Review - Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG Art

[Eldar]

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.

Even though I would have liked this to be true, since the optical performance is so good, I have to say that this is not correct. I have been through several of the Art lenses and they are inconsistent. I have used them on 7D, 5DII, 5DIII and 1DX. I use FoCal pro in addition to LensAlign for manual AFMA and I have the dock. The problem with the Sigma AF is inconsistency. It works like charm on one image, to be totally off on the next. You cannot properly adjust a lens that behaves different from shot to shot.

My two copies of the 50 Art were both bad and I have returned them, as I have with the 35 Art. My dealer was well aware of the problem and did not even ask me to document the poor performance or ask for a chance to correct the fault (I had gone past my return date). He just gave me my money back.

Attached is the FoCal AFMA result of the better one of the two 50 Arts. As you can see, it´s finding focus all over the place. For reference, I also attached the AFMA for the Canon 85mm f1.2L II, which shows what the result should have been.

 

[ocblue]

I recently purchased the 50mm 1.4 ART, and have been pretty happy with it overall.

I did get the USB dock, and attempted to play with the AF microadjust parameters.
I was using a Canon 6D at the time.
I recently took the same lens and used it with a new 7D II that I bought..and I was really disappointed in a lot of the shots when shooting at a distance.
I'm not sure why it would suddenly be a problem, when I noticed no such issues with my 6D.
The 7DII seems fine when using it with my 24-70 2.8 II though...so I don't think its the 7D2...

Can someone look at these pictures and tell me if its front focussing or what? None seem tack sharp...except a few pictures I took really close up...those seems fine to me. I used spot focus on everything, and was very careful in focusing on her eye on each shot.

 

[JVLphoto]

I recently purchased the 50mm 1.4 ART, and have been pretty happy with it overall.

I did get the USB dock, and attempted to play with the AF microadjust parameters.
I was using a Canon 6D at the time.
I recently took the same lens and used it with a new 7D II that I bought..and I was really disappointed in a lot of the shots when shooting at a distance.
I'm not sure why it would suddenly be a problem, when I noticed no such issues with my 6D.
The 7DII seems fine when using it with my 24-70 2.8 II though...so I don't think its the 7D2...

Can someone look at these pictures and tell me if its front focussing or what? None seem tack sharp...except a few pictures I took really close up...those seems fine to me. I used spot focus on everything, and was very careful in focusing on her eye on each shot.

New camera's may pose a problem with Sigma lenses since they're reverse engineered (part of their Canadian warranty is covering these issues if they crop up.) So there is the chance that 7D2's AF & the 50 1.4's AF aren't fully compatible. But you have other variables to check. First make sure things look good on Manual focus. That way you know it's not the lens optics or camera itself that are the problem. Then do some more controlled tests (not with a moving subject, but on a tripod, etc) and do some focus tests at various apertures using AF. If it's consistently focusing in front or behind you can micro-adjust this via the camera, or the USB utility, whichever you prefer, to calibrate the lens to the camera.

Personally, from the 7D2 file's I've seen, I'm not sure if *anything* is sharp coming out of that camera, but that's just the few test shots I've seen from friends.

 

[Viggo]

The worst part is spending literally thousands of shots trying to figure out how and why the Art lenses miss. I calibrated and recalibrated with FoCal and using the docking to have it dead on, then wake up the next day and it suddenly misses by little in front sometimes, then a little behind and then every 8-10 shots suddenly 8 feet in front shooting at 10 feet.

Four art lenses and the same with all four on the 1dx. It is my absolute favorite lens that 50, but when it can't focus I have no desire to own or use it anymore.