The Sigma 15mm F1.4 DC Contemporary ($579) isn't a Mark II lens, but it might as well be, as it's the spiritual successor to the 16mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary ($539). Coming in with just a slightly wider angle of view, the 15mm F1.4 is seriously small in comparison, focuses faster and closer, and is just as capable of making great photos in all kinds of light. It's an excellent value too, and available for several APS-C camera systems, so it earns the same Editors' Choice honor as the 16mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary did before it.

Design: Pairs Well With APS-C Cameras

The outgoing Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary was a decently large lens, about 3.6 by 2.8 inches (HD) and just shy of a pound at 14.3 ounces. The 15mm F1.4 DC Contemporary is seriously slimmed down to 2.6 by 2.5 inches and 7.9 ounces, making it a better match for compact mirrorless cameras like the Fujifilm X-M5 and Canon EOS R50. It's not a surprising change: the 16mm F1.4 is eight years old, and lenses have trended smaller in the interim. For instance, the $239 Viltrox AF 15mm F1.7 Air is around the same size at 2.2 by 2.6 inches and 6.4 ounces. I've not yet reviewed the Viltrox AF 15mm, but have been impressed with the value for the dollar from the Viltrox lenses I've tried.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Like other focal length lenses in the DC Contemporary series, the 15mm F1.4 features a weather-sealed mounting point that can withstand splashes, but omits the internal seals found in Sigma's DG Art and Sports series lenses. Despite not having full protection from the elements, the front element features a water- and oil-repellent fluorine coating that causes water droplets to bead up without leaving a mark and lets you wipe away a stray fingerprint with just a microfiber cloth. You can also choose to add a 58mm protective or creative filter to the front glass if you prefer.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens covers APS-C image sensors, so its angle of view is closer to a 22.5mm prime on a full-frame camera when used with a Fujifilm X or Sony E camera, and since Canon uses a slightly smaller chip for its APS-C line, it's closer to a 24mm full-frame prime when used with an R-series camera. You'll need to make sure you get the right lens version for your camera—I tested it on a Canon EOS R7.

Regardless of the system, the angle of view is decidedly wide, around the same starting point as most kit lenses. If you're just starting out with photography and want to add a prime to supplement your starter lens, this is a good one to get if you find yourself taking photos at the start, zoomed out. If you tend to zoom in a bit for shots, the Sigma 23mm F1.4 DC Contemporary or 30mm F1.4 DC Contemporary is probably a better prime to start with. If you like to take portraits, the 56mm F1.4 DC Contemporary is the lens to get.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens ships with a petal-style hood that ratchets on or off the front bayonet with a twist and can be reversed for easier storage and transport, front and rear caps, and a drawstring pouch. Sigma makes it for Canon R, Fujifilm X, and Sony E cameras with APS-C image sensors.

Controls and Focus: Quick, Quiet, and Focuses Close

The Fujifilm X and Sony E versions of the 15mm F1.4 include a dedicated control ring to set the aperture from its wide-open f/1.4 setting down to the minimum f/16 with third-stop clicks. The Canon edition drops the aperture ring in favor of a configurable Control Ring, a feature that Sony and Fujifilm cameras don't support. The ring is also the clicky type; this lens doesn't support smooth, silent adjustment like Sigma's Art and Sports series, but it does support more than just aperture control. You can set it to one of a dozen settings, including EV, ISO, and aperture control, via the camera menu.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Autofocus is silent and instant; the lens shows no noticeable delay when moving from a near to a distant subject. Manual focus works well too; the focus ring is appropriately tight, making fine adjustments easy. The lens supports either linear or nonlinear manual focus (set in the camera menu), so you can choose the mode that suits you best. Linear focus is based on the rotation angle and spans from the minimum focus distance to infinity, while nonlinear focus is based on the rotation speed. I tend to prefer a nonlinear focus for photography, as I can turn the ring quickly to make a big, rough change in focus, then turn gently to find the ideal focal point. Videographers will likely opt for linear, as it allows them to repeat focus racks across multiple takes.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens shows a little bit of focus breathing—its angle of view is a little bit wider when focused at its closest point versus infinity, but it's not a huge difference. You'll see a bloom in the angle of view when making videos where the focal plane shifts from the nearest point to a far-off subject. It's something that a cinematographer will complain about, but slight to the point where most creators and viewers won't notice. The wide angle of view and small size make the lens a good choice for vloggers who want to self-record and use a small gimbal like the DJI RS 4 Mini.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The 15mm F1.4's angle of view is too broad for traditional macro photography, but it can focus fairly close. The lens hones in on subjects as near as 7.0 inches from the camera sensor for a decent 1:7.9 life-size reproduction ratio. You'll no doubt get a little bit of perspective distortion, the effect that exaggerates features like noses when you put a camera in someone's face, and you will have to be careful about casting a shadow when working at the nearest distance, but that's true of any wide lens that focuses close.

Image Quality: Make Sure You Use a Profile for Raw

I tested the Sigma 15mm F1.4 DC Contemporary with the 32.5MP EOS R7 and Imatest software to check its resolution in my lab, and took it out in the real world to judge the character of its images. The lens delivers very good resolution for the R7's sensor at f/1.4 (2,800 lines), with excellent detail in the central point of focus (3,400 lines) that softens toward the periphery. It improves a bit at first/2 (3,000 lines) and crosses into excellent territory from f/2.8-8 (3,300 lines), before taking a slight step back at f/11 (2,900 lines) and noticeably softening at f/16 (2,200 lines).

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

There's some reason to stop all the way down, though; the lens draws impressively crisp sunstars at f/11 and f/16. The starburst effect is actually caused by optical diffraction, which reduces detail and can add drama to landscapes with the sun in frame and to scenes with small points of light. I noticed some rainbow flare surrounding when photographing into the sun toward the minimum aperture, but at f/8 or wider, you don't have to worry about color ghosts or reflections when pointing the lens at a bright light source. In plain language, flare resistance is excellent.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Like many small primes for mirrorless systems, the 15mm F1.4 DC Contemporary relies on a digital correction profile to remove barrel distortion and maintain proper corner brightness. If you use your camera in JPG mode or for movies, these corrections are transparent and applied automatically. Photographers who use a Raw format will want to apply a correction profile when processing images, as the lens exhibits noticeable barrel distortion and dimmed edges and corners. Sigma provided me with an early look at its profile for Adobe Lightroom Classic, and it straightens curved lines and effectively brightens corners. Lightroom tends to overcorrect a vignette, at least for my personal taste, but it's easy enough to dial back the vignette control using a slider adjustment if you feel the same way.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The F1.4 aperture is a selling point for the lens, and one of the reasons to choose it over a more affordable first-party option like the Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM or a zoom like the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN Contemporary. When used at its widest aperture, the 15mm captures four times as much light, which makes it suitable for use in dim conditions and softens backgrounds situationally—the short focal length means that you'll need to be fairly close to a subject and that there must be some distance between it and the backdrop to get the bokeh look.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The look of the backgrounds is also situational. If you have a relatively clean backdrop, you won't find much fault in the bokeh, but the story is different for busier backdrops. I see noticeable purple and green color fringing (longitudinal chromatic aberration, or LoCA) and specular highlights with defined edges, a combination that lends itself to busy, frenetic bokeh in scenes with complex patterns behind the plane of focus. There aren't any first-party Canon options that achieve the same blurred look at this focal length, but Fujifilm system owners should consider spending more on the XF 16mm F1.4, and Sony photogs can get the E 15mm F1.4 G; both draw cleaner backgrounds but cost more.