Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 – The current state of mirrorless

The current state of the mirrorless camera market in mid 2024 is an interesting proposition with many questions being asked, and brands across the board answering in their own unique ways. The sharp edge of technology has development aplenty, and Sigma’s latest offering is another stake in the ground, of where we have reached, and what is yet to come.

When mirrorless systems first launched, we were all promised ‘smaller and lighter, with the same optical performance’ as the bigger DSLR based brethren, and truth be known, staple brands released staple lenses that indeed were smaller and lighter within the mirrorless ecosystems.

This was a no brainer to get DSLR users to immediately make the jump, but what was to come after all the same lenses had transitioned into the mirrorless domain, where else could it take us?

A first step

It was Canon that first made the leap forward with something completely new, and challenging the limits of what was achievable, with the Canon RF 28-70mm f2 L USM, a focal range as close as possible to the old favourite 24-70mm, but with the addition of an f2 aperture throughout. A lens that has now become a mainstay in the professional Canon shooters kit, it rebelled against the smaller and lighter rhetoric of pretty much everything up until its release, showing for the first time, what was hiding within the lens designer’s skunkworks.

Tamron, and subsequently Samyang, were next to show what was possible with the 35-150mm f2-2.8 lenses, a huge zoom range while maintaining a fast and small variable aperture range, no drastic drop-offs, unlike some more entry-level zooms. Again, a lens that continues to receive high praise and from a lot of people, and a big contender for the ‘one lens to do everything’, firmly being fixed onto your camera body of choice. To go from a 35mm f2 prime, worthy in its own right, right through to a 150mm f2.8 portrait monster, all within one lens, slims down a lot of lens options into a singularity.

So, what was to come?

Sigma, not wanting to be left behind, with their designers in Japan, released an updated 500mm prime for E and L mount, helped by an f5.6 maximum aperture, rather than the previous DSLR f4 counterpart, they managed to take the lens on a strict diet, dropping 1.8Kg from the overall weight, and for the first time for E mount, allowing ‘easily stowable’ to be added into the tagline of a telephoto prime.

The Sigma 28-45mm f1.8

Sigma’s latest offering came somewhat out of the blue, there was very little rumour, as seems to be commonplace these days, of the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 DG DN Art lens for E and L Mount. Even before release, when the L mount variant was tucked away in our office here at Clifton Cameras, there was a sense that something different was on the way. Calls of ‘an f1.8 zoom for full-frame?’ rang around the office, before it was passed on to test for a few fleeting moments. You can find my colleague Ben’s video on the lens here: Sigma 28-45mm f/1.8 DG DN Art Lens | First Look and Review.

There’s been a fair few releases from all brands across 2024 where it’s been a real struggle to work out exactly who would benefit from such a lens, this from Sigma is somewhat the same. It sways strongly in favour of big and brash, it certainly is a weighty and sizeable beast, something that is cohesive on the Leica SL system it was being used on here. Mounted on an SL2, it felt balanced, and in touch with the SL’s own larger-than-most size and weight characteristics.

For the slower-paced photography styles, it performed very well, images were crisp, sharp, and with the wide f1.8 maximum aperture, the transitions from in focus to out of focus were smooth and pleasant on the eye.

Leica’s colour profiles always, to my eye, look fantastic straight out of the camera, so the pairing worked great, minimal editing was required to achieve some nice-looking images, although the pair certainly took its toll being carried in a backpack on an 18km hike. Maybe something smaller would be better next time.

I can see this lens being a wedding photographer's dream, to have the flexibility of a ‘prime, zoom’, although not the biggest reaching or widest range, allows for those slight re-adjustments of composition if backed into a tight spot, or not wanting to disturb proceedings.

A lens such as this, even covering a fairly limited focal range, could be seen to take the space of 3 prime lenses, in a 24, 35, and 50(ish) millimetre range. It’s easier to not have to swap out lenses all the time, but not saving the weight you might imagine.

The closest Sony Primes in the 28mm f2, 35mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.8, all add up to be lighter than the Sigma lens, but by design, are small and made from plastic, the Sigma in contrast, is a well-built, rugged, art series lens built to a high standard, and weather sealed. Sigma’s art series optics have always been a popular choice by those wanting to save some money, however the gap in quality has been reducing year on year, meaning they are full on contenders to the original brands. The main trade-off with a lens such as this is going to be the extra light-gathering capability, versus the extra focal length. One will naturally outweigh the other.

Rounding up

This lens is a great point along the journey between ‘this is where we were’ of DSLR lenses being big, heavy, and sometimes compromised on quality, to ‘this is where we are now’ with mirrorless lenses having replaced the ‘ordinary’ lenses with smaller and lighter updates, with a few key releases unveiling the mask on what lens designers are planning in the future.

It’s exciting to think what is in store for lenses across all manufacturers going forward, whether the ‘make smaller and add lightness’ mantra will continue to flourish, or, with us all having been once used to DSLR glass, whether we’ll get similar feeling and handling glass, at a once thought impossible specification.

When you begin to wonder about the possibilities, this is truly an endless road as technology improves, and designers’ creativity is allowed to flourish.

The lens for you?

Buy the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 DG DN Art Lens

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By Aled Phillips
12 Dec 2024