Traditionally, ultra-bright aperture lenses have entailed significant caveats inherent in the extreme nature of their design, but, at least on paper, that may not be the case for the Sigma 50mm f1.2 DG DN ART. It comes in at a surprisingly low price point, and if the advertising is to be believed, that low cost doesn't entail the usual trade-offs you might expect.
A 50mm prime lens has been among the most popular focal lengths since the inception of photography as an art. On a full frame sensor, it offers a moderate telephoto that is highly flexible and can fill a variety of roles, from portrait to landscape photography. A super bright aperture such as f1.
2 further expands the usefulness of such a focal length by allowing you to shoot in low light more easily, and to better distinguish your subject from distracting elements outside of the plane of focus. Sigma provided a sample of the Sigma 50mm f1.2 DG DN ART and the Sigma FP L for this review.
The Leica SL3, which is also featured here, was provided by Leica for an upcoming review of that camera. I'm a real sucker for dramatic out of focus areas and dreamy bokeh, and the Sigma 50mm f1.2 DG DN ART certainly delivers in this regard.
Of course, that's what you'd expect from any lens with an f1.2 aperture, so what's really impressive is that the Sigma 50mm f1.2 is also so sharp when rendering those areas which are in focus.
Even shooting on the 60MP Leica SL3t, the Sigma 50mm f1.2 was able to fully take advantage of that camera.