Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Art Field Test: Should you pick up this hotly-anticipated zoom?

posted Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 2:59 PM EDT

Click here to read our Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 OS Art Field Test

Ever since Sigma started their new run of lenses branded under their "Global Vision," talk of a new 24-70mm f/2.8 has been raging. Hard to believe that was years ago! Well, the wait is finally over and the new Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art will be available to the public soon. So how does it fare? I took the lens around California and tested it in portrait, low light, aerial and landscape situations to determine how it handled being the "desert island" lens that many call this ubiquitous zoom category.

Though it's not perfect, or perhaps not as perfect as the years of anticipation have built it up to be, the 24-70mm f/2.8 Art does do quite well at high apertures, with excellent sharpness consistency from f/2.8 through f/22 at most focal lengths, a rarity for any lens. Unfortunately, overall sharpness isn't up to par with what we have come to expect from Sigma, and edge sharpness overall proved to be disappointing.