Sigma Contemporary 50mm 2.0 DG DN

Highly Recommended - A versatile 50mm standard lens with outstanding sharpness and gorgeous handling.

The Sigma 50mm f2 DG DN stands-out in a crowded market of standard lenses by delivering a step-up from entry-level models without the cost or weight of premium options. It’s pretty light and compact, but well-built, focuses quickly and delivers crisp subjects against nicely-rendered backgrounds. If you’re after corner-to-corner sharpness, you will need to close down to around f5.6, and of course an f2 lens will never match a brighter model for potential blurring at the same distance. But both are design decisions to meet a size, weight and price point in the Contemporary I series. The biggest issue facing the lens is the wealth of alternatives available, including Sigma’s own 50 1.4 DG DN Art, giving you a well-corrected brighter option at around $850, but it is larger and almost double the weight. There really is a 50 for everyone, but I feel Sigma’s doing a great job at identifying and plugging any gaps in price and spec, and now has two great standard primes for full-frame mirrorless owners. If you like their style, the only real question is $640 for the compact f2 or $850 for the heftier 1.4 Art? Both are easy to recommend.