Sigma 45mm f/2.8 DG DN 'C' lens review with samples (Full-frame & APS-C)

What a curious object we have before us today. It's maximum aperture doesn't quite stand out - let's see if anything else does.

Find it here (Amazon affiliate link - be sure to get the right lens for your camera system!):

All pictures taken by me on Sony a7R II and a5100 cameras.

Equipment I use for making these reviews and other videos:
Equipment I use to make my videos (Amazon affiliate links):

Music:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[yapster]

Gonna add a comment for 2022. This is one of my most used lenses. In my dry cab I have a rf50/1.2, ef35f1.4lii, ef40f2.8, sl50/1.4, 50cron, sigma's own 35f2, 65f2, and I STILL use this the most! The colors it produced is beautiful. The bokeh is always smooth. It has very good 3D pop, very natural rendering. It doesn't have that slightly plasticky look of some new lenses with very good sharpness but poor microcontrast. It's not super sharp at f2.8, but that's good for portraits. It's not a f1.4 lens but then it's incredibly compact and light. Yes it was very expensive but the price has come down a lot and it's def better than all the other 40mm or equivalent lenses I've had from canon/Fuji/Panasonic even voigtlander's 40mm f1.4 nokton.

[aguywithananimeprofile]

Nicest lens I would personally never buy
- Chris 2019

[artmaltman]

Christopher, your reviews are wonderful. You get right to the most relevant points, not wasting any time, and are always so clear and perceptive and honest. You would be amazed how many reviewers insist on long, useless boilerplate introductions (often very loud music), or torture us with stories about their location and the weather .... Thank you so much!

[HarryPowerColt]

I never understood the hate on this lens. The build quality is outstanding, it's ridiculously small, the image quality is fine from corner to corner (as long as you don't close focus at minimum distance and at maximum aperture), the 45mm focal length feels so natural, it stills let you take photos with a very decent 0.25x magnification, it doesn't suffer from heavy distorsion (unlike the other sigma 'C' lenses, whose wild barrel distorsion look significantly worse without in-camera corrections), it shows almost no coma smearing, it's flare resistant and the bokeh rendition looks beautiful, with a swirly touch.

It's close to perfection and now it's very easy to find it dirt cheap at sales (brand new around $250 or 299€ for Sony e-mount just few days ago). Unless you need f1.8 for a very specific use, I see no reason not to buy this fantastic lens.

[janfrosty]

I am using this lens on my Leica SL and love it. Sigma please make other small f 2.8 lenses in 20mm and 28mm.

[collinmclaren]

A small sigma lens?? Imagine my shock!! Hopefully they're finally clueing in that not every lens needs to be an unwieldy mass of glass.

[lamontgilliland]

I have this lens and absolutely love it. It fits perfectly between some of my much bigger Sony "G" lenses. The lens is indeed soft at close focus (remaining useable), but then again it focuses much closer than the Zeiss Batis 40mm CF (Close Focus) lens that I just rented for a week. It's a great little street lens, exceptionally sharp at f/4 and above and incredibly low CA. Exceptional build quality and find myself using the aperture ring on the lens most of the time. An absolute joy to use --however, it looks like from reviews and commentary that I could end up being the only person who may end up buying and owning one. ; )

[axtran]

I feel silly buying one of these this week because I already have the Sigma 40/1.4 (sharpest thing I've ever owned), however I have little ones that are a little too mobile, so a 45/2.8 should definitely help a bit with them. I usually shoot f/4 and so far, this has been just delectable to use. Very unique use cases, and I love the focal range since it's "normal" and simple to use on the go.

[sans]

Always love your structured and informative reviews! Lovely pictures too. God bless

[thegenius]

A lens you wouldn’t buy at the “new” price is fair. However, I’m happy to have picked it up used for half its original price. Much better value! Picked it over the sony 40mm cause I prefer the look of the portraits taken with the 45mm.

[zachary]

I can't wait to see this on a Foveon full frame!

[tomasgold]

I wish you could compare it with the new small Sony 40 and 50mm 2.5 G lenses. Thank you for this enjoyable review!

[zacharypump]

I'd give anything for more Sony e-mount autofocus lenses with a proper physical aperture ring!!

[mangoldm]

Love the bit of swirl on this lens’ bokeh.

[future]

Just got my Samyang for 300. What a lens. Tack sharp on my A7R2 in the center and the bokeh is as creamy as the CV 40 1.2. Awesome lens

[banepus]

I have a sigma f/1.4 50mm, wonderful, but i’d like a smaller one so i dare to bring it out more often, this may be it!

[yapster]

Btw with newer bodies like a Panasonic s5 the "slow" aperture doesn't matter as much as the IBIS + high iso capability compensate for it.
Also, rem pros often shoot with f2.8 zoom in less than ideal situations too

[keepcoding]

The soft close-up image quality is not a "nasty surprise", it was a deliberate design choice by the optical engineer to achieve better bokeh.

[harrydang]

Will you be testing the new Tamron E-Mount primes?

[carlporter]

Can you please review the Voigtlander 40mm f2.0 ultron ? Maybe compared to the new f1.2 FE / Leica mount ? Thanks !