Sigma 17-40mm f1.4 Zoom Art lens

One of my favorite lenses of all time I just picked up is this Sigma 17-40mm f1.4 Zoom Art lens.  It's one of the most versatile lenses that came out on the market on July 10th, 2025.  I was lucky enough to pick one up before they sold out.  By Wednesday that week it was delivered to me and I was able to test it out around the house with amazing blur images.  

Like most photographers, we all tend to collect different types of lenses to cover any and all occasions and image styles.  Below are the lenses I own and use in my collection.

Sigma Lens

I used to consider the Sigma lenses as the mid tier lens.  Since owning a couple of them over the years, I have found them to be more than just mid tier.  I think today, Sigma has upped their game and some of their newer lenses are just as good as the main lenses Sony has in their lineup.

Sony Lens

Sony lenses are said to be the best lenses that you can get for your Sony Camera.   The Sony 28-70mm f3.5-5.6 FE zoom lens is my go to videography lens allowing me to shoot clean sharp videos while out on my photo shoots.  As for the Sony E11mm f1.8 ASP-C lens?  I like to use that for my wide to ultra wide shots and vlogging.  Another nice sharp and low light lens for those trips both outdoors and indoors.  

Viltrox Lens

Viltrox lenses have a special place in my heart when it comes to a good solid low budget lens.  The ones I like to use are their low cost prime lenses.  Are they as good as Sony or Sigma?  Many would say no, but in the past few years that no has become a yes to many photographers like myself.  It's a brand of it's own and the new Air and Pro series are actually pretty good.  The 85mm and 56mm are my Portrait lenses and the 15mm I like to use for those wide shots like the Sony 11mm.  All three of these are prime lenses that allow me that image bokeh in my photo shots at that lower f-stop 1.4 to 1.7.  

HELIOS Lens

HELIOS Lenses?  What can I say?  I have a thing for these lenses.   Made in Russia in the late 50's during the Soviet era and as new as 1990's, these lenses are manual focus, manual aperture bokeh beasts.  These lenses were based on the German Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2lens. On a side note, this lens It takes time to learn these lenses and use them to their full potential.  Once you get somewhat good with them, they are a lot of fun.  These two I picked up on e-Bay in the $100 to $200 range each.  They are cheap to buy and made to last as long as you take care of them like any other lens in your collection.