Sigma 28-45mm For Wedding Photography

After many years shooting weddings on prime lenses I thought I would never convert to using a zoom lens. When I switched to primes many years ago, the quality of my photography vastly improved and although zoom lenses improved over the years I still wanted to have lenses with an f2.0 aperture or faster for my weddings work.

As I photograph weddings I love the 35mm & 50mm combo with 2 bodies. Recently I have also enjoyed the 28mm focal length (although It meant me wielding 3 bodies at times so as not to sacrifice the 50/35mm) and I am finding for many weddings 50mm is often a little too long (other than speeches and portraits). I also I recently started shooting film and so really needed a way to carry less cameras (I was often wielding 3 digital camera bodies and sometimes had 2/3 film cameras either on me or close by – yes it’s far too much)

As as a Sony shooter, I always looked longingly at the Sony 28-70mm f2.0 lens. It looked to be the perfect compromise, and although there are rumours of a Sony competitor – we are still waiting.

When the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 lens was first released, I dismissed it. It was big, and the range was limited. My initial thought was – “If it went to 50mm, I’d probably try it”. But then I started to think about how this lens could possibly change the way I shoot. After all 95% of my day is either 28/35/50mm… It would enable me to go from 2 or 3 bodies down to 1 for most of the day. Less juggling, and I could still shoot 35mm film on my Contax G2, T2 or Canon Eos 30.

So I ordered the lens and I have been very impressed. This isn’t a technical review looking at charts etc, there are other reviewers to do that. But I will say it’s very sharp and the bokeh is very pleasing. Although it’s heavy, its not much heavier than my Sony 50mm f1.2 GM lens. It’s sharp, it focuses well 95% of the time (although on review of the images, maybe not quite as accurate as the GM lens every time) and I used it for 90% of the first wedding I took it to.

Did I miss the extra 5mm compared to the normal 50mm I shoot?

Yes. Its 11% or so difference, and although it doesn’t sound that much, I always felt when shooting at 45mm that it just didn’t feel like my 50mm. (I have been shooting 50mm for 12 years as my main focal length so it’s so instinctive). It felt more like a 35mm type focal length, although on review the difference isn’t that big… It just didn’t quite have the same compression which is to be expected.

I will say though that recently my style has changed a little to favour 35mm over 50mm so it’s not actually a bad thing to include a little more context and allow space for more crop. The wedding I shot was 90% outdoors and so the extra space didn’t really matter, in fact extra reach would have been preferable and so maybe this wasn’t a fair test of my 45mm vs 50mm feeling. I have noticed more and more that in a room, or during the ceremony where space is limited 50mm can be a little bit too long and so I think 45mm will really come into it’s own.

How about at the wider focal lengths?

I really enjoyed 28mm focal length. There aren’t too many options for this length – I have the 28mm f1.8 viltrox lens and also the 28mm f2.0 Sony lens and this 28-45mm Sigma lens far better than those lenses at 28mm. It’s such a great focal length when you get in close to document people talking etc or to set the scene and I really enjoyed having it ready without switching bodies.

Conclusions

I’ve rambled on about my initial findings with the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 lens. My main objective for sharing this was to show some real world images from the lens rather than mtf charts. I hope the images are helpful.

Ultimately, this is a lens that many people just won’t get. I knew what I was buying and was somewhat surprised with just how small the zoom range can feel, all UNTIL you start photographing people in their environments, especially at weddings. It covers a really nice range and still gives you prime levels of detail and subject separation.

There is no denying that a zoom is more useful than a prime when shooting weddings. You just need to stay disciplined and not get lazy with focal length/positioning to keep the right feel to your images, making conscious decisions.

The working range for my weddings is pretty much 28-50mm for most of my work and so this on paper was a great solution. So far from my first wedding it’s really lived up to my expectations. I really do wish it wen’t to 50mm for that extra compression and would have sacrificed an extra 100grams or more £ but we can’t have everything. For those moments during portraits that I really want that 50mm I may just put a 2nd body on again but I won’t need to do that all day any more. Even if I just replaced the 35mm f1.4 GM with the Sigma it would be worth it as I get the 28mm too…

If you are looking at this lens, you probably know what it will offer your shooting style. I don’t think you will be disappointed in any way. It delivers on everything it promises and still has a nice character too. The only thing that you might miss is the extra reach, but it never promised more reach so that’s not Sigma’s fault! I will say this lens has convinced me that if Sony produce their rumoured 24-70 f2.0 lens then I will be the first to preorder even if it’s closer to the £3000 mark.

UPDATE

I thoroughly enjoyed using the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 for a wedding season but replaced it with the amazing new Sony 28-70mm f2.0 lens. You can read more about my thoughts on this lens here…

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