Sigma A 24-35 mm f/2.0 DG HSM review - Distortion

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Sigma A 24-35 mm f/2.0 DG HSM

29 July 2015

Arkadiusz Olech

6. Distortion

As long as you work on the smaller APS-C/DX sensor you’ll have an opportunity to notice distortion only at 24 mm where it takes a form of slight barrel of −1.29%. For bigger focal lengths the problem disappears practically completely because at 28 mm the barrel is almost negligible, amounting to just −0.36%, and at 35 mm you see very slight “pincushion” of +0.31%.

If I had to point out one of our testing categories where I would be sure the Sigma 24-35 mm might fare worse than the “primes” I would place my bet on distortion exactly. As far as the wide angle goes I would be actually right. On full frame at 24 mm you have to take into account barrel distortion easy to notice in photos, amounting to −3.24%. Compare that to the result of the Sigma A 24 mm f/1.4 DG HSM which was −1.20%, or the result of the Nikkor AF-S 24 mm f/1.4G ED, that of −2.03%. You have to admit the “primes” perform much better.

Still the situation improves significantly when you progress to the longer end of the focal range. At 28 mm the Sigma has a distortion level of −0.79%. The Nikkor AF-S 28 mm f/1.8G got a result of −1.13%, so already a tad worse. With the further increase of the focal length the Sigma’s distortion changes the sign and at 35 mm you deal with pincushion deformations of +0.77%. The performance once again is better that that of the “primes” because the Canon 2/35 IS had a distortion level of −1.34%, and the Nikkor’s AF-S 1.8/35G distortion was as distinct as −1.62%.

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