Sigma 15mm f/1.4 DC Contemporary Review: APS-C Goes Wide

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If you own an APS-C E-mount, RF-mount, or X-mount camera, Sigma has a brand new prime lens that provides wide-angle coverage and plenty of light. This new $579 Contemporary lens makes a lot of sense for darker interior shots, so I headed to the Contemporary Calgary art museum to see what I could find. You just have to shoot with a Contemporary lens at Contemporary Calgary.

A man with gray hair and a beard holds a camera, taking a photo inside a modern, well-lit building with curved architecture and a display sign in the background.

A Sigma 15mm f/1.4 DC camera lens stands upright on a dark surface, with a grid and circular pattern in the blurred background. The aperture and focus markings are visible on the lens barrel.

Sigma 15mm f/1.4 Contemporary Review: How It Feels

This tiny 15mm lens gives a full-frame field-of-view of around 22mm or so, depending on the camera used, and you get this wide-angle look in a chassis that only weighs 7.75 ounces (220 grams) on E-mount. The front of the lens features a 58mm filter diameter and comes with a basic shallow hood to protect against flare. The manual-focusing ring is surprisingly smooth-turning, but there isn’t much else in the way of controls. You do get an aperture ring, but there is no AF/MF switch, and you won’t find any customizable buttons.

1.4 aperture, "DC" and "Ø 58" markings, with a blurred grid background.

Close-up of a black camera lens lying on its side, showing a focus ring with textured grip, aperture markings, and a “C” symbol on a matte background. The background is blurred with a grid pattern.

Being a part of the Contemporary series of lenses, the body of the lens is polycarbonate, and the amount of weather-sealing will be less than that of a more professional Art series lens. However, the little 15mm feels solid and well-built, and takes up very little space in the camera bag. It’s a simple piece of kit, but it’s also a small piece of kit.

1.4 DC ϕ58 MADE IN JAPAN," with its lens cap lying in front on a dark surface and a grid-patterned background.

A Sigma camera lens with the lens cap on is positioned upright, next to a detached lens hood, on a dark textured surface with a graph grid background.

Sigma 15mm f/1.4 Contemporary Review: How It Shoots

The day that we reviewed this lens was frigidly cold, but as is usual for Alberta, clear and sunny at the same time. I braved the hideous wind chill to get some flare shots outside of the gallery. Sigma always does a great job at controlling flare, even in the more affordable lenses, and I saw very few issues here. The contrast is strong, shooting towards the light, and ghosting was incredibly minimal at tighter apertures. I didn’t have any issues indoors when shooting towards the strong gallery lighting either.

A modern building with geometric shapes stands behind snow-covered ground and a few tall pine trees, with city skyscrapers visible in the background under a partly cloudy sky.

A dimly lit art gallery with white columns, polished floors, and various artworks displayed on the walls. Glass partitions and ceiling pipes add to the industrial, modern atmosphere.

Black and white photo of a concrete architectural structure with curved edges, seen from below; ceiling above has parallel lines and small lights, creating a modern, abstract composition.

Focusing is accomplished with a more basic stepping motor, but this makes perfect sense for an affordable wide-angle lens. I didn’t have any problems getting focus to spring quickly to my subjects within the darker interiors, and everything was silent and accurate.

The lens does have a little bit of lens breathing, though, which is a term used to describe the field of view changes as you focus from one end to another. I could see many users wanting this optic for gimbal-based videography or handheld vlogging, and it will do fine there, but you will see the frame shift in a noticeable way if you pull focus during a clip.

An elderly man with a long white beard and blue jacket stands indoors by a large window, looking outside thoughtfully at a snowy urban scene with buildings and trees.

Black and white photo of a geometric ceiling with square light panels and an angled, reflective glass or plastic structure in the foreground, creating abstract, modern architectural patterns.

Black and white photo of a modern hallway with tiled floors and concrete walls. A person walks away from the camera, and their reflection appears in a glass railing on the right side. Light streams in from windows ahead.

This lens also exhibits a noticeable amount of LoCA, which is longitudinal chromatic aberration. You will certainly see a bit of color fringing in the out-of-focus areas, showing as a bit of a blue-teal shift, and the effect is annoying to get rid of in post. Stopping the lens down helps for sure, but be prepared to deal with some LoCA when shooting at wider apertures.

Close-up view of metallic tactile paving studs on a textured surface, with the studs arranged in rows and the focus on one central stud, while others gradually blur into the background.

Black and white abstract photo showing sharp geometric lines and angles, with contrasting light and shadow on intersecting walls and ceilings.

Two people stand on a concrete ramp inside a modern, geometric, multi-level indoor space with textured flooring and curved railings. The area is lit by wall lights and features minimalistic, industrial design.

What is very impressive is the rendering of bokeh on this lens. Wide-angle lenses don’t tend to be thought of as shallow depth of field lenses, but the faster f/1.4 aperture does allow for soft backgrounds. The specular highlights are clean, with no visual issues present, and this gives a really smooth and discrete appearance to the backgrounds. I did plenty of up-close shots indoors, and the background just smoothly falls off into blur. I was surprised at how clean the bokeh looked.

A black Lomo camera sits on a wooden table in a warmly lit room, with blurred yellow fairy lights and a triangular wooden structure in the background.

A glass barrier reflects a person's legs and feet in an empty, dimly lit hallway with concrete walls and minimal furniture.

A person walks through an arched doorway above a mosaic floor depicting a map of the world in blue, green, and brown tiles, set within a circular design in a concrete-walled building.

This is also a sharp lens with consistency across the frame. The center of the image looks excellent at f/1.4 and does not need a tighter aperture to deliver sharp results. Corners are also impressive with minimal vignetting and very good detail at the widest apertures. Stopping the lens down slightly will simply add more consistency across the frame for landscapes and architecture. This is also a lens that shoots a very flat field, which means that if the center is in focus, the corners will largely be as well.

Side-by-side comparison of test charts at f/1.4 (left) and f/2.8 (right), featuring currency, grayscale bars, color patches, sharpness patterns, and text under cyan and magenta headers.

Two test charts side by side, each with a Canadian one dollar bill at the top, letter charts in the center, and bold black geometric shapes. The left image is labeled f/1.4; the right is labeled f/2.8.

Black and white photo of sunlight casting geometric shadows on tiled floor through a window with a modern, abstract-patterned glass panel. An outdoor staircase and parts of a building are visible outside.

Sigma 15mm f/1.4 Contemporary Review: A Useful Work of Art

The art gallery provided plenty of interesting architecture to photograph, and also the occasion to capture environmental portraits and abstracts. I loved how discrete and compact this little lens was, and the 22mm field-of-view is great for street photography, landscapes, and interiors. Think concert photography, cityscapes, and concerts. This little lens can do it all quite well. If you need a fast and handy prime lens, this latest $579 offering from Sigma is worth a look.

A man with gray hair and a beard leans over a concrete railing, intently looking through a camera as he takes a photo. The background is blurred and consists of plain, gray concrete walls.

Are There Alternatives?

Sony makes an awesome 15mm f/1.4, and it is well-appointed with an aperture ring, custom button, and focus switch, all for a similar price. This lens would make more sense for Fujifilm users who don’t want to pay for the more expensive 16mm f/1.4 WR.

It’s also a no-brainer for Canon users who don’t have any alternatives in this range, save for heavier and bulkier full-frame lens options.