Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM | A – Our verdict

The appeal of the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM A might be limited to those using APS-C cameras, but this doesn’t take anything away from what is an outstanding lens that delivers stunning images right across its zoom range. If you’re like me and want to create attractive background blur behind subjects at mid telephoto lengths without having to change lens and lugging around two or three fast primes, you’ll fall in love with this lens and quickly get addicted to using it at its maximum aperture.

Creating a fast lens covering all of the most popular portrait shooting focal lengths in one always had the recipe for success, but it has plenty more uses besides portraiture and Sigma still had to execute the design well and deliver first-class image quality to make it triumphant. Despite being relatively compact, it’s not a light lens and has a tendency to make smaller APS-C models feel rather front heavy. That said, the overall build quality and operation couldn’t be faulted. Real-world images reveal it produces excellent sharpness from f/1.8 to narrower apertures across its zoom range and Sigma’s engineers have paid close attention to ensuring vignetting, distortion and chromatic aberrations are controlled well.

Full frame users certainly have reason to be jealous of this lens and its arrival couldn’t be better timed either, following up on the recent releases of the Nikon D500 and Canon EOS 80D. The lens complements the also excellent 18-35mm f/1.8 in the manufacturer’s range of APS-C format zooms and is fittingly priced at under £1,000. If you own an APS-C DSLR and are considering an 85mm, 105mm or 135mm telephoto prime, this zoom must be added to your ‘lenses to consider’ list.