@@TechAddict8642 agreed. it should 500 euros in europe and we got a deal. otherwise the sony g is not that more expensive. while tamron is the super cheap option with a non moustache distortion.
Chris, you are absolutely the best lens reviewer on RUclips! You use scientific method, you are thorough and you are entertaining. A real trifecta! Thanks again for all your dedication and hard work. 📸
Will you be making a review of Viltrox 13mm f1.4 for Fuji mount when it's officialy released? I bet many people would like to check that one out. Cheers ^^
I would be interesting to cross compare those, since thats basically APS-C equivalent of 20mm F2. According to rumors prices are going to be not too much different,but Viltrox looks like a significantly bigger lens.
@@tomapaunovic Indeed. Viltrox 13mm is a bit bigger, as well as little heavier. If weight is a factor, then there's Samyang AF 12mm f2, but it's not as good as Viltrox, IQ wise. According to few articles and some pictures I saw from other RUclips creators, Viltrox 13mm is quite sharp, even wide open. I would really like to get my hands on it soon. It should retail for under 500 bucks, but I am not sure how that's going to translate to serbian market ;)
@@durzog3668 Usually it translates 1-1 in EUR with VAT included :) I'm always a bit disappointed when the APS-C lens is bigger than the FF equivalent, but maybe Viltrox will provide some outstanding image quality to cover for a bigger size. At least the price will be cheaper than FF equivalents.
@@tomapaunovic True, it is a bit hefty. There's a french fellow here on RUclips, he made a comparison video between the Viltrox 13mm f1.4 and Samyang AF 12mm f2. Just turn on translation and watch the video, you should get the idea :) ruclips.net/video/HOGvee1GaGo/видео.html
Regarding the exhaustion of your superlatives: living in Pakistan, once part of British Empire, i still see the remnants of English Build Quality in my province and in my city Quetta SO i am happy and quite satisfied with your commentaries and opinions on the build qualities. here, common people in the matter of very fine taste, quality and accuracy use a phrase 'English' work has been done. liking your reviews much, God bless.
Awesome little lens. Too bad for that distortion and vignetting. Maybe you will find a way to review the sigma 70-200 f2.8 sports, sometime in the future. Or maybe the sigma 500mm f4 sports. Or some nikon f mount lenses like the 70-200 f2.8 vr1 and vr2, or the 14-24 f2.8, or something longer like the nikon 500mm f5.6 pf. Anyway, I know you don't really have much time, assuming you are working on multiple reviews at a time in order to have them coming so often, so no hurry. You are doing the best reviews on the internet!
Going to become available in a few days and this is my next purchase -- I love the idea of the I-series lenses and being a bit less expensive than there top lenses makes them a bit more affordable.
Since I am almost always adding extra vignetting in post, I don't mind that part. A vignette just focusses the attention towards the center of the frame and makes that pop out more. So I generally like that in my pictures. Some lenses have really strong vignette at the very tips, almost as if the image circle is too slightly too small, that is really distracting. But a smooth vignette like on this lens, I love it
I second/third/whatever the comments about AF-C. It's good to see the speed difference, especially considering Eye AF is almost useless in AF-S, so it gives us a good idea of how fast it would be for that even if it doesn't give us its full accuracy.
With that marginal price difference Sony G 20mm 1.8 is a better buy any day! And much more flawless. Nice review, I wished you mentioned to it's competitors as you usually do.
To add to your comment, for those who are on the new A7IV, the Sony G lens is also on the list for working with the new focus breathing correction feature. Another reason to buy the Sony over the Sigma. (Shame, because I love the look of these little sigma lenses!)
Sigma over Sony any day. Ive bought both recently thanks to positive opinions about F1.8. Sigma costs me half of what I payed for Sony and I didnt see any differences without 150% zoom. Definitely not worth the price.
Thanks for the review, Chris. This looks like a sweet lens. Per the product description, what is meant by " linear/non-linear manual focus function"? Is this similar to the linear focus feature on Lumix S Pro lenses? I shoot on the S1H, and the linear focus feature is a big improvement over typical focus-by-wire.
I don't think that Canon will ever allow third party, at least not in near future. They've effectively banned Samyang lenses with some of the latest updates.
looks like third party RF mount lenses are starting to appear. The Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 with RF mount has already been reviewed by Christopher. It's not a case of Canon not letting other companies make them.
Thank you for the excellent presentation. It would be interesting to know if in-camera vignette control is improved on a different body, eg Panasonic or in particular, Sigma's own L-mount?
How is this lens in terms of video recording? seems like it would be great for vlogging! I am looking to buy my first camera soon to upgrade from my iPhone 😬
Hi. I was also interested in this lens for video, but two things are putting me off. Firstly the lens suffers from a lot of focus breathing. The image size changes as you change focus, which can be really disturbing. Secondly, the image corners are really dark right down to f5.6. On many video cameras, eg my Sony Fs7, and I'm sure many dslr's or mirrorless cameras, this will not be compensated for.
i wasn’t expecting this at all but i was just thinking about purchasing the sigma 20mm art f1.4 so this is definitely a slightly cheaper alternative with identical performance
The art lens is huge! I bought it, but sent it back when I saw its size. It really is too large and heavy for me as a walk-about lens, though if that is not a concern, or one needs the extra stop of light, I imagine it is a good lens. I am seriously considering getting this f2 version. I have the DG DN 65mm and Christopher is not exaggerating about the build quality and sharpness of these Sigma lenses.
@@Gynra wow thank you man i really appreciate it honestly i only care about bright f-stops at portrait focal lengths so i definitely don’t need it that bright it was $700 on sigma’s official website & i didn’t know exactly how big it was tbh on photos or videos i can hardly tell that’s the only reason why i was considering it but i’ll definitely jump for the f2 after it releases for sure now 😅
Thanks for this excellent review of what appears to be a superbly built and high performing lens. It's Sony 20/1.8 rival is much admired but this Sigma lens costs £300 less in the UK. Definitely provides me food for thought.
Apart from vignetting and distortion, this looks as good (or even better) than excellent Sony 20mm 1.8 for significantly lower price. I wonder if lens profile in lightroom would be able to fully correct vignetting and distortion problems. If that's the case, then this lens is basically perfect.
I never understood the rave for build quality of cold, hard and slippery metal lenses. I much prefer the soft touch feel of modern Tamron lenses for example. They don't get dented easily either if dropped. High quality plastics are wonderful materials.
This would even be better if it is 18mm F2 with 67mm filter thread..... It's pretty hard to beat the 20mm 1.8 if its 18 atleast it has advatage being wider
@@sulev111 OK I think you need to watch in depth reviews like Dustin Abbott or even a comperehensive comparison between these 2 lens done by Tony Northrup recently.
@@networm64I think the best test is to try it out, not watching how Tony Nortrup taking pictures of a brick wall. 40% more expensive lens is slighly better, who would have thought...
Definitely not “purely down to the puny Sony mount.” The Sony 20 1.8 G doesn’t have nearly that awful of vignetting. This is absolutely on Sigma’s design approach on E mount. They don’t try particularly hard to control for vignetting and distortion within the optical design anymore. They’re designing their lenses with the assumption that the end user will just correct with in-camera correction profiles or through post processing. I have moved away from Sigma lenses specifically because of this. If I remember correctly, even the beloved 24-70 had bad distortion and vignetting on the wide end. This is just not great lens design.
Not this mount size propaganda again ;) It's been debunked many times, look at other lenses and options, compare 50/1.2GM to other bigger ones from Nikon/Canon etc. While larger mount might give you SOME head start when designing wide lenses, it doesn't mean it supersedes the quality and other parameters of the design itself. Here it's quite obvious Sigma chose to keep the lens compact on comparable level as other ones in their "i" line and looking at other reviews then maybe shouldn't have. Personally I don't mind a bit of vignetting, but the Sony 20/1.8G is available at this FL, same size, probably better in every regard (basically GM quality in G body for G price) - that doesn't happen often, Sony probably stumbled upon really good and not that expensive design, and I'd take that more in the account than Sigma did, that's all. I understand people will like it even for the form, but it'll always be with asterisk compared to 20G for 3/4 of the price. And personally I don't care, I just sold my 20G, have no need for 20mm after all with 14GM+24/1.8 Samyang.
Price: $699 / €699 / £649
Pricey
too expensive for an f2, must be max 549.
@@TechAddict8642 agreed. it should 500 euros in europe and we got a deal. otherwise the sony g is not that more expensive. while tamron is the super cheap option with a non moustache distortion.
I was waiting around 550.......😅
Love Sigma lenses but that's far too expensive for the specs.
Chris, you are absolutely the best lens reviewer on RUclips! You use scientific method, you are thorough and you are entertaining.
A real trifecta! Thanks again for all your dedication and hard work. 📸
Thanks for mentioning AF-C
Basically, Sony’s native and optimum focus mode
20mm has been such an underrated focal length, I'm glad there's more lenses being made recently!
Why is it underrated? Plenty of use cases out there
I used to love my 20mm 1.4, until I got a 35mm 1.4 and I never used the 20mm again. Sold it and never missed it.
@@jeroenvdw Same for me, I don't like 20 and 24 but it's really subjective.
I've got myself the 24mm, such a beautiful lens with fantastic IQ. Too bad this line does not have the 28mm!🍻
@@jeroenvdw is 20mm good for real estate photography?
Omg the FOCUS BREATHING of this lens. MY EYES!! I like that you test BOTH FF and APS-C!
Will you be making a review of Viltrox 13mm f1.4 for Fuji mount when it's officialy released? I bet many people would like to check that one out. Cheers ^^
I would be interesting to cross compare those, since thats basically APS-C equivalent of 20mm F2. According to rumors prices are going to be not too much different,but Viltrox looks like a significantly bigger lens.
@@tomapaunovic Indeed. Viltrox 13mm is a bit bigger, as well as little heavier. If weight is a factor, then there's Samyang AF 12mm f2, but it's not as good as Viltrox, IQ wise. According to few articles and some pictures I saw from other RUclips creators, Viltrox 13mm is quite sharp, even wide open. I would really like to get my hands on it soon. It should retail for under 500 bucks, but I am not sure how that's going to translate to serbian market ;)
@@durzog3668 Usually it translates 1-1 in EUR with VAT included :)
I'm always a bit disappointed when the APS-C lens is bigger than the FF equivalent, but maybe Viltrox will provide some outstanding image quality to cover for a bigger size. At least the price will be cheaper than FF equivalents.
@@tomapaunovic True, it is a bit hefty. There's a french fellow here on RUclips, he made a comparison video between the Viltrox 13mm f1.4 and Samyang AF 12mm f2. Just turn on translation and watch the video, you should get the idea :)
ruclips.net/video/HOGvee1GaGo/видео.html
@@durzog3668 good job Viltrox, looks a bit better in almost every area, according to that review
Regarding the exhaustion of your superlatives: living in Pakistan, once part of British Empire, i still see the remnants of English Build Quality in my province and in my city Quetta SO i am happy and quite satisfied with your commentaries and opinions on the build qualities. here, common people in the matter of very fine taste, quality and accuracy use a phrase 'English' work has been done. liking your reviews much, God bless.
Thanks for testing AF-C mode!
In some conditions, AF-C mode is less reliable than AF-S so I really want to see how AF-C perform compare to still mode.
Sony's AF-C is generally more reliable than AF-S.
@@shang-hsienyang1284 not in low light situations. Or, when you have to focus on a single-color/flat surface, you can't focus properly.
@@hoatd1993 Plus it gives you a good idea of its Eye AF speed since Eye AF is practically useless in AF-S.
I would prefer that one over the Tamron you just tested. Let's pray to have it soon in Z-mount.
I think most people will be ok baying the little extra for the Sony 20mm 1.8
Do you think it's better? I mean, all the other specs are more important than a third of a stop.
@@k1k13004 The Sony 20mm f/1.8 G is definitely a better lens.
A little 200$, just a few pennies........ for some minor differences
Awesome little lens. Too bad for that distortion and vignetting. Maybe you will find a way to review the sigma 70-200 f2.8 sports, sometime in the future. Or maybe the sigma 500mm f4 sports. Or some nikon f mount lenses like the 70-200 f2.8 vr1 and vr2, or the 14-24 f2.8, or something longer like the nikon 500mm f5.6 pf. Anyway, I know you don't really have much time, assuming you are working on multiple reviews at a time in order to have them coming so often, so no hurry. You are doing the best reviews on the internet!
Going to become available in a few days and this is my next purchase -- I love the idea of the I-series lenses and being a bit less expensive than there top lenses makes them a bit more affordable.
Since I am almost always adding extra vignetting in post, I don't mind that part. A vignette just focusses the attention towards the center of the frame and makes that pop out more. So I generally like that in my pictures. Some lenses have really strong vignette at the very tips, almost as if the image circle is too slightly too small, that is really distracting. But a smooth vignette like on this lens, I love it
Finally testing AF-C!! Great job on the video
Lovely little lens and a great price for what you get. I'd be grabbing one if I didn't have the Sony 20mm G. It's my favourite focal length
I second/third/whatever the comments about AF-C. It's good to see the speed difference, especially considering Eye AF is almost useless in AF-S, so it gives us a good idea of how fast it would be for that even if it doesn't give us its full accuracy.
This lens made for RF mount would be awesome.
It would be great a comparison between these Sigma lenses and the tiny Sony ones :)
With that marginal price difference Sony G 20mm 1.8 is a better buy any day! And much more flawless. Nice review, I wished you mentioned to it's competitors as you usually do.
To add to your comment, for those who are on the new A7IV, the Sony G lens is also on the list for working with the new focus breathing correction feature. Another reason to buy the Sony over the Sigma. (Shame, because I love the look of these little sigma lenses!)
@@danfarmer_photo also, for those who are on older Sony like a7M2, the Sony-branded lens works much better than third party ones
Current price in Europe for Sony is 1020 EUR and for Sigma 670.
It’s not really marginal everywhere.
I prefer the sigma rendering
Sigma over Sony any day. Ive bought both recently thanks to positive opinions about F1.8. Sigma costs me half of what I payed for Sony and I didnt see any differences without 150% zoom. Definitely not worth the price.
Hello Christopher, thanks for your info and video!
Thanks for the review, Chris. This looks like a sweet lens.
Per the product description, what is meant by " linear/non-linear manual focus function"? Is this similar to the linear focus feature on Lumix S Pro lenses? I shoot on the S1H, and the linear focus feature is a big improvement over typical focus-by-wire.
that would be perfect for me and my r6 - it's a shame that sigma doesn't have anything for rf yet 😪
As soon as they get the RF mount sorted in sure all their mirrorless lenses will be ported
That's a shame for Canon for not letting third parties to make lenses. Not Sigma's fault.
@@networm64 they making bank. Why would you wanna give that away
I don't think that Canon will ever allow third party, at least not in near future. They've effectively banned Samyang lenses with some of the latest updates.
looks like third party RF mount lenses are starting to appear. The Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 with RF mount has already been reviewed by Christopher. It's not a case of Canon not letting other companies make them.
Thank you for the excellent presentation. It would be interesting to know if in-camera vignette control is improved on a different body, eg Panasonic or in particular, Sigma's own L-mount?
Hope to get Sigma's for my Nikon Z mount ❤️🙌
This or 16/28 f2.8?
Hello Chris, thanks for the review, I have 65 and 35 f2 of this I lens, I am thinking of 24 or 20, what's your recommendations?
I was probably gonna buy it anyway but you definitely sold me on it ;)
Great video as usual, I wonder how does it compare to the Nikkor Z 20mm f1.8 S?
IMHO, apart from vignetting and distortion issues, it looks better than Nikon 20mm 1.8
Check out his review of the Z 20mm and you know it :)
I would love you to review the Fuji 14mm as it is a 20mn equivalent with optically corrected distortion
How is this lens in terms of video recording? seems like it would be great for vlogging! I am looking to buy my first camera soon to upgrade from my iPhone 😬
Hi. I was also interested in this lens for video, but two things are putting me off. Firstly the lens suffers from a lot of focus breathing. The image size changes as you change focus, which can be really disturbing. Secondly, the image corners are really dark right down to f5.6. On many video cameras, eg my Sony Fs7, and I'm sure many dslr's or mirrorless cameras, this will not be compensated for.
i wasn’t expecting this at all but i was just thinking about purchasing the sigma 20mm art f1.4 so this is definitely a slightly cheaper alternative with identical performance
The art lens is huge! I bought it, but sent it back when I saw its size. It really is too large and heavy for me as a walk-about lens, though if that is not a concern, or one needs the extra stop of light, I imagine it is a good lens. I am seriously considering getting this f2 version. I have the DG DN 65mm and Christopher is not exaggerating about the build quality and sharpness of these Sigma lenses.
@@Gynra wow thank you man i really appreciate it honestly i only care about bright f-stops at portrait focal lengths so i definitely don’t need it that bright it was $700 on sigma’s official website & i didn’t know exactly how big it was tbh on photos or videos i can hardly tell that’s the only reason why i was considering it but i’ll definitely jump for the f2 after it releases for sure now 😅
As good as it is, why not step up to Sony G f1.8? Price delta is small…
1099 vs 699 where I live.
2:00 sad sad though it could be 20mm g replacement but it has exactly same problem
I wasn't sure, do you like the build quality?
Does this lens cause cropping in full frame cameras?
Nice competition for the Sony 20mm f1.8 G lens.
This one fits the Lumix s5ii ?
Thanks for this excellent review of what appears to be a superbly built and high performing lens. It's Sony 20/1.8 rival is much admired but this Sigma lens costs £300 less in the UK. Definitely provides me food for thought.
would be nice if you could pit the loxia 21 against this
I see that you are a student of Greek. Which NT do you use?
Apart from vignetting and distortion, this looks as good (or even better) than excellent Sony 20mm 1.8 for significantly lower price.
I wonder if lens profile in lightroom would be able to fully correct vignetting and distortion problems. If that's the case, then this lens is basically perfect.
they usually do.
I never understood the rave for build quality of cold, hard and slippery metal lenses. I much prefer the soft touch feel of modern Tamron lenses for example. They don't get dented easily either if dropped. High quality plastics are wonderful materials.
nah give me the metal build
And plastic doesn't make your fingers freeze in winter :)
My Fuji X-H1 got sooo cold.
Great channel
Well this is an alternative to sony. I thing the competitor to this sigma lens is the Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD
This lens have big coma effect in corners 🤔
Good review, but I think too much is forgiven with regard to distortion and vignetting.
Is it becoming more difficult to review lenses as the optics quality improves across the board?
This would even be better if it is 18mm F2 with 67mm filter thread.....
It's pretty hard to beat the 20mm 1.8 if its 18 atleast it has advatage being wider
The Sony is $900 RRP
yup especially when they go on sale
I was looking to buy this lens before watching this review and changed my mind. Those fingerprints on the lens made me stick 🤮
Nice
meh for the price just get the sony 20 1.8.
Distortion and focus breathing. No thanks.
intolerable vignetting - digital correction possibilities should not be abused as they don't come for free.
Look up longitudinal pronunciation.
Looks like a fantastic lens, clearly better than the Sony 20 1.8
Clearly? OK so I need to change my glasses!
@@networm64 he even says it in his reviews. Sony corners are a little soft at 1.8. Sigma is sharp at f2.
@@sulev111 OK I think you need to watch in depth reviews like Dustin Abbott or even a comperehensive comparison between these 2 lens done by Tony Northrup recently.
@@networm64I think the best test is to try it out, not watching how Tony Nortrup taking pictures of a brick wall. 40% more expensive lens is slighly better, who would have thought...
That vignetting is purely down to the puny Sony mount. If only they made this lens for Nikon and canon mirrorless
Blame Nikon and Canon for it...
@@ΜανωληςΣτρατακης yup, too greedy
Definitely not “purely down to the puny Sony mount.” The Sony 20 1.8 G doesn’t have nearly that awful of vignetting. This is absolutely on Sigma’s design approach on E mount. They don’t try particularly hard to control for vignetting and distortion within the optical design anymore. They’re designing their lenses with the assumption that the end user will just correct with in-camera correction profiles or through post processing. I have moved away from Sigma lenses specifically because of this. If I remember correctly, even the beloved 24-70 had bad distortion and vignetting on the wide end. This is just not great lens design.
Not this mount size propaganda again ;) It's been debunked many times, look at other lenses and options, compare 50/1.2GM to other bigger ones from Nikon/Canon etc.
While larger mount might give you SOME head start when designing wide lenses, it doesn't mean it supersedes the quality and other parameters of the design itself.
Here it's quite obvious Sigma chose to keep the lens compact on comparable level as other ones in their "i" line and looking at other reviews then maybe shouldn't have. Personally I don't mind a bit of vignetting, but the Sony 20/1.8G is available at this FL, same size, probably better in every regard (basically GM quality in G body for G price) - that doesn't happen often, Sony probably stumbled upon really good and not that expensive design, and I'd take that more in the account than Sigma did, that's all.
I understand people will like it even for the form, but it'll always be with asterisk compared to 20G for 3/4 of the price. And personally I don't care, I just sold my 20G, have no need for 20mm after all with 14GM+24/1.8 Samyang.
@@devondesroches this