When I decided to purchase a wide-angle prime lens, I knew the Sigma 16mm f1.4 DC Dn Contemporary lens was the perfect choice. I realized right away it was the perfect lens for photographers who use Sony APS-C cameras ( I use a Sony a6500). It has incredible autofocus (seems almost like its a native lens), it has wide aperture of 1.4, which allows you to shoot in low light situations, and it is still a very small, lightweight lens that we have to come to love about e-mount lenses.
I am a sucker for wide angle portraits, so I immediately set out to test this little lens and shot some portraits.
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Image Quality
I decided to shoot indoors with only natural light and test the dynamic range of this Sigma 16mm f1.4 C DN lens. The two images above I purposely over-exposed, in order to see how much of the highlight detail I could recover and I was blown away. The image quality this lens produces is easily its strong point. It is by far one of the sharpest APS-C lenses I've used, and being a wide angle lens there was very little distortion, as I even the edges are pretty sharp.
Sharpness
The sharpness of this Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens is by far one of the best in the e-mount system I have used. The image still maintains its sharpness in high ISO settings. These two images above were shot at 1,000 ISO.
Autofocus
The Sigma lens makes it easy for photographers who are lazy and don't mind using autofocus. I used the eye af feature on my Sony a6500 and I barely missed any shots. The lens was able to focus every time on my model's eye and produce flattering portraits.
Conclusion
I love the Sigma 16mm f1.4 DC Dn Contemporary lens. I believe it could've easily been marketed as a Sigma Art series lens. This is a no brainer for photographers who are in the market for a wide angle prime lens. It produces sharp, high quality images and its autofocus is so good you can use it for videos as well. This is the perfect wide-angle prime lens for a Sony a6500 or Sony a6400.
If you want to purchase one check out Amazon for the latest price below.
Check out my review of this lens on my Youtube channel below!