EX Lenses

SIGMA's professional fixed focal lengths and fast zoom lenses, whose widest aperture remains constant over the entire zoom range.

EX (Exclusive) - Exclusive quality, handy design, elegant finish - these are the features of our professional rail. The EX symbol characterises our sophisticated lens series. In addition to the high quality standard, these products are characterised by exclusive focal length ranges and high light intensities. EX lenses - the better choice.

DG (Digital Grade) Lenses

As with our DC lenses, the coating technology and the design of the DG lenses, whose calculations are based on digital requirements, primarily prevent light reflections from the sensor on the rear lens element. The use of these modern coating processes successfully eliminates ghost images caused by reflections on the sensor surface and at the same time achieves a balanced colour balance. The DG lenses are designed for demanding use on digital SLR cameras up to full format. These lenses illuminate the full 35mm KB format and are therefore equally suitable for use on 35mm film SLR cameras and digital SLR cameras. The DG lenses offer an optimum design for digital cameras as well as for the fulfilment of the highest lens requirements in general.

Digital SLR cameras are now an integral part of the market and their share is growing. Although many lenses from older series can also be attached to digital cameras due to the bayonet mount retained by the camera manufacturers, this decision should be reconsidered.
Where a film records your subject in analogue photography, a DSLR has a sensor with a reflective glass surface. The light can be reflected from the sensor to the rear lens element of the lens, leading to unwanted reflections and loss of quality. We prevent this with the DG lenses with our new, complex multi-coating of the lenses.
Where an analogue chemical recording takes place, the image is stored digitally and electronically. The arrangement and nature of the pixel sensors requires an extremely high resolution and a special alignment of the incident light rays. We achieve this with the DG lenses with our special optical design, whose calculations are based on the digital requirements.

DC (Digital Classic) Lenses

First and foremost, the coating technology and the design of the DC lens, whose calculations are based on digital requirements, largely prevent light reflections from the sensor on the rear lens element. In addition, the DC lenses offer impressive image quality despite their low weight and compact size, meeting the requirements of digital SLR cameras. These lenses are limited to the angle of view that is only used by most DSLR cameras anyway - the angle of view of cameras with a sensor size in the so-called APS-C format. The sensors of most digital SLR cameras are smaller than the 35mm film with its 24x36mm format and have the dimensions of the APS-C film format. Therefore, you cannot use the DC lenses on a full-frame digital camera or an analogue film camera. You would inevitably get shading in the corners of the image. By restricting the angle of view to this APS-C format, the design makes it possible to achieve a remarkable imaging performance with a reasonable design effort. The less complex design has an effect on the size and weight of the DC lenses. The reduced complexity results in significant cost savings, which we naturally pass on to our customers. With our DC lenses, you get high-performance lenses at extremely attractive prices.

DN Lenses

High-performance lenses developed exclusively for mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. The latest technology in lens development ensures high optical performance, a compact design and quiet autofocus. The outstanding telecentricity guarantees sharp and high-resolution image quality across the entire image plane.

Aspherical Lenses

Normally, rays close to the edge are refracted more strongly towards the centre when passing through a lens than light rays close to the axis. Images taken with an uncorrected system can therefore be blurred towards the edge. The aspherical correction of an optical system now eliminates numerous imaging errors at once. Sharpness is achieved across the entire field of view, distortion is minimised and the lens can be made smaller and lighter due to our advanced correction methods. Almost all of our lenses are equipped with at least one aspherical lens element.

APO Lenses

The light of different wavelengths is refracted differently by an optical system, as the lenses have a different focal length for each wavelength. This can result in blurring in the image, especially at longer focal lengths. We counteract this with our ELD and SLD (especially low dispersion) glass elements. The targeted combination of different lenses minimises chromatic aberration and gives you outstanding image quality.

Optical stabiliser

Sensors in the lens recognise camera movements that can lead to blurring in the image and, in conjunction with a flexibly suspended lens element, these movements are compensated for. As a result, your photographic options for freehand shots are increased considerably. Stabilised lenses allow you to take hand-held photos without blurring for 3 - 4 exposure levels longer than usual. On camera models that are already equipped with a stabiliser, you can choose whether to use the camera's stabiliser or that of the lens. However, stabilisers in the lens always have the advantage that they also provide you with a stabilised viewfinder image. This means that nothing stands in the way of an accurate assessment of the image and precise use of the focus.

Sigma's optical stabiliser uses two sensors inside - long focal lengths and poor lighting conditions always bring with them the risk of blurring the image. Two modes are available for use and enable you to take sharp hand-held shots with confidence.

HSM ultrasonic motor (Hyper Sonic Motor)

HSM lenses use a motor that is driven by ultrasonic waves. This technology offers you a very fast, precise and almost silent way of automatic focussing. Two different types of HSM ultrasonic drive are used in our lenses. One is the HSM ring motor, which is mainly used in the high-quality EX lenses. This HSM drive allows you to manually intervene in AF mode at any time. On the other hand, an HSM micromotor is primarily used in compact lenses, the so-called all-round zoom lenses. Manual intervention in AF mode is not possible here.

HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) - The drive motor for focusing can be located either in the camera body or in the lens itself. The drive in the lens is usually the faster one, especially as the motor is specially adapted to the lens. Our HSM lenses can be used with great ease of use on cameras that support the ultrasonic drive. Focusing is extremely fast and virtually silent, which is particularly important in wildlife and sports photography. You can also manually adjust the focus at any time without having to switch off the AF first.

Rear lens focussing

With rear-focus lenses, only the rear lens group is moved for focussing. As with internally focussed lenses, this results in many advantages: Rear lens focussing ensures faster and quieter focussing. With RF lenses, the overall length of the lens remains constant during focussing and the front lens does not rotate, which allows you to conveniently use polarising filters and a tulip-shaped lens hood. As the overall length of the lens remains constant during focusing, there is no noticeable shift in weight when focussing with this system. This means that the lens is well balanced at all times.

RF (rear focus) - Lenses are moved in the rear lens barrel - hence "rear" focus. The distance is very short, resulting in very short setting times.

Internal focussing

With internally focussed lenses, only one or more lens groups are moved inside the lens for the purpose of focusing. As with rear-focus lenses, this results in many advantages: Internal focussing ensures faster and quieter focusing. With IF lenses, the overall length of the lens remains constant during focussing and the front element does not rotate, which allows you to conveniently use polarising filters and a tulip-shaped lens hood. As the overall length of the lens remains constant during focusing, there is no noticeable shift in weight when focussing with this system. This means that the lens is well balanced at all times.

APO teleconverter EX

Lenses of this type can be combined with the separately available 1.4x or 2x APO EX DG teleconverters, which extend the focal length accordingly. The APO EX DG teleconverters are specially calculated for specific lenses on which they are preferably used - both optically and mechanically. On the one hand, this results in excellent imaging results with the appropriate lenses, on the other hand, there are structural limitations to the usability on certain lenses. With some series, when combined with a teleconverter, the front lens element would come into contact with the rear lens element of the lens. Our APO EX DG teleconverters can only be used on lenses with the symbol shown above. A detailed compatibility list can also be found on our homepage.