Nikon's got a new 50mm

[JerryPH]

ROFL! And then they wonder why Americans think so low of us when we go visiting south of the border! :lmao:

 

[notelliot]

I think I'm a bit late on this, but so far I've heard a lot of "why no nano, why no ED?"
a lot of people seem to thing that the optical formula of nikkor's 50mm prime doesn't require the coatings to optimize performance. quite possibly, the optics in the sigma differ enough to require said coatings.
but I'm still in the learning stages of optics and all that, maybe Helen_B will grace us with her infinite knowledge
IMO, the only difference with this new 50 is the AF-S, and lost aperture ring.. so it focuses faster.. which is good, but for anyone that owns the current 50/1.4, the upgrade probably isn't worth the cash.

/prepares for correction

 

[JerryPH]

Coatings and ED are nice features, but quality precision ground optics is the basis of any good lens. I think the best thing to do is to wait for a few reviews and comparisons. I do expect this new lens to display more improvements other than being faster. But if the Sigma turns out to be the better choice, it would not be the first time Nikon was out-performed.

 

[dEARlEADER]

But if the Sigma turns out to be the better choice, it would not be the first time Nikon was out-performed.

Because I'm newer... I'm curious (seriously) as to what other lenses have out performed the Nikors? and i'm not talking about main party lenses... i'm talking about 3rd party like sigma, tokina, and tamron.... the only one I've reviewed better is Tokina's 11-16 but Nikon doesn't present this focal range for comparison...

Is there any other cut and dry 3rd party blastings?

 

[Garbz]

Depends by what you mean outperformed. Build quality, and quality control are heavily skewed in favour of Canon and Nikon and I don't think they've every really been outperformed.

But in absolute sharpness, or CA, or distortion, individually there are plenty of 3rd party lenses that outperform selected lenses from the big guys. Just by grabbing some random links from photozone.de The Sigma 100-300 beats the Nikon 75-300 by quite a margin, admittedly the latter being an older lens but that really is no excuse.