402963 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Micro Four Thirds, Black

I should start by saying I love Sigma lenses, in general. They've always had a slightly different design philosophy than other lens makers, and I think it's how they've stayed popular in the face of competition from other third party lens makers as well as the OEM's. Sigma makes pure lenses without compromises. They just try to make the best optics, period. They may not always do that successfully, but that's the goal. Their lenses are also hand-assembled. (There are videos you can find that show their workers making their lenses; they don't use a robotic assembly line.) But that does mean their lenses are often big and heavy. I am ok with that. I've owned several Sigma lenses now and they've all been bigger and heavier than their OEM equivalents. Let others make compromises between optics, size and weight. Sigma lenses are almost always tanks. They just feel substantial. And they are always at least very good optically; usually better than the competition at a given point in the lens lineup, including the OEMs. This particular lens is not their biggest, best or most feature-packed lens, but if you compare it to the nearest four thirds equivalents, you can definitely see that Sigma difference. I was deciding between this and the Panasonic/Leica 15mm/1.7, which is a much smaller and lighter lens (and it carries the Leica name) but is otherwise pretty similar in specs. I went with the Sigma both because of that extra half-stop of speed and because everything I've seen online shows it to be notably sharper than the Panasonic/Leica lens. It's also cheaper by more than a hundred bucks. But the Sigma is, in fact, an extremely sharp, contrasty lens, period, not just "for a four thirds lens". Again, no compromises on the optics for size or weight. If it weighs four times more than the equivalent Panasonic and is so thick that the camera doesn't even sit flat with it attached, so be it. (I'm using it with the venerable Lumix G7.) (To be fair, this lens was designed more with APS-C in mind, so a larger sensor and generally larger cameras. They just put a 4/3 mount on it but otherwise didn't try to change it for this format.) I will say that I am using it really just as a studio lens, where weight and size doesn't really matter to me. I already have the Panasonic 20mm/1.7, which is my main walkaround prime lens. It is a very small and light lens, like the 15mm/1.7. If I didn't already have the 20mm, that might have tilted my decision in favor of the Panasonic 15mm, because I probably wouldn't want to carry the Sigma with me as a walkaround lens. I literally just needed an extra few mm of focal width given the size of the room I'm shooting in, and the Sigma gives me that along with great optics. To be clear, it's not as if this lens is heavy in an absolute sense, or relative to most lenses made for cameras with larger sensors. It is just heavy compared to other similar lenses made for the micro four thirds format. Most people who have this format have it because they're trying to downsize from something bigger, so this lens kind of runs counter to that. But that's just Sigma being Sigma. As a "contemporary" lens, this lens has no focus or other markings on it either. It does have a manual focus ring if you want to use it, and it is nicely damped and heavy feeling. (There's auto-focus as well, of course, and it's so quiet that I sometimes wonder if it's actually working.) But this is a lens meant to be used with modern digital cameras, so you're expected to look at the data on your screen to get it set up right, not on the lens itself. I do miss lenses that were more marked up and self-sufficient, but time marches on I guess. This is also not really intended as a professional lens, though I think it's good enough optically that you could use it professionally.

You can't go wrong with this lens it's so much more affordable over the 7 to 14 millimeter Panasonic lens. Or the Leica 8 to 16. Image quality is extremely Sharp. Excellent for astrophotography. As well as any low light. Great Street photography. Every image I take is extremely Sharp. Let's tons of light in. The quality of the lens is perfect. Weather-sealed. Focusing is dead on with my Panasonic g85. I have not used it on video yet I will probably in the future. It's a beautiful piece of glass. Focusing ring in manual focus is smooth. This is a lens to get a great alternative for price and prime lenses. One thing you will learn with this lens it allows so much light in that a 15 stop ND filter is required. For long exposure daytime. Sometimes I throw a 5 stop in with it under super bright conditions making it 20 stops. I use a hundred mm by 100 mm square filters The two pictures or three pictures that I have are taken at sunset with no filters.

Firstly, my only concern with a MFT lens is for video. I shoot canon for pics so this review is strictly in regard to this lens on a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. The clip is from a non commercial behind the scenes promo I did for a friend. Whole thing is here pretty much all on this lens. https://youtu.be/AlH_zhQVgcI Specs: BMPCC 4K Sunrise Blackmagic Raw 3:1 constant bitrate (graded) 60 fps ISO 1250 F 1.4 B + W 67mm #106 1.8 ND filter So review.... this lens is what I keep on my BMPCC 4K for run and gun setup. Pros: Extremely versatile Smooth creamy bokeh For me I like the size. MFT lenses tend to be too small for my fingers to operate smoothly. Because of size large focus ring is smooth has a good resistance and works well with tilta nucleus nano Just wonderful image quality Cons: Only thing I can think of is the electronic focus is not ideal for my uses but workable No IS but then it’d be double the price (I’d pay it for this quality and IS) I won’t speak to auto focus as the pocket 4k is made as a cinema camera it’s auto focus doesn’t operate (live) In conclusion l would buy this lens in a heartbeat. Because of it I’m seriously considering selling my other Panasonic primes and getting the full sigma set of these.

Excellent lens. I am using this with my Panasonic GH5 for video & photos. The low light performance is great, and the images are very very sharp at f/2.8. Bokeh is soft and creamy. This is one of, if not the sharpest lens I own now. Build quality is fantastic. The glass and optics are flawless. Good auto focus. No complaints. If you’re looking for a sharp, fast, wide angle lens, this one needs to be in your camera bag.

I've had mixed results with Sigma lenses over the years, but it's fair to say the Sigma lenses of my youth were nothing like the exceptional Art series lenses they make these days. The less said about Sigma's early lenses and quality control, the better. I was intrigued by a 16mm f/1.4 lens for $300 and in many ways, this lens is exceptional--but not all. The first one I had was very sharp stopped down to around f/4 but wide open (f.1.4) it missed focus entirely. Now, hitting perfect focus at f/1.4 is a challenge even in a 16mm lens, and of course this is non-OEM lens made to fit various different cameras. I liked the lens a lot, especially the almost perfectly circular out of focus highlights (bokeh) and the incredibly close focusing, around 4 inches, was fun too. So I ordered a second lens and this one nailed the focus, even wide open. To illustrate the difference this makes, the first lens was at it's best around f/5, but the second one was terrific by f/2.2, which is a stellar performance. (I should add that m43 users have a bit of a quality advantage since the lens covers the larger sensors used by Fuji and Sony, so m43 users don't even "see" the extreme corners.) So 5 stars for image quality and 4 for Sigma quality control. The one other thing to note is that this lens uses the now popular "focus by wire" which means that if you want to focus manually, there can be a lag since you're not moving lens elements yourself; you're sending an electrical "instruction" to the lens motor. I know nothing about video, but I can see how this lag could be frustrating if you're trying to go in and out of focus during a video. It's a shame too, since the lens' out of focus performance is really nice. But for a still photographer, this is a very nice lens and a great deal too.

After struggling to get reduced depth of field with the Oly 12-40/2.8, and finding that my 50/1.4 Pentax SuperTak was too much, I picked up this lens. It is FANTASTIC for making online videos... shooting courses, for Zoom, YouTube, etc. Great (reduced) depth of field, much sharper at f/1.6 yet still blurs the background nicely. Perhaps, or probably, the Oly 17/1.2 is a better lens... but it's 3X the cost. Is it 3X better? It's lightweight. Great glass, but a plastic lens body unlike the Oly, and it's not weatherproof. But, if it's sitting behind a teleprompter it will be fine. If you want pro-looking home studio video on a Micro 4/3 camera, buy this lens and you are done.

This lens is one of the sharpest micro 4/3 lenses I’ve used. I shoot on a G7 and this and my 25mm 1.4 are similar in crispiness, pushing out clarity you can’t get with most other lenses in the price range. For being a wide angle, the 16mm or 32mm equivalent doesn’t feel like a weird focal length. I enjoy it a lot actually; makes for nice wide portraits or landscapes. Feels very high quality, and weather sealing is a perk. Highly recommend!

I bought the lens mostly for shooting rodeo close to the action in low light (indoor arenas rarely have enough light). I shoot with an Oly E-M10 or E-M5, at 6400 or 8000 ISO and 1/320 sec, usually at f/2.0 or f/1.6. Lens performs well - photos are a bit noisy, but that's the high ISO and not the lens. In good light at low ISOs the photos are sharp edge to edge at f/4, lose a bit of sharpness at the edges at f/1.4. Auto focus is a bit slow, but usually works fast enough for my needs. I down-rated it a bit for portraits because (seriously) who would use such a wide angle for portraits? I'm happy I bought it, and use it nearly every outing.