Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art

[Viggo]

keep us updated if Viggo/Eldar if you guys receive your lens back, hopefully to see some improvements

I will, but it will be a while, I'm not posting until I'm sure it works this time , or doesn't work.

Thought it would arrive at the service shop today, but I forgot I sent it with the Norwegian Post office , might as well tied it to an old snail.

 

[Dylan777]

Well Jens, That looks about what mine produced to begin with. I was very taken with the lens. But after a while ... it all changed. I hope for your sake that it continues to produce good results and I´m waiting to hear how it goes.

What do you mean? Did you do any firmware update? or any AFMA yourself?

I'm little... ??? ??? ???

There is only one firmware version to choose from, the one it came with.

Yes I have had it through FoCal and a manual Lens Align. The problem is that the AF is unstable. One shot front focus, next shot back focus, third shot is dead on etc. FoCal was unable to determine the AFMA factor. The chart looked like it had been hit by a shot gun. That´s why I did a manual job with my Lens Align setup. It was depressing to see how much focus varied from one shot to the other.

I posted some images a couple of pages back on this thread.

Comment: Sorry; The images are on the other Sigma thread ...

I thought you mentioned AF on your 50mm ART is much better over 35mm ART? So, you and Viggo are not happy with AF? I wonder how is wickidwombat's copy doing...

It WAS awesome, calibrated and hit perfect. I stayed indoors for a few days test shooting, cuz I was sick. But when I went out nothing hit, absolutely all over the place. I dialed in a +12(!!) to my already +17 in the lens via docking, then it hit again, redid everything and it looked perfect, few more days and it was VERY unstable again! So after four times of that cr@p I sent it to a repair shop. So done with that AF .. Hopefully they can do something with although I doubt they have any spare lenses to swap with, I doubt it's any different and I doubt they have parts to replace with that's any different.

Issues like this make me think twice now.

Look forward to hear your update.

 

[wickidwombat]

Mine still seems pretty solid, AF looks accurate now I haven't run it through focal again but I don't really have time to mess around with that much at the moment

 

[infared]

So on the fence about cancelling until issues and supplies are all worked out...But keep imagining this will be a great newborn lens...

Sure hope I'm not getting one of the lenses the OCD folk are tweaking to death and returning. The stories here of lens churn are revolting.

Well said ...I think more than a few are over-tweaked! 8)
I am looking forward to Dustin Abbott's review/comparison of both Sigma 50's...hope he got the Sigma Dock,too as I would like to hear what he has to say about that as well. His take is reliable, experienced, real-world and relevant.
No measurbating.

 

[Eldar]

So on the fence about cancelling until issues and supplies are all worked out...But keep imagining this will be a great newborn lens...

Sure hope I'm not getting one of the lenses the OCD folk are tweaking to death and returning. The stories here of lens churn are revolting.

Well said ...I think more than a few are over-tweaked! 8)
I am looking forward to Dustin Abbott's review/comparison of both Sigma 50's...hope he got the Sigma Dock,too as I would like to hear what he has to say about that as well. His take is reliable, experienced, real-world and relevant.
No measurbating.

I don't think you know what the issue is, since you don't have the lens. Read Bryan's review in TDP. He is showing the problem quite simply by photographing a flat piece of paper with a butterfly motive. You can see there, that in a series of shots, of a flat piece of paper, standing dead still, with plenty of contrast to focus on, is out of focus several times.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-50mm-f-1.4-DG-HSM-Art-Lens.aspx

As for my lens, it has not been tweaked at all, because I am unable to get reliable measurements through FoCal or LensAlign and therefore have no basis for doing anything. It front focus one, back focus the next and you never know with the third.

The fact is that too many are experiencing problems with the AF on this lens. I would also think that using the supplied ability to adjust firmware, to get the focus right must be regarded as normal, not tweaking. I think Viggo would have been very happy if he could have done it once and have a stable lens thereafter.

As a note, on my L-glass, I have run every one of them through FoCal on all my bodies. They all have spot on stable AF performance after One adjustment. My 35 Art is all over the place and so is the 50 Art.

 

[Eldar]

Just to follow up, this is the result from FoCal. It is 63 shots in this chart. I stopped it there, because it was (of pretty obvious reasons) not able to determine an AFMA factor.

 

[Viggo]

So on the fence about cancelling until issues and supplies are all worked out...But keep imagining this will be a great newborn lens...

Sure hope I'm not getting one of the lenses the OCD folk are tweaking to death and returning. The stories here of lens churn are revolting.

Well said ...I think more than a few are over-tweaked! 8)
I am looking forward to Dustin Abbott's review/comparison of both Sigma 50's...hope he got the Sigma Dock,too as I would like to hear what he has to say about that as well. His take is reliable, experienced, real-world and relevant.
No measurbating.

Wow, really? You have NO idea how this lens is. It's pretty bold to say somebody is over tweaking and almost destroying a lens because I apperantly have OCD according to some here.

I will see if I didn't delete the images from my trip out and I'll wait for you tell me if that is nitpicking or a real problem.

 

[candyman]

I just wonder if people who own the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art have AF issues and get these results while using Focal? Or, when using the USB Dock?
For now I just used LensAlign and had to adjust +5 for frontfocus. I don't have so much time lately to really go into it but hope I can do some more checking this weekend. I did use the Dock but for firmware upgrade only.

 

[Eldar]

Just for comparison, this is the FoCal results for my 85mm f1.2L II on the same body (5DIII). A bit more conclusive I´d say :

Comment: They are done within 10 minutes, same room, same light. The Sigma on 1.1m, the Canon on 1.4m, with the same standard FoCal calibration target.

 

[Eldar]

I just wonder if people who own the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art have AF issues and get these results while using Focal? Or, when using the USB Dock?
For now I just used LensAlign and had to adjust +5 for frontfocus. I don't have so much time lately to really go into it but hope I can do some more checking this weekend. I did use the Dock but for firmware upgrade only.

My 35 Art´s AF has not been stable. But after I updated the firmware its stability seems to have improved a lot. I´m getting fairly clean FoCal curves with it and I have not noticed the "drifting" since I updated the firmware. It will take some time for me to regain trust though ...

 

[wickidwombat]

Just to follow up, this is the result from FoCal. It is 63 shots in this chart. I stopped it there, because it was (of pretty obvious reasons) not able to determine an AFMA factor.

wow thats unreal nothing like mine
my target was just printed out of a laser printer on to standard copy paper its not a proper target :-[

 

[wickidwombat]

sorry i meant this one

 

[Viggo]

So on the fence about cancelling until issues and supplies are all worked out...But keep imagining this will be a great newborn lens...

Sure hope I'm not getting one of the lenses the OCD folk are tweaking to death and returning. The stories here of lens churn are revolting.

Well said ...I think more than a few are over-tweaked! 8)
I am looking forward to Dustin Abbott's review/comparison of both Sigma 50's...hope he got the Sigma Dock,too as I would like to hear what he has to say about that as well. His take is reliable, experienced, real-world and relevant.
No measurbating.

Here you go, they are all shot within the same 30 minutes or so:

Aimed at the woman with the black umbrella (any Clutch fans here? lol)

Aimed for the blond woman's head.

Aimed at the signs with the balloons.

Refocused and tried again.

And again:

 

[YuengLinger]

So on the fence about cancelling until issues and supplies are all worked out...But keep imagining this will be a great newborn lens...

Sure hope I'm not getting one of the lenses the OCD folk are tweaking to death and returning. The stories here of lens churn are revolting.

Well said ...I think more than a few are over-tweaked! 8)
I am looking forward to Dustin Abbott's review/comparison of both Sigma 50's...hope he got the Sigma Dock,too as I would like to hear what he has to say about that as well. His take is reliable, experienced, real-world and relevant.
No measurbating.

Wow, really? You have NO idea how this lens is. It's pretty bold to say somebody is over tweaking and almost destroying a lens because I apperantly have OCD according to some here.

I will see if I didn't delete the images from my trip out and I'll wait for you tell me if that is nitpicking or a real problem.

I, for one, was responding more to the folks who mentioned sening back three or four of the 35mm's chasing perfection. This 50mm is so new, plus, Viggo, you have decided to give Sigma a chance to fix.

But really, just go to Amazon reviews or various forums (yes, including this one), and see how many loons are sending back several of ANY lens you can name, Canon, Sigma, whatever brand. I'd bet not 1% of such folk ever got paid a penny for a photograph, yet they can't sleep at night because a lens is not living up to some impossible standard.

Working pros that I know (including a Pulitzer prize winner who is now a professor) would laugh at how WE obsess over things they never give a second thought to.

All that said, if I find that this lens is missing even 1 in 7 (much less the 40% we read about in one review) of shots in a well lit, decent contrast situation, back it goes--and then I'd wait for news from Simga that AF issues have been squarely addressed. The fact that Viggo and others are willing to let Sigma fix the lens speaks clearly about how great the POTENTIAL of this lens is--which is why I haven't cancelled my order yet.

As for the USB mount, it might be creating more problems than it solves, despite Sigma's intentions. It certainly feeds into the OCD behavior that many photographers have. And you know what? Most great photographers display a LOT of OCD behavior--at least according to their biographies. Channeling that behavior into productive activities has been great for many fields of human endeavor!

 

[Viggo]

And more of the same:

Aimed at the trashcan, focus suddenly behind.

Suddenly dead on:

Aimed athe lady's head, focus is behind again.

Dead on:

Aimed at the "551" dead on

Aimed at the blonde with the shopping bags

Dead on

Tell me again please about my OCD and that it's a non-issue?

 

[YuengLinger]

No, Viggo, this is real world, practical use failure you are showing us--not pixel-peeping.

I'd have just sent it back and wait for Sigma to overhaul. You are getting exactly the results any photographer would dread.

Thank you for taking the time to share these.

 

[Viggo]

No, Viggo, this is real world, practical use failure you are showing us--not pixel-peeping.

I'd have just sent it back and wait for Sigma to overhaul. You are getting exactly the results any photographer would dread.

Thank you for taking the time to share these.

Appriciate that, and you were right earlier that I'm not trying to make Sigma look bad at all, and I WANT this lens to work, because the IQ is simply mindblowing. I didn't spend 1177 usd just to prove Sigma sucks. I really hope it can be worked out.

 

[wickidwombat]

I trust sigma will sort it out
I'd be interested to find out what specifically was wrong with your copy though

I doubt its software otherwise everyone would have these problems

and its not like your is off a little bit that shot aimed at the blonde with shopping back came so far forward it almost nailed the trash can!

my 85 was way off at first sent it in and it came back perfect and its been that way for a couple of years now
i've used it on 2x 5D mk2 bodies 2 x 5dmk3 bodies a 1Dmk3 a 600D and the EOS-M all bodies its fine no AFMA

my 35 was perfect out of the box thankfully

my 50 I knew AF was off in the store when i picked it up but I didnt have the option of another copy as the guy said its the first one in china as i requested

but as you can see the tweeking it needed was minor compared to yours and eldars and its performing well now

so heres hoping they give you a perfectly functioning lens and some good information to share with the rest of us on the problem I hope they do as it will help them alot from a PR perspective to be candid with an OCD community like CR

 

[Viggo]

I trust sigma will sort it out
I'd be interested to find out what specifically was wrong with your copy though

I doubt its software otherwise everyone would have these problems

and its not like your is off a little bit that shot aimed at the blonde with shopping back came so far forward it almost nailed the trash can!

my 85 was way off at first sent it in and it came back perfect and its been that way for a couple of years now
i've used it on 2x 5D mk2 bodies 2 x 5dmk3 bodies a 1Dmk3 a 600D and the EOS-M all bodies its fine no AFMA

my 35 was perfect out of the box thankfully

my 50 I knew AF was off in the store when i picked it up but I didnt have the option of another copy as the guy said its the first one in china as i requested

but as you can see the tweeking it needed was minor compared to yours and eldars and its performing well now

so heres hoping they give you a perfectly functioning lens and some good information to share with the rest of us on the problem I hope they do as it will help them alot from a PR perspective to be candid with an OCD community like CR

I hope so too. I have calibrated 30+ lenses and this is the only one that needed more than one calibration and still doesn't work. I can accept AF misses for sure, I have them with all lenses, but all the other misses it's very clear it's my fault or if the dof is extremely thin and I aim up or down ad something small, we all know that can miss. But nothing like this.

 

[Dylan777]

Well said ...I think more than a few are over-tweaked! 8)
I am looking forward to Dustin Abbott's review/comparison of both Sigma 50's...hope he got the Sigma Dock,too as I would like to hear what he has to say about that as well. His take is reliable, experienced, real-world and relevant.
No measurbating.

It's sad to hear Viggo and Eldar having some problem with AF. I truely appreciated all the feedbacks and photos they have to offer.

I wonder what would I do if I'm in Viggo's situation? Do nothing and hope for better result?