What are the chances Sigma will update the 50/1.4 soon?

[switters]

The new Sigma 35/1.4 is getting rave reviews. Most comparions show it beating the 35L in nearly every area. Quality control seems to be vastly improved; I haven't heard any complaints about AF inaccuracy or inconsistency. And then there's the ability to fine-tune the focus with the docking station thingy, which admittedly I'm not clear on yet.

If they released a 50/1.4 that performs as well as the 35/1.4, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I'm not entirely satisfied with any of Canon's 50mm offerings.

Anyone heard anything about this?

 

[AdamJ]

It's a good question because we don't yet know what Sigma's new strategic roadmap looks like in terms of product launches or relaunches. My expectation is that:

a) genuinely new products will conform to the new design protocol we've seen with the three lenses announced, and;

b) Sigma will upgrade most or all of its "modern" existing lenses (50mm included) in the way that has already been announced for the 17-70mm and 120-300mm zooms.

If the second point is correct, the questions then are, how quickly and with what price increase?

Concerning timescale, there will be many informed buyers like you who know about the new designs and who will be holding off buying existing Sigma products because of the expectation of an upgraded version. This obviously won't be good for Sigma so it will be in their interests to roll out their upgrades quickly or otherwise to tell us that an upgrade for a particular lens is not planned. Needless to say, re-engineering many products would be a huge undertaking so a timescale for any given lens upgrade is anyone's guess.

Concerning price, we'll have a better steer on that when prices are announced for the 17-70mm and 120-300mm.

 

[picturesbyme]

Haven't heard about it but would buy one.
On the other hand that lens isn't that bad on the first place. I prefer it to the canon 1.4

Some photos that I took with it are in the lens gallery, I think they came out ok ...

 

[crasher8]

The 17-70 really deserves an update. Mine was semi sharp but only from 24-60ish. The 17-50 is a really underrated lens imho and I'm not sure why more folks on a budget don't get it when they can't afford the awesome Canon 17-55 and instead they buy the 17-85 or the 15-85.

If I was a crop shooter I'd want a 17-70 2.8 OS.

 

[switters]

Haven't heard about it but would buy one.
On the other hand that lens isn't that bad on the first place. I prefer it to the canon 1.4

Some photos that I took with it are in the lens gallery, I think they came out ok ...

You must be one of the lucky ones that got a copy without focus issues. I tried 2, and both had to be returned because of inconsistent AF that couldn't be fixed by MFA.

 

[picturesbyme]

Haven't heard about it but would buy one.
On the other hand that lens isn't that bad on the first place. I prefer it to the canon 1.4

Some photos that I took with it are in the lens gallery, I think they came out ok ...

You must be one of the lucky ones that got a copy without focus issues. I tried 2, and both had to be returned because of inconsistent AF that couldn't be fixed by MFA.

That's how my first lens was - tried to ma on the 7d without much success, then I sent it back and it was fixed under warranty however I still wasn't completely happy about it (but I'm kinda picky..) so I eventually sold it but looking at the photos now it wasn' that bad... and I heard a lot more + comments on the never version (smooth finish)
...it's a crop.. about half the original size..

 

[Nishi Drew]

Sigma did reintroduce the 120-300 F/2.8 and that didn't quite need an update, they just bumped it up with the new design, likely with no optical difference. But, since 35 is the other 'normal' and too close in application to the 50 I think Sigma went for getting good reviews with the 35 to then move forward with the new reputation and would introduce another 50mm. I don't think we'll see an update soon though, and the 85 1.4 is great so they might bring back some of their fast wide primes eventually?

 

[AdamJ]

Sigma did reintroduce the 120-300 F/2.8 and that didn't quite need an update, they just bumped it up with the new design, likely with no optical difference. But, since 35 is the other 'normal' and too close in application to the 50 I think Sigma went for getting good reviews with the 35 to then move forward with the new reputation and would introduce another 50mm. I don't think we'll see an update soon though, and the 85 1.4 is great so they might bring back some of their fast wide primes eventually?

Yes, I hope we'll see new fast wide primes from Sigma too.

The new design would benefit all of their lenses - user-selectable focusing speed, min/max focus distance, lens-based AFMA, materials resistant to heat-expansion, etc. Since this is all central to Sigma's new strategy, we can be sure they won't stop at what's been announced so far. Which lenses they re-engineer, and when, remains to be seen but I would have thought the 50mm and 85mm would be among the first candidates.

 

[switters]

I wonder if we'll see a new Canon 50/1.4 (with IS?) before we see a new Sigma 50/1.4. Either way, I'd be happy. If Canon does as good a job as they've done with their other updated non-L primes, I'd be happy.