50mm f/1.4 Canon vs. Sigma

[LovePhotography]

Do you think Sigma will be able to fix the 50 1.4 Art forward focus with lateral edge focus points with software updates, or is that a permanent problem?

 

[gigabellone]

Do you think Sigma will be able to fix the 50 1.4 Art forward focus with lateral edge focus points with software updates, or is that a permanent problem?

I think this is something that a well written firmware can fix, but since Canon doesn't disclose any details about their autofocus system, there's no way to tell if this ever gets done, and when.

 

[sgs8r]

The Canon 50mm 1.4 is just soft wide open and doesn't fully sharpen up until 2.8. The problem is even more acute on a crop-sensor body. An easy way to see this is as follows:

Put your camera & 50mm on a tripod in AV mode at f/1.4 and point it at something with a lot of fine detail (I used a semi-transparent curtain). Go to live-view and x10 and manual focus as well you can. Hold down DOF preview and watch what happens as you stop down to 2.8. On my copy, I see the image get steadily sharper until about f/2.8. After I did this, I mostly stopped using my 50mm except in extreme low-light situations.

I've been waiting for years for Canon to update the 50mm 1.4. I finally gave up and bought the Sigma Art.

 

[gigabellone]

The Canon 50mm 1.4 is just soft wide open and doesn't fully sharpen up until 2.8. The problem is even more acute on a crop-sensor body. An easy way to see this is as follows:

Put your camera & 50mm on a tripod in AV mode at f/1.4 and point it at something with a lot of fine detail (I used a semi-transparent curtain). Go to live-view and x10 and manual focus as well you can. Hold down DOF preview and watch what happens as you stop down to 2.8. On my copy, I see the image get steadily sharper until about f/2.8. After I did this, I mostly stopped using my 50mm except in extreme low-light situations.

I've been waiting for years for Canon to update the 50mm 1.4. I finally gave up and bought the Sigma Art.

How's your experience with it? I have a Sigma 35 art and i love it. From what i see, the 50 got more complaints than the 35 regarding the AF, and this is scaring me off a bit, even if the price now (710€) is really tempting.

 

[pwp]

I replaced an EF 50 f/1.4 with a Sigma 50 f/1.4 (previous non-Art model) and what a waste of money. My EF 50 f/1.4 was good at f/1.8 and sharp at f/2. The Sigma was occasionally sharp, it had completely erratic and utterly hopeless AF, unable to be rectified by Sigma. When it nailed focus it was exquisite, but the AF inconsistency meant it was never trusted on a commercial job and was subsequently went off to eBay. The Sigma was twice the weight and bulk in the bag over the EF 50 f/1.4 which I wish I'd kept.

However the new Sigma Art 50 f/1.4 sounds like a big improvement, though there have been enough stories and user-feedback that question Sigma's quality control. YMMV.

-pw

 

[gsealy]

I have the Sigma F1.4 EX DG and it has performed well. I did a lot of testing at various f stops. It is very sharp at 2.8 through f 11. It is definitely not as good outside that range. The auto focus has been darn good. I use it a lot with a 1ds MII and the focus has been excellent and fast.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is better optically on FF than the old Sigma. On APS-C, the Sigma wins easily. Sigma has problems with AF on the old lens, and as far as AF accuracy, the Canon is better, but still pretty poor. It has a lot of variability. The Canon 50mm f/1.8 has dismal AF consistency from Camera to camera, the 85mm f/1.8 is much better, but the Sigma 84mm f/1.4


One place to see the results of many lenses is in the Blog of the Reikan Focal lens information tool. This is real world results uploaded from various testers. Some of the lenses may need service, but you will see the issue right away.

You can use the tool to compare results of various cameras and lenses, but only the combinations that had a lot of testers.


http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/index.php/online-tools/lenscamera-information/

 

[kyle86]

Just got the sigma 50 art and I didn't think I would be that impressed but I am. It's incredibly sharp, no problem with autofocus on a 1dx and pretty good bokeh! I'd really recommend this lens, great price, amazing lens!