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Aperture Series: 18-35mm f/1.8 @ 35mm (SD1M, Red Barn)
The Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 zoom on the Sigma SD1 Merrill offers a very high quality image for landscape style shooting but as with any lens, critical focus is required to obtain sharp results at wider apertures.
This scene is at focus near infinity, which is generally the most demanding scenario for autofocus systems as well as the lens optics; for the lens the slightest misalignment can show skew (asymmetry). Thus a test like this is highly revealing of everything.
Raw conversion
Converted using these settings in Sigma Photo Pro v5.5.3. Use of +0.3 X3 Fill Light restored the “as remembered” brightness feeling to the image.
The f/11 and f/16 frames could have been given additional sharpening after conversion in order to compensate for diffraction; this has NOT been done here. See Mitigating Micro Contrast Losses from Diffraction Blur in Making Sharp Images.
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Diglloyd DAP is DSLR-oriented, but also contains workflow and other topics. Much of the focus is on Canon and Nikon but also Pentax and Pentax medium format.
Special emphasis is placed on lens evaluation, focusing on Canon and Nikon and Sigma lenses, but with a few others like Rokinon/Samyang.
- Make better images by learning how to get the best results right away.
- Save money by choosing the right lens for your needs the first time, particularly some of the new Sigma Art lenses vs Nikon and Canon.
- Workflow discusses image organization, raw conversion and post processing. Many examples show processing parameters for direct insight into how the image was converted.
- Jaw-dropping image quality found nowhere else utilizing Retina-grade images up to full camera resolution, plus large crops [past 2 years or so].
- Real world examples with insights found nowhere else. Make sharper images just by understanding lens behavior you won’t read about elsewhere.
- Aperture series from wide open through stopped down, showing the full range of lens performance and bokeh.
- Optical quality analysis of field curvature, focus shift, sharpness, flare, distortion, and performance in the field.
Want a preview? Click on any page below to see an excerpt as well as extensive blog coverage, for example on Nikon or on Canon or on Pentax.
