SIGMA 24-70mm with SD14
Standard zoom for digital single-lens cameras
A review and photo examples of the SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG HSM with SIGMA SD14.
Table of contents
Gallery
- The sample photos were taken with a SONY α7Sii.
Review
1．Overview
The SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG HSM is a standard zoom lens for 35mm format made by Sigma and released in 2009. The maximum aperture is F2.8, which makes it a large-aperture standard lens.
The lens is made up of 14 elements in 12 groups, one ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion) glass element, two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements, and three aspherical lenses.
The lens barrel extends when zooming, but since it uses internal focus (IF), the lens length does not change when focusing.
The list price is 129,900 yen (excluding tax).
When used with the SIGMA SD14, the sensor size is APS-C size, so a coefficient of 1.7 is applied, making it a telephoto zoom lens equivalent to 41mm to 119mm in 35mm.
2．Usability
I got this lens in 2021, so it’s been a full zodiac cycle since its release. It’s a 12-year-old lens, so the price is about 1/3, and I bought it because I wanted to see what zoom lenses were like back then. I bought the Sigma SA mount version.
For a standard zoom lens compatible with 35mm format, the wide-angle end starts at 24mm, which was standard even in 2009, and the telephoto end is a little disappointing at 70mm, but it is thought to be a measure to make the lens barrel more compact.
The focusing speed when used with SD14 feels a little slow when taking still objects, but it feels slow when chasing flying birds such as pigeons. For sparrow-sized birds, the speed cannot keep up at all. It is faster to chase them with manual focus.
The minimum shooting distance is 38cm, so unless you have a very high-resolution sensor, this lens is still fully usable today.
3．付加情報
For a standard zoom lens compatible with 35mm, the wide-angle end starts at 24mm, which was standard even in 2009, and the telephoto end at 70mm is a little disappointing, but this is thought to be a limitation to make the lens barrel compact.
Personally, I think it would be convenient to have a telephoto end of about 90mm.
Since this lens was released in 2009, a major digital camera equipped with a 35mm full-frame sensor is the CANON EOS 5D Mark II. The sensor pixel count reaches 20 million pixels.
At the time of release, the best-selling digital cameras that this lens targets had APS-C size sensors in the 12 million pixel class, and with APS-C size sensors, the periphery is cut off, so the center, which has better image quality, is used, which satisfies most photographers.
Sigma’s digital cameras of the same era were the SD14 from 2007 and the SD15 from 2010, which had a small sensor size of 4.5MP x 3 = 13.5MP, so this lens was sufficient.
After the release of the SD1 in 2011, Sigma updated their lens line and released a high-end line of lenses called Art.
In 2017, the successor to this lens, the 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM ART, was released. This new 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM ART has more lens elements, a larger lens barrel, and is a heavy lens weighing over 1kg. Although it was to improve lens performance, it feels a bit over-built.
Perhaps Sigma felt that this was too much, as the weight of the 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN | Art for mirrorless cameras released in 2019 was kept to the 800g range. This lens has a total length of 123mm, but this is because the lens barrel has been redesigned for mirrorless cameras with a short flange back.
The flange back of the SA mount is 44mm, while that of the L mount is 20mm, so if a lens with the same focal length is used in the design of an SLR lens, the lens length will be 24mm longer. It will probably be a while before a compact lens that is truly optimized for mirrorless cameras is released.
Specification
| Items | 24-70 IF EX DG HSM | 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | ART |
| Focal length(mm) | 24-70 | 24-70 |
| Max aperture | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Min aperture | 22 | 22 |
| Aperture blade | 9 | 9 |
| Lens Construction | 14 elements in 12 groups | 19 elements in 14 groups |
| Min distance(m) | 0.38 | 0.37 |
| Lens length(mm) | 97.4 | 107.6 |
| Lens Max diameter(mm) | 88.6 | 88 |
| Filter Size | 82 | 82 |
| Lens hood | LH876-01 | LH876-04 |
| Mount | SA | SA |
| Weight(g) | 790 | 1,020 |
| Release date | 2009 | 2017 |
| Production numbers | – | – |
Reference links
- 24-70mm F2.8 IF EX DG HSM Official Page
- Digital Camera Watch Articles
- SIGMA SD14,SD15・Shige’s hobby article
Update history
- 2025.1.28
Afiliate link
- Amazon Affiliate Link/Keyword=Sigma
- Amazon Affiliate Link/Keyword=Sigma lens
- Amazon Affiliate Link/Keyword=Sigma books
