Review - Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG Art
- Thread starter Canon Rumors Guy
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Thanks for the review. It is a nice lens that Sigma has made. Yes the image quality is the most important thing, however, unless you're going to use it in manual focus all the time, the AF should be spot on and consistent for a lens at this price. What good is a sharp photo if the thing you want in focus is OOF.
This and the weight of the lens has kept me from buying it. It's a shame because Canon has not updated their 50mm lenses and Sigma would be in the perfect position to get a lot of the Canon customers.
I'm in need of a sharp, fast and light 50mm prime. However, the way things stand, I won't be getting a Sigma Art.
This and the weight of the lens has kept me from buying it. It's a shame because Canon has not updated their 50mm lenses and Sigma would be in the perfect position to get a lot of the Canon customers.
I'm in need of a sharp, fast and light 50mm prime. However, the way things stand, I won't be getting a Sigma Art.
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Nice review, Justin. It's not a perfect lens, and it is too big, but it would still be my choice at the moment for a reasonably affordable 50mm prime.
I am still waiting for Canon to bring us an equivalent of the 35IS in a 50mm. If it was similarly sized and performed similarly, it would be be my choice.
I am still waiting for Canon to bring us an equivalent of the 35IS in a 50mm. If it was similarly sized and performed similarly, it would be be my choice.
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Any news about a firmware update??? I think the 35mm Art had an update within about six months of release.
Imo, any 50mm slower than 1.4 would be too close to the stellar ef 24-70mm 2.8 II to justify carrying and swapping.
Imo, any 50mm slower than 1.4 would be too close to the stellar ef 24-70mm 2.8 II to justify carrying and swapping.
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Nice review - just one little correction at the end. The Canon EF 50L f/1.2 is weather-sealed according to Canon:
"Designed to meet the diverse needs of professional and advanced amateur photographers, the bright lens features full-time manual focusing, which enables users to focus by hand in the AF mode, and a dust- and moisture-proof construction, ensuring unfailing performance even under harsh conditions."
http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/lens/ef/data/standard/ef_50_f1.2l_usm.html
"Designed to meet the diverse needs of professional and advanced amateur photographers, the bright lens features full-time manual focusing, which enables users to focus by hand in the AF mode, and a dust- and moisture-proof construction, ensuring unfailing performance even under harsh conditions."
http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/lens/ef/data/standard/ef_50_f1.2l_usm.html
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Two pounds of a 50 mm lense to lug around and you are all excited about it?
You know, you could actually take those very same shots with an iPhone and nobody would know the difference.
This is not about photography any longer, this is about consumerism.
Nice review, though.
You know, you could actually take those very same shots with an iPhone and nobody would know the difference.
This is not about photography any longer, this is about consumerism.
Nice review, though.
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Nice review Justin. I had purchased this lens a while ago and had to return it three times due to none of them were able to focus correctly without micro adjustment. Once they were adjusted the images were beautiful and I was able to capture tack sharp images at f/1.4 on most of them. Though I had returned it seven months ago due to it would not work on bodies that does not have build in micro adjustment function, I had always missed it.
Last week, I decided to purchase it again and this time with the USB DOCK. The copy I received still needed micro adjustment to work; however, after spending two nights of adjusting and testing all focusing ranges in the Sigma USB Dock software, I can now say that it is tack sharp without any micro adjustment ☺.
Now, the big elephant standing in the room is: "would I need to recalibrate the lens again if I put this calibrated lens on another Canon EOS body?" Luckily, I do have access to cameras and after testing my calibrated Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART on a T5i, 7D Mark II, 5D Mark III and 1DX by multiple photographers, I can confidently say that no calibration or micro adjustment will be required once a copy of a 50mm f/1.4 Art is calibrated correctly with the Sigma USB Dock and will work on any Canon EOS bodies.
By the way, this lens will also works (auto focus with all 61 focus points) with both Kenko 1.4x and 2.0x Teleplus Pro 300 DGX teleconverters on a 5D Mark III (so as Tamron 150-600mm DI VC USD but not the Tamron 28-300mm PZD VC). Using 1.4x @ f/2 images looks like taken from a "soft focus" lens; however, when using the 2x @ f/2.8 it is sharp (that was unusual!). Both become sharper when closed down one stop.
Thanks again for reviewing this product and nice to see your beautiful work on your website and flickr. Heavy it may be, I still rather use this lens than any other 50mm f/1.4 (or f/1.2) out there by any other manufactures.
Last week, I decided to purchase it again and this time with the USB DOCK. The copy I received still needed micro adjustment to work; however, after spending two nights of adjusting and testing all focusing ranges in the Sigma USB Dock software, I can now say that it is tack sharp without any micro adjustment ☺.
Now, the big elephant standing in the room is: "would I need to recalibrate the lens again if I put this calibrated lens on another Canon EOS body?" Luckily, I do have access to cameras and after testing my calibrated Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART on a T5i, 7D Mark II, 5D Mark III and 1DX by multiple photographers, I can confidently say that no calibration or micro adjustment will be required once a copy of a 50mm f/1.4 Art is calibrated correctly with the Sigma USB Dock and will work on any Canon EOS bodies.
By the way, this lens will also works (auto focus with all 61 focus points) with both Kenko 1.4x and 2.0x Teleplus Pro 300 DGX teleconverters on a 5D Mark III (so as Tamron 150-600mm DI VC USD but not the Tamron 28-300mm PZD VC). Using 1.4x @ f/2 images looks like taken from a "soft focus" lens; however, when using the 2x @ f/2.8 it is sharp (that was unusual!). Both become sharper when closed down one stop.
Thanks again for reviewing this product and nice to see your beautiful work on your website and flickr. Heavy it may be, I still rather use this lens than any other 50mm f/1.4 (or f/1.2) out there by any other manufactures.
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Thank you, Justin, for reminding us how important a top quality fast lens is to grear photography.
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martti said:
Oh man, gimme your super duper iPhone, now!
Didn't know that it can reder this shallow depth of focus as well. And I'm spending thousands for camera gear - stupid me.
It's all about isolating your subject from the background for a fast lens like this and that's were all the phones and compact cameras struggle.
Welcome to real photography! ;D ;D ;D
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At this point, Canon is surrounded by a lion, and a poisonous snake. 
:
All 50mm Canon lens is unforgivable weaknesses that Sigma Art, and Yongnuo (who would have thought) :-X are challenging. :-[
I surrendered to the Sigma 50mm Art, and sold my Canon F1.4 without any nostalgia.
When my students ask for a cheap 50mm for fun, I recommend trying the Yongnuo, if he is not afraid of the curse of AF non-Canon.
:All 50mm Canon lens is unforgivable weaknesses that Sigma Art, and Yongnuo (who would have thought) :-X are challenging. :-[
I surrendered to the Sigma 50mm Art, and sold my Canon F1.4 without any nostalgia.
When my students ask for a cheap 50mm for fun, I recommend trying the Yongnuo, if he is not afraid of the curse of AF non-Canon.
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TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
I'm fortunate to have a good copy of the Sigma f/1.4 EX and prefer the look created by the 'traditional' double Gauss design. It's a lot smaller too although it is not a small lens in itself. Sigma managed to persuade me with the 35mm A, not so with the 50mm A so I will be hanging on to the old 'EX' for the foreseeable time...
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A few lines that jumped out at me ...
"I didn't have it long enough"
"I really didn't push the lens against its competitors"
"I have personally struggled regularly using this focal length over the years"
"Why did I take so long to write this review?"
Ugh — spare us next time
"I didn't have it long enough"
"I really didn't push the lens against its competitors"
"I have personally struggled regularly using this focal length over the years"
"Why did I take so long to write this review?"
Ugh — spare us next time
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Anyone have any experience with the sigma USB dock for this lens? Worth getting??
Here's a recent image of mine created with this lens and a 5D3:
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesseherzog/16127981207" title="At the Laundromat by Jesse Herzog, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7547/16127981207_222df87322_c.jpg" width="800" height="534" alt="At the Laundromat"></a>
Here's a recent image of mine created with this lens and a 5D3:
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesseherzog/16127981207" title="At the Laundromat by Jesse Herzog, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7547/16127981207_222df87322_c.jpg" width="800" height="534" alt="At the Laundromat"></a>
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martti said:
It's hard to imagine that anyone with an eye for shallow focus couldn't tell the difference, but yes, I find it difficult to summon up a lot of enthusiasm for a bulky, heavy 50mm 1/4 lens that seems to create focusing problems for many users (Canon only?) and/or requires much fiddling around with USB docks and the like. There's a lot to be said for a $50 mf Minolta Rokkor 1.4....
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For those who miss a small and discreet prime, can complement the Sigma 50 Art with a 40 pancake.sdsr said:
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Thanks for the review and sample shots, Justin!
I can't see myself buying one. All recent Sigmas contain good, sharp, glass, but as long as they behave like the AF motor is driven by a random number generator that won't listen to feedback signals from the attached body, I think I'll stay away from them. When it nails the focus, the shots come out pleasant. Hopefully that will happen often for all future users of it.
(Among friends we joke about the S A C variants, and we believe the letters really stand for So-so focusing, Almost focusing, and Casual focusing.)
I can't see myself buying one. All recent Sigmas contain good, sharp, glass, but as long as they behave like the AF motor is driven by a random number generator that won't listen to feedback signals from the attached body, I think I'll stay away from them. When it nails the focus, the shots come out pleasant. Hopefully that will happen often for all future users of it.
(Among friends we joke about the S A C variants, and we believe the letters really stand for So-so focusing, Almost focusing, and Casual focusing.)
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Jesse said:
Yes Jesse, it is worth getting the USB Dock. Based on your photo, your lens has front focus issue (focused on the leg and not on the eye). Once you go through the calibration and correct all four focus ranges one by one in the software, your lens will be sharp without micro adjustment. On all four copies of this lens I had before micro/USB Dock adjustment, they all had front focus issues. I believe I had to change from +6 to +13 in micro adjustment to make them "acceptable".
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Yes Jesse, it is worth getting the USB Dock. Based on your photo, your lens has front focus issue (focused on the leg and not on the eye). Once you go through the calibration and correct all four focus ranges one by one in the software, your lens will be sharp without micro adjustment. On all four copies of this lens I had before micro/USB Dock adjustment, they all had front focus issues. I believe I had to change from +6 to +13 in micro adjustment to make them "acceptable".
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