Quick take: The Sigma 15mm F1.4 Contemporary replaces the 16mm F1.4 DC DN, and it's a big step forward in size, weight and handling. It's roughly half the size and weight of the 16mm, has an aperture ring, more robust weather sealing and a smaller 58mm filter thread. Image quality is what you'd expect from Sigma: sharp, with well-controlled flare and ghosting. It's a great fast, wide prime for gimbal work and small Fujifilm bodies. If you're happy with your 16mm, though, the upgrade is a harder sell.
A Different Kind of Lens Review
At this point, you know that if Sigma releases a Contemporary lens, it's going to be decently sharp, well priced and have pretty decent autofocus. I've reviewed the 10-18mm, the 12mm F1.4 and the 18-50mm F2.8 already, and I own the original 16mm F1.4 this lens replaces.
So instead of just shooting test charts, I used the 15mm on a real project: a short video I'm working on about Boston Market and how private equity gutted and bankrupted the company. For anyone outside the US, Boston Market was one of the first fast-casual restaurants, where you could grab a rotisserie chicken and comfort food, even through a drive-thru.
For those of you who were in the Canon EF-M system, the 16mm was one of the lenses that kept that ecosystem alive. When it came out, suddenly we had F1.4 lenses on tiny cameras like the M50. It's a little nostalgic holding it again.
Small Enough for a Gimbal on a Stick
The 15mm is much smaller than the 16mm, and the weight difference is substantial. Because it's so light, I mounted it on my Fujifilm X-M5 on a DJI RS4 Mini, then put the whole rig on a Manfrotto gimbal boom and raised it a few feet over my head.
It's a light payload, so it was easy to maneuver and grab establishing shots of the abandoned Boston Market location. A small package with Sigma image quality made it a quick in-and-out shoot.
On smaller bodies like the X-M5 and X-T30, and maybe even the X-S20, the lens is much better balanced than the old 16mm. That makes gimbal balancing easier and saves your gimbal's battery from fighting the payload all day.
Weather Sealing and Build Quality
Like the other refreshed Contemporary lenses, the 15mm is weather resistant, with a rubber gasket at the mount. Sigma told me they went out of their way to make the sealing more robust than on the original 16mm, which was also weather resistant, just less so. As far as I know, the 10-18mm is now the only lens in the line without weather sealing.
Compared to the Sigma 16mm F1.4
Size and weight: The 15mm is about half the size and weight of the 16mm.
Aperture ring: The 15mm has a clicky aperture ring with an A position, so you can hand control back to the body. When Sigma adds an aperture ring, I know the engineers were thinking of Fuji shooters.
Manual focus: The focus ring has a good amount of resistance, which matters for racking focus at roughly 22.5mm full-frame equivalent.
Filter thread: 58mm on the 15mm versus 67mm on the 16mm. That makes ND and diffusion filters cheaper, which is great if this is your first real lens.
Field of view: Every millimeter on the wide end counts. If you often find the 16mm a little too tight, the 15mm might solve that.
Photo and Video Samples
I'm not a big fan of wide-angle photos unless I'm stitching panoramas, but I love wide lenses for video because I can get close to the camera. The 15mm gives you a little wider than a standard 24mm full-frame view without the heavy perspective distortion of an ultra-wide like the Sigma 12mm, which stretches anything near the corners.
That makes it great for tight spaces like car interiors, where you get plenty of headroom without making everything look warped.
Wide open, the lens is sharp, with slightly soft corners. Stop down to F2.8 or F4 and it sharpens up. Shooting straight into the sun you'll get some chromatic aberration and fringing, but with the sun behind you it looks really good. These are traits you'll find even on high-end fast glass.
The two standouts for me are very well-controlled lens flare and ghosting. A lot of cheaper lenses struggle there, and it's frustrating on bright days when you're already stacking ND filters.
Using It as a Talking-Head Lens
I also tried it as a talking-head lens on my desk setup. Compared to my Sigma 12mm, I'm much less distorted in the corners. The only downside is that the 20 pounds you "lose" with an ultra-wide are back. The 12mm stays as my main YouTube lens, simply because I sit so close to the camera. With the 15mm, I'd need to move the tripod to the floor, which is much more annoying than a tabletop setup.
Who Is This Lens For?
It's for anyone who wants a cheap, fast, wide prime. If you take wide-angle photos, it's right up your alley. But it really shines for video shooters, especially if you do a lot of gimbal work. It's a small, high-quality lens that balances easily on small cameras, and it also pairs well with bodies like the X-H2S. Sony and Canon RF shooters will be well served too.
If you already own the 16mm and you're happy with it, the upgrade is a hard sell. If you shoot outdoors a lot, the improved weather sealing could make it worthwhile, and you're getting a decade of lens development. My advice: try it at a local camera store before you buy (I go to Unique Photo in Fairfield, NJ), and think about your use case before parting with your money.
Keep Reading
I Shot the 50-140 for 8 Years. Can This Tiny Sigma Replace It?
The Best Ultrawide Lens for Fujifilm Cameras: Sigma 12mm F1.4 Review
Did Sigma Make a Better Fujifilm Lens Than Fujifilm? Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 Review
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