, similar to say, distortion. That does make it independent of the sensor. I still wonder what the resolving power of this lens is at f/1.4 - just because I can collect a 61 MP file from a Sony A7RM5 doesn't mean whatever lens I used actually delivered 61 MP worth of detail. But Sigma knows a thing or two about optics and most of the recent Sigma lenses have been very sharp, so I'd give Sigma the benefit of doubt that this lens will deliver a lot of fine detail at f/1.4. Thanks again for a good review.
This is the same question that needs to be posed for most f/1.8 vs f/1.4 primes. Pretty much pick any focal length and compare and you'll get a similar weight and dimension comparison. Usually about 2x-3x the weight to go with the f/1.4 vs the f/1.8.
I have a lens that is having a firmware issue when paired with my camera. The solution to fixing the problem is disabling Lens Aberration Correction. Is this going to interfere with photographing stars?
I'm running a simplified version of this: www.lonelyspeck.com/diy-building-your-own-large-format-panorama-head/ where I swapped the panorama rotator for a Leofoto RH-1L clamp and the leveling base is the one integrated into my Leofoto LS-255CEX
you know, it was only 7 years ago and canon had reputation for badly clipped blacks but now with the uptake of more canon mirorless out there, I see it has pivoted to be called 'air glow'. lol
It's a great camera, but totally overkill for most things. I'd put it more as a birding camera personally, but its sensor is wonderful for low light and the extra resolution is always nice.
@@LonelySpeck I bought it 2 years ago so I'm "stuck" with it (first world problems haha). Do you know if "stareater" is still a problem with the A1 and astro? I'm in Egypt choosing a location to shoot the Milky Way with the pyramids at the new moon on Saturday...my first astro photo with the camera.
@@nazukeoya ever since the a7III, "star eater" really hasn't been a huge issue as they improved their processing. Sony still weirdly processes their raws for noise in later cameras though and sometimes you can see artifacts of that, buy overall very minor when compared to the first and second generation a7 camera.
