Dustin Abbott's "Review" of the Old Sigma 50/1.4

[JumboShrimp]

Quote below from Dustin Abbott in his review of the new Sigma 50/1.4 ART lens:

"I have heard a few report that this new ART lens is not much better optically than the older Sigma 50mm f/1.4? All I can say is…huh? They are not occupying the same time/space continuum as me. I got a copy of the previous Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for review a few months and frankly I hated it. All I saw was green fringing (focus consistency left a lot to be desired) and optics that just didn’t seem to sharpen up to a level I deemed acceptable until the lens was stopped down…a lot. It lacked microcontrast and had a general “dreamy”, soft look at wider apertures."

After reading Dustin's opinion above of the "old" Sigma 50/1.4 and his reasons for hating it, I was wondering if anyone else would like to see a more in-depth review of this lens from the same person? Don't know what you think of the magazine, but Popular Photography just raves on-and-on about it as being the sharpest 50mm lens they have ever tested (!). Not sure I buy that; most other reviewers pretty much agree with Dustin. Anyway, perhaps you could weigh-in if you would like Dustin to expand his current short review, good or bad. I vote "yes" ... always good to hear from him.

 

[dtaylor]

The old Sigma 50mm is roughly as sharp at f/2 as the ART is at f/1.4 (not quite, but very close). It's sharper then both the Canon 50 f/1.4 and the Canon 50 f/1.2L when all are at f/1.4. You can see this in TDP's samples.

In real world use f/1.4 is perfectly usable. f/2 and f/2.8 come off very sharp.

I would say the old Sigma 50 has some of the best bokeh of any lens made. I would rank it slightly higher then the ART in this respect.

Color fringing outside the plane of focus is common to all fast primes, and I wouldn't say the old Sigma was worse in this respect then other lenses at the time of its introduction. Though it could really stand out at times (i.e. brightly lit black on white detail where some of the detail lies slightly outside the plane of focus), in normal use it was not an issue at all (i.e. portraits).

AF is finicky on the old Sigma, but that to seems to be common to all fast primes as well.

I've been able to shoot with an ART and I'm considering an upgrade. But I think very highly of the old Sigma, and consider it a steal at its current price.

Dustin either had a bad copy or was way too harsh in comparing it to the ART. It's a very good lens.