Class-leading optical performance
The 16mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary is a high-performance and exceptionally portable crop-sensor prime that combines a wide angle-of-view with an ultra-wide maximum aperture. This makes it ideal for street photography, weddings, events, wide-angle portraits and landscapes, and thanks to its fast AF it’s also extremely well suited to video, including vlogging. The wide F1.4 aperture delivers a shallow depth-of-field for blurry backgrounds, and it also makes it easier to achieve blur-free shots when working hand-held in low light. Weighing just over 400g, the 16mm F1.4 is exceptionally lightweight for an F1.4 lens, so is ideal for photographers who need performance and portability from their kit.

The lens is available in a range of mirrorless mounts including L-Mount, Sony E-mount, Canon EF-M, Micro Four Thirds, Canon RF-S and Nikon Z Mount. When used on an APS-C sensor camera, the lens offers an equivalent focal length of 24mm, and when used on Micro Four Thirds, 32mm. The SIGMA 16mm F1.4 is part of a series of portable crop-sensor primes with an F1.4 maximum aperture.

Features and build
As with the other lenses in Sigma’s F1.4 DC DN range, the 16mm F1.4 is constructed with a strong and light polymer that ensures a rugged build while keeping the lens portable. A large, rubberised focus ring makes manual focusing highly intuitive to use, and a petal-type lens hood helps control flare in bright sunlight.

The lens benefits from inner focusing technology, with a stepping motor that delivers smooth, fast and accurate AF for both stills and video. The lens has been designed with lighter lens elements in the focus lens group, which ensures responsive autofocus that is fully compatible with all the latest AF camera technology.

The durable brass mount is surrounded by a rubber seal to help keep out dust and moisture (except EF-M).

High-performance optics
The 16mm F1.4 DC DN delivers outstanding optical quality across the whole frame, even on high-resolution sensors. Its advanced optical design of 16 elements in 13 groups includes 2 aspherical elements, 2 SLD elements and 3 FLD elements. These ensure razor-sharp results and help to eliminate common optical issues such as chromatic aberration, flare and vignetting. The lens also utilises in-camera digital correction to fine-tune the final result.

Important for a wide-angle lens, optical performance is maintained across the whole frame, meaning fine detail is perfectly captured right into the corners.

Chromatic aberration is very well-controlled around areas of high contrast, and vignetting is minimal even wide-open. The lens has Super Multi-Layer optical coatings which reduce flare and ghosting when working in bright direct sunlight.

Excellent low-light performance
A very bright maximum aperture of F1.4 allows plenty of light through the lens. For astrophotographers, this ensures plenty of sky detail in shorter exposures, and for photographers using the lens hand-held in low-light conditions, such as at weddings or events, it helps eliminate camera-shake.

A fast aperture also means a shallow depth-of-field for blurry backgrounds. This allows photographers to isolate their subject and create more impactful images. The bokeh is smooth and attractive, so doesn’t distract from the in-focus subject.

Perfect for street photography
Fast, sharp optics in a portable body is the perfect combination for street photography, as it allows photographers to travel light and blend into the environment as they work. Being wide-angle, the 16mm is a superb option for very tight spaces, such as the interiors of buildings and high-rise city architecture. The AF is very fast too thanks to a stepping motor, making it easier to capture fleeting moments as they arise.