Conclusion

Sigma have taken one of our favourite standard zooms for E-mount and L-Mount cameras and made an already excellent lens even better.

Offering faster auto-focusing, more features, closer focusing and better image quality than the original version, plus the welcome addition of an aperture ring, this is definitively the best all-round standard zoom lens for Sony Alpha and Leica / Panasonic / Sigma L-Mount full-frame cameras.

The new Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN II Art beats the highly recommended Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II, Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2 and Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS lenses.

It's half the price of the Sony FE 24-70mm whilst offering comparable image and build quality. It's a little more expensive than the Tamron 28-75mm, but clearly out-performs it optically. It offers less telephoto range than the Sony FE 24-105mm, but is crucially a stop faster whilst being similarly priced.

The recommended retail price has risen slightly by £130 / $100 since the Mark I version was released in 2020, but that's a relatively small price to pay for all of the significant improvements that the 2024 update offers.

In terms of its optical performance, it continues to be tack-sharp in the centre throughout all of the zoom range, but is now also acceptably sharp even wide-open at f/2.8 at the very edges of the frame. It also produces some very nice bokeh effects thanks to the 11-blade iris diaphragm.

There is still some some vignetting at wide-open apertures, barrel distortion at 24mm and slight pincushioning at 70mm, but all of this can be corrected either in-camera or during post-processing.

As well as improvements to image quality, the auto-focus system has been revamped with the incorporation of the very latest linear motor HLA (High-response Linear Actuator).

This lens features fast, near-silent, reliable auto-focusing on the Panasonic Lumix S5II camera that we tested it with, with the Click and Lock switches for the aperture ring making it well-suited to both stills and movies.

It offers a high level of build quality, plus it's usefully dust and moisture resistant too, although not fully water-proof, and Sigma have also included a very good lockable lens hood and padded case in the overall package.

In short, unless you really can't bring yourself to buy anything but Sony/Panasonic/Leica lenses for your corresponding camera body, if you want a standard zoom that's anything but "standard", then the https://dustinabbott.net/2024/... offers a winning combination of features, performance and price.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	5
Image quality	5
Value for money	4.5