Sigma 50/1.4 ART Astrophotography Test

Nov 25, 2011
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I'm quite happy with my new sigma 50/1.4 art now replacing the canon 50/1.2 in my collection. Use it on my 5D3 and 5D2 (astromod) bodies.

Wanna share my quick and personal test for the best aperture of my new Sigma 50/1.4 ART on my astro-modified canon eos 5D3. The pics are showing stripes (centre and below extreme corner lower right) with apertures from 5.6, 4, 2.8, 2, 1.4 with equivalent exposures between 160-10s. raw developed in DXO with vignetting and distortion switched off! My personal conclusion: vignetting invisible at 2.8, perfect sharpness and aberrations at 4.0 but already very good and quite usable for astro work at 2.8 - this is two stops better than my (now sold) 50/1.2 copy...

(the strange color comes from the UHC clip in filter and the high background)

pic 1: centre (5.6-1.4) , 100%
pic 2: corner (5.6-1.4) , 100%
 

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nubu said:
I'm quite happy with my new sigma 50/1.4 art now replacing the canon 50/1.2 in my collection. Use it on my 5D3 and 5D2 (astromod) bodies.

Sorry to go off-topic, heading for Hawaii to shoot lava and surfers but will also have time to go to the observatory and thought of shooting the star sky there (for fun). Since you are using the 50mm ART can I take it that its overall a good choice also when using a standard 5DII body?
 
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Mind-blowing. The lens is actually usable at f/1.4. No coma "wings" ! I do believe that it is better corrected than the 35mm f/1.4 Art. However, I like the 35mm and 21mm focal lengths for most astro-landscape photography on full frame.
 
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NancyP said:
Mind-blowing. The lens is actually usable at f/1.4. No coma "wings" ! I do believe that it is better corrected than the 35mm f/1.4 Art. However, I like the 35mm and 21mm focal lengths for most astro-landscape photography on full frame.
Exactly! 50mm focal length is not useful, at least for me...
 
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I used a 5D2 H alpha modified and my beloved Sigma 50/1.4A set to 3.5, stacked 21x178s pics at isoi1600; its only 50% of the field! The pic shows the northern Cygnus in H alpha from urban area in Vienna, Austria
 

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WOW! I played w/ the 24 t-s last summer for starscapes and it worked OK. I understand (someone correct me if I am wrong) that 600/focal length= max shutter time for something w/o trails.

I took some fun star shots in the spring w/ the 40 2.8 of the Nasa launch facility and the glow from the canal lighting nearby, https://www.flickr.com/photos/77760916@N05/12030259025/

I look forward to some interesting foreground/star scape type shots coming up.
 
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