New Sigma 28-105mm f/2.8 DG DN Art Lens Review

January 14, 2025

The Sigma 28-105mm f/2.8 DG DN Art lens represents a thoughtful blend of quality, versatility, and practicality, offering photographers a wide-to-telephoto zoom option that doesn’t break the bank or weigh down your camera bag. In a world where photographers often dream of an all-in-one lens that excels without the usual trade-offs of weight, size, or cost, Sigma seems to have found a commendable balance with this model.

A Brief History of Wide-to-Telephoto Lenses

Wide-to-telephoto zoom lenses have always been a coveted choice for photographers due to their flexibility. However, achieving such versatility often came with significant compromises, particularly in weight, size, and cost. The dream has been to develop a lens that maintains high optical quality without becoming overly cumbersome or expensive. Sigma’s 28-105mm DG DN Art lens aims to fulfill this dream by striking an optimal compromise.

Design and Build Quality

As part of Sigma’s esteemed Art series, this lens is built to meet high standards of construction and performance. It feels robust and well-constructed, with a reassuring solidity in hand. The focus and zoom rings offer just the right amount of resistance, ensuring smooth and precise operation. The zoom ring can also be locked to prevent accidental adjustments—a small but thoughtful touch that adds to the overall usability.

Aperture Ring: A Welcome Feature

One of the standout features of this lens is its aperture ring. Unlike the often fiddly rear dials on cameras, the tactile feedback of a dedicated aperture ring enhances the shooting experience. Moreover, Sigma allows switching between clicked and de-clicked settings, catering to both photographers and videographers. The de-clicked aperture ring is particularly great for video shooters, allowing seamless exposure adjustments without any noticeable transitions.

Performance at Different Focal Lengths

Wide End: 28mm vs. 24mm

While some photographers might prefer a slightly wider starting point of 24mm, this lens’s 28mm wide end offers unique advantages. The lens compensates with impressive close-focus capabilities, boasting a 0.32x magnification at the telephoto end. This allows for “macro-ish” photography, which proved useful during a volunteer project capturing intricate details of butterflies and bees. The lens excelled in delivering sharp, vibrant images of these challenging subjects.

Telephoto End: 105mm

The 105mm end of the Sigma 28-105mm DG DN Art lens is the more common choice for the telephoto focal length. What is particularly great about the Sigma 28-105mm is the 1:3.1 maximum magnification at 105mm. This helps the lens feel like a solid portrait lens that is also wide.

Lack of Lens Stabilization: A Non-Issue?

Notably, the Sigma 28-105mm lacks built-in optical stabilization. While this might have been a deal-breaker in the past, advancements in in-camera stabilization technology across many modern mirrorless systems make this omission less critical. The lens pairs well with the increasingly sophisticated stabilization systems found in today’s mirrorless cameras, maintaining sharpness and clarity even in handheld shooting scenarios.

Focus Ring and Manual Focusing

With its smooth damping and ample throw, the focus ring provides a satisfying manual focusing experience. This was especially noticeable when capturing close-up shots of fast-moving subjects like bees and butterflies. The focus-by-wire system, a standard in modern lens design, ensures that focus adjustments are transmitted efficiently to the camera’s focus motor. Although there are no hard stops at the focus extremes, the lens performs reliably, making manual focusing intuitive and precise. I used manual focus for all my butterfly and bee photographs in this post. The choice had more to do with the camera than the lens. The lens, with a decent focus throw, helped me nail my focus on the bouncing bees and butterflies.

Optical Performance

Sigma’s Art lenses are renowned for their optical quality; the 28-105mm is no exception. It delivers excellent control over lens flare and ghosting, producing images with striking clarity and detail. The lens maintains sharpness across the frame, even at wide apertures, resulting in images with a pleasing pop and contrast.

Autofocus: Speedy and Quiet

Autofocus performance is another strong suit of the Sigma 28-105mm. On the Sony A7, the autofocus was quick, accurate, and virtually silent—qualities that are equally valuable for both still photography and video. The lens handled various lighting conditions adeptly, ensuring reliable focus acquisition without hunting or delay.

Distortion: The Trade-Off

One area where Sigma has made a noticeable compromise is in distortion control. Some distortion is evident at both the wide and telephoto ends of the zoom range. However, this is a minor concern for most users, as modern post-processing software like Adobe Lightroom can easily correct such distortions. For many photographers, this trade-off is acceptable given the lens’s overall performance and price point.

Conclusion

The Sigma 28-105mm f/2.8 DG DN Art lens is a remarkable addition to the Sigma Art series, offering an excellent balance of performance, build quality, and affordability. While it does involve some compromises—such as the lack of internal stabilization and slight distortion—these are far from deal-breakers. For photographers who value versatility and quality without wanting to lug around heavy gear, the Sigma 28-105mm stands out as a highly practical and intelligent choice. Whether you’re shooting stills or video, this lens is poised to be a reliable and valuable tool in your kit.