Tackling some of those judgements I’d made: the plastic… Ugh. If you’re planning to plop this lens on your 12-24MP camera now and on the 36-48 megapixel monsters down the road, fear not, you may be better off with this Sigma than a Nikon or Canon equivalent in terms of optical lens quality and how it will hold up on the higher megapixel cameras in the future. This, above all else, is most important if you’re shopping with the future in mind. Some reviewers have gone so far as to call the 35mm “leagues ahead of the Zeiss and Nikon” in sharpness. Sigma’s refreshed lens design (read: Art Series) gives me hope that hiccups of the past may be forgotten. With similar characteristics to the other dogs in the yard, the problem for Sigma gear is you never know if it’s a purebred or a mutt, with no clear indication of what you actually have.
They all agree on one thing: despite the price, this is a big boy lens for all intents and purposes. There are a lot of reviews on other sites that pixel-peep this lens to death, comparing sharpness in corners, contrast, bokeh and light falloff.
Sigma tends to do one thing quite well and that’s fast mid-range primes like this 35mm and the popular 50 f/1.4. On the technical side of things, it’s unquestionably sharp.