The Sigma AF 85/1.4 EX DG HSM delivers a very good performance and is actually the cheapest 85mm f1.4 lens with AF. In some aspects its image quality reaches Nikon’s AF-S 85/1.4G – at 60% of the price. My upcoming 85mm shootout will give you a detailed comparison.

To fully deliver its potential though you have to be very careful to focus optimally. But even then spherical aberrations / coma reduce contrast in the corners until stopped down to f2.8 for DX-bodies or f5.6 for FX-bodies. That is not a critical issue for some photos: high contrast in corners may not be crucial for portraiture or other types of photography that put one main subject in the center and benefit from fading-out the surroundings. Overall it is a worthy competitor to the Nikon AF-S 85/1.4G. So it’ll come as no surprise to learn the Sigma AF 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM easily earns our Recommended award.

Summary Good points Very good sharpness even wide open on DX and FX bodies – if you can nail the focus. Very good bokeh. Good quality build. Quiet and fast AF operation. The cheapest 85mm f1.4 lens with AF. Bad points No image stabilization. Focus has it’s intricacies – see main review for details. Spherical aberrations reduce contrast outside the center.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestion regarding the review head over to our forum here. A selection of my shots with this lens can be found on my Flickr account here.

Und wenn es irgendwelche Fragen, Kommentare und Anregungen zu meinem Review gibt, hier gibt’s die Möglichkeit auch für deutschsprachige Besucher des DSLR-Forums. Und dort ist eine Auswahl an Bildern, die ich mit dieser Linse gemacht habe.