Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary Lens Review for Sony A7CR
These days, the majority of my photography is landscapes and nature as it fits well into my existing lifestyle of hiking and camping. One thing that I love to create are panoramas, especially during a beautiful morning sunrise out in the mountains, but I have often been missing a telephoto lens to capture distant mountain ranges and features, so I decided to invest in the Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN prime lens for Sony E mount.
I have a New Zealand hiking road trip coming up at the end of 2024 so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be able to capture the beautiful mountain vistas if opportunities present themselves. It would also double as a portrait/headshot lens if I ever needed it.
So I decided on the Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary Lens because it offered a good compromise on size and weight without sacrificing build quality and optics. While not super lightweight like the 35mm F2.8 Zeiss, it still only weighs 295 grams and has a small footprint as well, which means it’s a great lens option for multi-day hiking where weight and size is always a concern.
The metal construction gives a lot of confidence and most notably for me, it features a sturdy aperture ring which is always appreciated for efficient management of the aperture, something that is missing on the Sony 35mm F2.8 ZA.
See below for specifications and testing..
Panorama shot with the Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN and framed in Like A Frame for iOS.
Major Specifications
Dimensions (length x diameter): 59.7mm x 64mm / 2.4” x 2.5”
Weight: 295g / 10.4oz
Aperture Blades: 9
Aperture Ring: Yes
Optical Design: 11 elements in 10 groups, with 5 SLD and 1 aspherical lens elements
Autofocus: Smooth stepping motor
Closest Focus: 50cm / 19.7”
Filter Size: 55mm
Lens Hood: Included metal lens hood with magnetic lens cap.
Without the lens hood, the 90mm F2.8 has a surprisingly small footprint and a very uniform design that makes it easy to store. It also features a magnetic lens cap which makes it quicker to remove.
Shooting Panoramas
I took the 90mm lens along with the 40mm F2.5 G lens out to Mount Greville for a hike up to the south eastern slopes for sunrise to test out the lens and shoot some panoramic images of the landscape around the Scenic Rim.
For most of them, I decided to shoot them vertically to obtain a taller field of view with 5-7 frames stitched in Lightroom Classic using the Merge to Panorama feature.
Here is one very high resolution panoramic stitch on the Sony A7CR 61mp full frame camera I shoot with. The result was a whopping 171 megapixels and I was very impressed with the sheer amount of detail. I shot the panorama below at F/11 - ISO 100 - 1/3 sec. f/11 is about the limit for the sharpest detail before diffraction starts to creep in as you’ll see in the testing further down.
As you can see, there is a huge amount of detail in the lens as captured on the 61mp sensor and by all accounts, you shouldn’t be worried about that aspect of the lens.
Full panoramic image of 18506×9244 pixels (171 megapixels).
1500×1000 pixel crop (click to enlarge)
Diffraction Limit — f/11 vs f/22
As you can see, there is a noticeable difference in absolute sharpness due to diffraction at f/22. This is less visible at f/16, but I’ve found most full frame lenses peak at f/11. For maximum sharpness, stick to f/11 if you can and focus stack if necessary. Use ND filters if you need to slow the shutter down further.
Lens Corrections
At the widest aperture, the lens experiences noticeable vignetting, which can be corrected in your editing software with the correct profile. This mostly falls off by f/8 and f/11 thankfully, which is where a majority of landscape photographs are likely to be shot for sharpness.
What doesn’t go away is the pincushion distortion. It is the same throughout the entire aperture range. This can be corrected, but straight lines may need to be managed carefully.
Through The Aperture Range
The Sigma 90mm F2.8 has a decent maximum aperture which allows for soft, natural and controled bokeh as you would expect in a modern lens. It would be perfectly usable for headshot photography as well, although the lens itself doesn’t feature optical image stabilisation, so only cameras with IBIS will be able to stabilise with this lens attached.
Below is every major stop from F2.8 to F22. No lens corrections have been applied in Lightroom. The raw files have been matched for white balance.
Summary
Overall, for the modest price of around $800 AUD (~$500 USD), the Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary Lens is an impressive, small and fairly lightweight option for telephoto landscape photography as well as usable for portrait work.
It’s incredibly sharp and it is small enough for someone who needs to save on space and weight for hiking. The metal body is sturdy and the aperture ring is a very nice bonus.
I can easily recommend this lens for those who have some constraints they need to adhere to as well as saving a few extra dollars. The optical issues like pincushion distortion are unfortunate, but with a high resolution sensor, this can be easily corrected for.