Sigma ART Glass and the Leica SL2

I took a road trip up to my family’s cabin in Shunk, PA, to test out two Sigma lenses on my Leica SL2. I've shot with every Leica L-mount lens that’s currently on the market and own 4 of them. While the glass is obviously superb, only one lens (the 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4) has an aperture faster than F/2 and their zooms are even slower while being big and bulky. I’ve been wanting to see how the Sigma L-Mount lenses performed on my SL2 so I reached out to them and asked for a few loaners.

I was very curious to see how the faster Sigma ART glass matched up optically, especially their newer DG DN lenses. The main things I wanted to really test was how these lenses rendered OOF areas, the drop-off from in-focus areas to out of focus areas, the AF, the micro-contrast, as well as the speed. The two lenses I brought with me were the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM ART and the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN ART lens. The longest prime lens offered by Leica currently is the 90mm f/2 Summicron and the closest wide angle zoom Leica offers is their 16-35mm f/3.5-4.5. While both are impressive lenses, the Sigma glass offers a few advantages that fit my shooting style a bit better, especially in low light.

I’m hoping to get my hands on the new Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN that’s received a ton of praise since the closest lens offering from Leica is the 90mm f/2 Summicron.

Can the Sigma L-Mount glass come close to or even outperform the native Leica glass? These two specific lenses fill a couple of gaps for me and lets just say I was pleasantly surprised by how they performed. How do they compare head to head with the Leica glass? I’m still comparing the images and I’ll be putting the results in a more detailed review soon. The best way to sum this up is by mentioning that I’ve already placed an order for both of these lenses.

Filmed and edited by Matt Mahoney.

Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8

Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8

Sigma 135mm f/1.8

Sigma 135mm f/1.8