Review: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens

[Viggo]

viggo how much sharpening are you adding to those images in LR?

As stated I added a bit too much to really emphasize the focal point. Redid everything today and it seems the small "macro target" in FoCal isn't working with the 50 at mfd. and infinity I simply couldn't do in FoCal. But now it looks much better. I'm not 100% ready to say it works, but it's much better. The Sigma doesn't seem to like Ai Servo, so I more often tap the button that switch to One Shot and it does the trick. It's slowly turning into a winner here.

Like I said calibrate it manually using the dock and then use focal to check my focal check showed only a +1 change to afma

What's your luck with say, tracking a car driving away or slower moving subjects in bursts?

Did you see the pic of my daughter coming down the slide in servo at 1.4?

Lol, yeah I did. And I actually tried a bit today myself. Got out my sons RC car and drove with my toe and shot off with Case 2 and 4 point, and it nailed 9 out of 10 shots, even though it was close and goes pretty fast. It's looking up..

[razeac]

I thought I posted this pic already, so I scanned the whole thread.. lol

anyway, I was busy with this lens lately. As Viggo said, one shot seems to work a lot with this lens. It's hopeless with ai servo. The way I do it with one shot focus, I spam the af button... i mean literally spam just to hit focus...

its really sharp at 1.4..

[Viggo]

Now that's a car! Love the the angle and it works very well with shallow dof.

I'm actually glad to hear that your experience is very similar to mine, because that means it's not copy variation, but just the lens. Somehow that's way better to me.

Mine has grown on me, and I swear a lens and camera needs to be used a bit together before they start to work together, I know it's sounds crazy. I have a bit better luck with servo, but sometimes I too have to spam the AF button to really get a sharp picture.

Have you experienced the bug where AF-ON button won't start focus if the shutter is pressed halfway?

[razeac]

Hei Viggo, thanks for your comment. Yes I think it's the communication between the 5d Mark II and the 50 Art. I still don't have the dock yet. But what I am thinking now is to buy a focus screen to assist the autofocus. I mainly do portraits.

With regards with af bug, I am not sure if I am saying this correctly but I have disabled that halfway button function on the camera. So now, if I let someone take a picture of me using my camera,  I need to explain the whole process of pressing the Af button or the pic will be just a useless unfocused shot. Lol

[Viggo]

Hei Viggo, thanks for your comment. Yes I think it's the communication between the 5d Mark II and the 50 Art. I still don't have the dock yet. But what I am thinking now is to buy a focus screen to assist the autofocus. I mainly do portraits.

With regards with af bug, I am not sure if I am saying this correctly but I have disabled that halfway button function on the camera. So now, if I let someone take a picture of me using my camera,  I need to explain the whole process of pressing the Af button or the pic will be just a useless unfocused shot. Lol

Yeah I have the same setup. I also use the AF-ON button for AF and only metering on the shutter. But if I start metering by holding down the shutter button halfway, like you normally would do to start AF, and then push the AF-ON button, it sometimes won't focus at all. So then I have to release the shutter completely and push the AF-ON first and then the shutter. It's very annoying ..

[scottburgess]

Lol, yeah I did. And I actually tried a bit today myself. Got out my sons RC car and drove with my toe and shot off with Case 2 and 4 point, and it nailed 9 out of 10 shots, even though it was close and goes pretty fast. It's looking up..

No offense, Viggo, but this is starting to sound like lens witchcraft: the Sigma 50mm works right if there is a full moon, you balance on your left leg, and say "boogum" before you turn the camera on.  I probably wouldn't tolerate a lens with these autofocus issues--I'd send it back for an exchange or refund.  Sigma should offer to "make it right" on every one of these lenses which doesn't perform.  Perhaps they'll get the message when they start choking on the returns.

The purchase exception, from my perspective, would be for folks who are willing to accept a manual focus lens but can't afford the Otus 55mm or TS-E 45mm II, or can't wait for the likely fall/winter release of the latter.

I'm happy for folks here who own one that they are finding ways of making the Sigma work for them, and kudos to Viggo and others who are sharing their secrets of getting some autofocus performance.  But I'm quite saddened to hear it is such a flaky product out of the box.  Very disappointing design and quality control, especially for a leading product that is more than double the cost of the comparable Canon.  My recommendation to others will be to wait through 2015 for a possible Canon upgrade if they really want an f/1.4 with autofocus.  This result puts a pall over the entire revised Sigma lineup for me. 

[Viggo]

Lol, yeah I did. And I actually tried a bit today myself. Got out my sons RC car and drove with my toe and shot off with Case 2 and 4 point, and it nailed 9 out of 10 shots, even though it was close and goes pretty fast. It's looking up..

No offense, Viggo, but this is starting to sound like lens witchcraft: the Sigma 50mm works right if there is a full moon, you balance on your left leg, and say "boogum" before you turn the camera on.  I probably wouldn't tolerate a lens with these autofocus issues--I'd send it back for an exchange or refund.  Sigma should offer to "make it right" on every one of these lenses which doesn't perform.  Perhaps they'll get the message when they start choking on the returns.

The purchase exception, from my perspective, would be for folks who are willing to accept a manual focus lens but can't afford the Otus 55mm or TS-E 45mm II, or can't wait for the likely fall/winter release of the latter.

I'm happy for folks here who own one that they are finding ways of making the Sigma work for them, and kudos to Viggo and others who are sharing their secrets of getting some autofocus performance.  But I'm quite saddened to hear it is such a flaky product out of the box.  Very disappointing design and quality control, especially for a leading product that is more than double the cost of the comparable Canon.  My recommendation to others will be to wait through 2015 for a possible Canon upgrade if they really want an f/1.4 with autofocus.  This result puts a pall over the entire revised Sigma lineup for me.

Non taken

But I respectfully disagree with you, but I felt the same way you do about the 35 Art. But the 50 is an epic lens, it really is. Canon almost have no lens comparable, and no where near the IQ at 1.4. It's close to my 200 f2 in all aspects, distortion, CA control, sharpness etc. I'm not saying it's 100% equal, but it's very close, and that is pretty crazy. It makes me very annoyed with the 85 L and it's ca issues now, again, crazy.

The AF is much better than 35 Art I had and it's veryvery stable, when the contrast is there.

And as for calibration I applaud Sigma for providing the docking, their hands are tied when it comes to AF patents that Canon and Nikon have. And that the provide a solution to overcome that and really have a tool to make it hit perfect is awesome, and it's not very expensive either, even if you have only one Sigma.

Here's a shot at 1.4 in indoor daylight. I can live with annoying AF misses for IQ like this and the good AF performance you get.

[scottburgess]

Here's a shot at 1.4 in indoor daylight. I can live with annoying AF misses for IQ like this and the good AF performance you get.

That's excellent work, Viggo.  I am having to rely on autofocus more, so different strokes for different folks.  Glad you're getting such great stuff out of it!

[Viggo]

Thanks! Yeah, I need a working AF as well, but I don't have the pressure of, say, a wedding photographer. And if I absolutely can't afford to miss, I use the 24-70. Or maybe try the 50 at f2.8, lol.

[razeac]

Hei Viggo, thanks for your comment. Yes I think it's the communication between the 5d Mark II and the 50 Art. I still don't have the dock yet. But what I am thinking now is to buy a focus screen to assist the autofocus. I mainly do portraits.

With regards with af bug, I am not sure if I am saying this correctly but I have disabled that halfway button function on the camera. So now, if I let someone take a picture of me using my camera,  I need to explain the whole process of pressing the Af button or the pic will be just a useless unfocused shot. Lol

Yeah I have the same setup. I also use the AF-ON button for AF and only metering on the shutter. But if I start metering by holding down the shutter button halfway, like you normally would do to start AF, and then push the AF-ON button, it sometimes won't focus at all. So then I have to release the shutter completely and push the AF-ON first and then the shutter. It's very annoying ..

I hope you find a fix for that soon Viggo. I'll be surely pissed if I have it on my camera.   

[Viggo]

Hei Viggo, thanks for your comment. Yes I think it's the communication between the 5d Mark II and the 50 Art. I still don't have the dock yet. But what I am thinking now is to buy a focus screen to assist the autofocus. I mainly do portraits.

With regards with af bug, I am not sure if I am saying this correctly but I have disabled that halfway button function on the camera. So now, if I let someone take a picture of me using my camera,  I need to explain the whole process of pressing the Af button or the pic will be just a useless unfocused shot. Lol

Yeah I have the same setup. I also use the AF-ON button for AF and only metering on the shutter. But if I start metering by holding down the shutter button halfway, like you normally would do to start AF, and then push the AF-ON button, it sometimes won't focus at all. So then I have to release the shutter completely and push the AF-ON first and then the shutter. It's very annoying ..

I hope you find a fix for that soon Viggo. I'll be surely pissed if I have it on my camera.   

Yeah, and I think it possibly can happen between shots in a burst, because sometimes in a burst it tracks VERY poor, and when I check images 2,3,4 the point of focus haven't moved from first shot.

I think it's a firmware issue with lens.

[skitron]

wow i cant believe the near hysteria this caused

Yeah, well we're all either fanbois with no objectivity or Canon-bashers with no objectivity, right? 

Two reviews have noted AF issues with the lens, other reviews have not (though many reviews don't actually test AF performance).  Maybe Roger Cicala will get a large batch and provide some solid evidence one way or the other.

heres hoping roger can get a batch and test. his batch testing seems to provide the most objective and comprehensive analysis of lenses available. also if there are issues I hope they can be sorted with the sigma dock and the issues aren't random and all over the place like the old 50 was (well for me anyway) its odd that my wifes 5Dmk3 seems to have no problem with this lens and is providing amazing images wide open with remarkable AF consistency where as for me it was all over the place...

That is odd that it would be so different on identical bodies.

My dg did the roulette thing until I sent it to Sigma, has been decent,but not perfect since though. LOL, maybe the art has to be returned to them as well before it works?

[Viggo]

I shipped my 50 Art to service this evening. It seems me and Eldar experienced the same exact thing. It looks to be perfect, then a few days later it starts to drift and miss and then become perfect with yet another calibration, few more days same story over.

So if a reviewer only does the number of shots over a short periode it works brilliant. But more thorough and it goes straight down the , ehm, sounds like litter..

Hopefully something can be done. But I will take a stab at it and say this is done by Canon, a small disturbance in the firmware that handles AF communication. Would be VERY interesting to try my lens mount converted to a Sigma camera.

[neuroanatomist]

It might be time to give the Sigma bodies a serious look if they work well with their current glass. Anyone know of any credible reviews of their current bodies?

I read a review Michael Reichmann's (Luminous Landscape) review of the DP2M (which uses the Foveon X3 sensor) that raved about it.  Was it credible?  Well, he listed one of the cons as "poor image quality above ISO 400."  I find it hard to rave about a camera with ISO performance similar to some of the earliest CMOS sensors, but if all you do is shoot at ISO 100, maybe you can consider a Sigma body.

[skitron]

It might be time to give the Sigma bodies a serious look if they work well with their current glass. Anyone know of any credible reviews of their current bodies?

I read a review Michael Reichmann's (Luminous Landscape) review of the DP2M (which uses the Foveon X3 sensor) that raved about it.  Was it credible?  Well, he listed one of the cons as "poor image quality above ISO 400."  I find it hard to rave about a camera with ISO performance similar to some of the earliest CMOS sensors, but if all you do is shoot at ISO 100, maybe you can consider a Sigma body.

I'm all for just using something that works. That said, I actually deleted my post after reading some reviews on B&H, apparently while you were replying... High ISO is very important to me, so the Sigma body is a non starter. Plus some complained about af...