Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II | ART Gallery

The lens market has perhaps never been more competitive than it is right now, with literally hundreds of lenses available for Sony’s E-mount. At the beginning of 2020 Sigma launched the 24-70mm F2.8 DN | ART lens (my review here), a full featured, high performing fast standard zoom that went head to head with Sony’s 24-70mm F2.8 G Master (my review here). I think the Sigma was very nicely competitive with the 24-70mm GM, but the problem is that the market doesn’t freeze. Sony released a MK II version of their GM lens (my review here), and it was vastly improved. Smaller, lighter, more feature rich, and with vastly improved autofocus along with a stronger optical performance. It’s also $2300 USD, so it definitely sets the upper limit for performance and price. Tamron improved their 28-75mm F2.8 lens with a new G2 version, and it too was vastly improved (my review here). It remains an incredible value at $900 USD (currently just $700 on sale at the time of this review). So Sigma has returned with a new and improved lens themselves – the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II | ART. The Sigma is priced higher than the Tamron but much lower than the Sony at $1200 USD. For many people this will be the “Goldilocks” option…just right. But just how much is this “new and improved” lens actually improved? We’ll explore that question in either my video review below or my text review here…or just enjoy the photos.

Thanks to Sigma Canada (Gentec) for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV along with the Sony Alpha 1 that serve as my benchmark cameras for Sony lenses.

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In their press release Sigma is touting improved optics, faster AF speed, more features, and a more compact size. Some of those key new features include:

An aperture ring
An additional custom/function button
Aperture delick function
Aperture iris lock
New flush mounted switches

I brought in a copy of the first generation lens to test those claims. Some improvements are more pronounced than others. The size difference, for example, is very subtle. You need to have the lenses side by side to see that the new lens is slightly slimmer and shorter.

While those physical differences appear subtle, it does add up. The new lens weighs 100g less (the Sony E-mount version weighs 735g). That doesn’t quite match the weight loss for the new G Master II lens as that lens has trimmed to just 695g. In the first generation, the G Master was the heavier lens (886g) while the Sigma was slightly lighter (835g). That has obviously reversed here despite the weight loss program Sigma has put its new lens through. This is a competitive market!

But let’s not forget that the Sony GM II lens is a whopping $1100 more than the new Sigma, so I suspect that many photographers will be willing to carry both the extra 40g along with the extra weight of all that leftover money in their pockets! And, as we can see above, the Sigma 24-70 DN II is capable of producing some lovely images. We’ll dive deeply into the performance and new features together.

Build and Handling

Photos Taken with the Sigma 24-70mm DN II

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GEAR USED:

Purchase the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DN II @ B&H Photo | Nuzira | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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Purchase the Sony a7RV @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Sony Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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Purchase the Sony a7IV @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Sony Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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