The ultimate short-telephoto portrait and travel prime for crop-sensor cameras.
from
£419
from
£419This short telephoto crop-sensor prime delivers superb image quality and an ultra-wide F1.4 aperture in a very portable body. Weighing less than 300g, it’s ideal for photographers who need both performance and portability from their kit. When used on an APS-C sensor camera, the lens offers an equivalent focal length of around 85mm, and when used on Micro Four Thirds, it’s around 112mm. This makes it ideal for portraits, weddings, travel, street and pet photography, and thanks to its fast AF is also perfect for video.
The wide F1.4 aperture delivers a shallow depth-of-field for blurry backgrounds, which is particularly useful when photographing portraits as it helps the subject to stand out against the background. The fast aperture also makes it easier to achieve blur-free shots when working hand-held in low light. The lens is available in a range of mirrorless mounts including L-Mount, Sony E-mount, Canon EF-M, Micro Four Thirds and Nikon Z Mount. The SIGMA 56mm F1.4 is part of a series of portable crop-sensor primes with an F1.4 maximum aperture, ideal for photographers who prefer to work with a set of lenses from the same range.
The 56mm is constructed using a strong and light polymer that ensures a robust build while keeping the lens extremely small and light. At 57.5mm in length it is the smallest optic in the F1.4 DC DN range.Â
A large, rubberised focus ring makes manual focusing highly intuitive, and a petal-type lens hood helps control flare in bright sunlight.
The durable brass mount is surrounded by a rubber seal to help keep out dust and moisture (except EF-M mount). The lens benefits from inner focusing technology, with a stepping motor that delivers smooth, fast and accurate AF for both stills and video. It has been designed with lighter glass elements in the focus lens group, which ensures responsive autofocus that is fully compatible with all the latest AF camera technology.
Precision brass mount with seal
Protects against dust and moisture.
Sleek polymer body
Light and strong for regular all-day use.
Large rubberised focus ring
For intuitive manual focusing for stills and video.
Robust lens hood
To help cut down on excessive flare in bright direct sunlight.
The lens has an advanced optical design made up of 10 elements in 6 groups, including 2 aspherical elements and 1 SLD element. 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.
Chromatic aberration is very well-controlled around areas of high contrast, and vignetting is minimal even wide-open. The lens has advanced optical coatings which reduce flare and ghosting when working in bright direct sunlight.
The lens has a very bright maximum aperture of F1.4 that allows plenty of light through the lens – four times more than an F2.8 optic. This is useful when working the lens hand-held in low-light, such as at night, because it helps eliminate camera-shake.
A fast aperture also means a shallow depth-of-field for blurry backgrounds. It enables photographers and film-makers to isolate their subject and create more impactful images. The bokeh is smooth and attractive, so doesn’t distract from the in-focus subject.
Street photographers favour fast, sharp, portable lenses with a robust build, and the 56mm ticks all these boxes. Its mid-telephoto focal length is perfect for picking out small vignettes in cluttered environments, and its F1.4 aperture ensures fast shutter speeds in all conditions.
The 56mm F1.4 is one of the lightest lenses in the Sigma line-up, weighing just 285g. It’s also one of the smallest at less than 6cm in length (without hood and rear cap). It is virtually identical in weight to the 30mm F1.4, but is significantly shorter. Both lenses are ideal for portrait and street photography, and both have a similar look and feel.
285g
57.5mm
280g
71.3mm
If you’re tempted by the 56mm F1.4, you might like to consider buying it in a twin lens kit. The Creator Pro kit also includes the 23mm F1.4 and two protector filters to create a highly versatile package ideal for fast-aperture photography. It costs £799, saving you £138 off SRP.
All Sigma cameras and lenses are designed, manufactured and assembled at our sole factory at Aizu in Japan. This domestic production model is unusual in today’s industry, with most imaging companies opting to outsource to other countries to reduce costs. But SIGMA believes that keeping virtually all manufacturing, processing and assembly in Aizu is essential for creating innovative, carefully thought-out and impeccably constructed products that meet the high standards demanded by professional photographers and film-makers around the world.
Sigma chose Aizu as its main production base in the early 1970s. Situated at the base of Mount Bandai in the Fukushima Prefecture, about four hours’ drive north of Tokyo, Aizu has an abundance of very clean water from mountain streams, which is essential for grinding and polishing lenses. Sigma’s founder, Michihiro Yamaki, was also drawn to this area for its workforce, who have a reputation for their craftsmanship, work ethic and attention to detail. Mr Yamaki’s son, Kazuto Yamaki, now the owner and CEO of SIGMA Corporation, has the same unwavering commitment to keeping production in Japan.
Today Sigma’s factory is more than 50,000 square feet in size, and packed full of some of the most advanced optical manufacturing technology in existence. So when you buy a Sigma camera or lens you can be sure that virtually every single component part has been manufactured and assembled by SIGMA, in Japan, with the greatest level of care and attention. We hope you enjoy using our products.
If you want to see how a particular SIGMA lens or camera performs, why not test drive it with our SIGMA Select hire service. Available for selected SIGMA lenses, short-term loans are free of charge (including shipping), with a small fee if you want to test it for longer. Refundable deposit required. Subject to availability.
Lens construction
10 elements in 6 groups
Angle of view
28.5°
Number of diaphragm blades
9 (rounded diaphragm)
Minimum aperture
F16
Minimum focusing distance
50cm
Maximum magnification ratio
1:7.4
Filter thread
55mm
Dimensions (diameter x length)
ø66.5mm × 57.5mm
Weight
285g
Corresponding AF mounts
L-Mount | Sony E | Fujifilm X | Canon RF | Nikon Z | Canon EF-M | Micro Four Thirds
L-Mount barcode
00-85126-351694
Sony E barcode
00-85126-351656
FUJIFILM X barcode
00-85126-351755
Nikon Z barcode
00-85126-351731
Canon EF-M barcode
00-85126-351717
Micro Four Thirds barcode
00-85126-351632
Specifications are for L-Mount
A special coating applied to the front element to help repel water and oil.
This suppresses flare and ghosting by minimising reflections within the lens, ensuring punchy, high-contrast results. All lenses in the current Sigma range feature this technology.
Internal focus or an inner focus system means the lens configuration uses movable internal lens elements that adjust focus without changing the length of the lens barrel. This helps keep the centre of gravity of the lens more constant when changing focus.
The lens has a filter thread around the front element onto which filters and filter holders can be attached.
The mount is the part of the lens that attaches to the camera body. A coated brass mount is used for strength, and is surrounded by a rubber seal to keep out dust and moisture.
The lens has an image circle large enough to be used on a camera with an APS-C / S35 (or smaller) sensor. It can also be used on cameras with a full-frame sensor, but only in the camera’s crop mode.
The diaphragm is constructed of nine rounded blades for a circular aperture opening and round out-of-focus highlights.
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