I received an email today saying Sigma would be introducing an 85mm f/1.4 this fall season. The 50 f/1.4 has been a smashing success for Sigma and this such lens would do extremely well.
I have been so happy with the output of my 50 1.4 that I will seriously consider looking at this as well! I did have back/front focussing issues and because I bought mine overseas had to pay 80AUD to get it resolved, but once I was I couldn’t be happier .. bokeh is wonderful and once calibrated you can get really sharp images at 1.8!
Ed Avis on
The build quality of the Canon 50 f/1.4 is pretty poor in my opinion. The lens is constructed mostly in plastic and the front moves back and forward when focusing; that has caused mine to become stuck quite often. (To begin with, it would be unable to autofocus with the motor but you could still turn the focus ring; but now even manual focusing doesn’t work unless you push or pull the front element at the same time.) I believe I am not alone in experiencing this problem, from what I’ve seen online. I don’t own the Sigma 50 f/1.4 but most other Sigma expensive lenses (what they used to call EX series) are pretty tough (their 50 f/2.8 macro in particular is built like a tank).
Anyway, back to 85mm: Canon’s 85mm f/1.8 is much better built than their 50mm f/1.4m, though my copy has also started to get some stickiness in the focus ring which worries me a bit. It will be a hard lens for Sigma to beat, but the extra half a stop of brightness could be useful for photographing indoor events where you can’t use flash.
47 Comments
I have been so happy with the output of my 50 1.4 that I will seriously consider looking at this as well! I did have back/front focussing issues and because I bought mine overseas had to pay 80AUD to get it resolved, but once I was I couldn’t be happier .. bokeh is wonderful and once calibrated you can get really sharp images at 1.8!
The build quality of the Canon 50 f/1.4 is pretty poor in my opinion. The lens is constructed mostly in plastic and the front moves back and forward when focusing; that has caused mine to become stuck quite often. (To begin with, it would be unable to autofocus with the motor but you could still turn the focus ring; but now even manual focusing doesn’t work unless you push or pull the front element at the same time.) I believe I am not alone in experiencing this problem, from what I’ve seen online. I don’t own the Sigma 50 f/1.4 but most other Sigma expensive lenses (what they used to call EX series) are pretty tough (their 50 f/2.8 macro in particular is built like a tank).
Anyway, back to 85mm: Canon’s 85mm f/1.8 is much better built than their 50mm f/1.4m, though my copy has also started to get some stickiness in the focus ring which worries me a bit. It will be a hard lens for Sigma to beat, but the extra half a stop of brightness could be useful for photographing indoor events where you can’t use flash.