Sigma 50mm f/1.4 opionions and reviews wanted

[Samriel]

I've had the chance to take a look at the lens, but couldn't take any photos with it. It seems to be a very intriguing lens - as far as I know, Sigma (and most other 3rd party makers) has the tendency to enter the market with lenses which have a good price-performance ratio as compared to the expensive (yet usually better) original brand lenses. Now we have the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 - more than double the price of the Nikon, and around USD100 more than the Canon. The lens is quite big, and has a filter size of 77mm which might indicate a professional grade lens.
What I'm wondering about is what makes Sigma so confident to price the lens the way they do. Did anybody have a chance to play with one, or to read or watch a review of one? Any other opinions?

 

[JimmyO]

Im currently bidding on one. I think what makes it an important lens is the fact its completely compatible with d40/d40x/d60 where Nikon makes no primes in this area. I would say if your not using one of those cameras there might be more logical options.

 

[JimmyO]

Sorry, missed that you shoot Canon.

 

[Samriel]

I'm not shooting Canon - did my post imply I did?

I don't think it's priced for it's HSM as I doubt that a D40/40x/60 user would pay USD550 instead of USD250 to get a lens that will AF... you could get a used D70 with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 for the price of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4.

 

[usayit]

The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens was just recently released (June of 2008) so a reviews might be difficult to locate. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is a known good performer so my gut would say stick with the known good product.

Filter size doesn't necessarily indicate professional grade. A lot of Canon's L lenses use the filter size 77mm as a design decision. This allows easy swapping of filters between different lenses without having to worry about size.

[EDIT]
Sorry.. from Jimmy's post, I was assuming you were shooting Canon... silly me.

 

[JimmyO]

USD100 more than the Canon.

I thought maybe this meant...


Anyways
Here are some good reviews


http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=320&sort=7&cat=38&page=1

 

[JimmyO]

Crap
I just realized were not talking about the 30mm




Ok, im going to stop posting here

 

[Samriel]

USD100 more than the Canon.

I thought maybe this meant...

...more than double the price of the Nikon, and USD100 more than the Canon.

I also do mention Nikon in the post. I mean, not that it really matters - I hope nobody took my previous post too serious, I just thought my post said nothing about what I shoot, and was starting to question my English. I shoot Nikon, but it's not really important to this topic what I shoot. Of course Nikon has no AF-S 50mm primes, and Sigma might be going for that. Still, with a price higher than Canon's own model and a Canon mount version, I'm still wondering why they are so confident with the pricing.

Thanks for the link, but I'm looking for the new 50mm, not the 30mm. EDIT: seems you noticed.

 

[usayit]

i don't think the lens is out yet.

Two of the largest camera stores in the U.S. is Adorama and B&H. Neither show it as in stock and Adorama has it listed as to be released late this month.

http://www.adorama.com/SG5014DNKAF.html?searchinfo=sigma 50mm&item_no=9

 

[ChickenFriedRyce]

It's for preorder now on quite a few websites. But seeing as how it is $500, I'd think I'd stick to my Sony 50mm f/1.4. I don't think spending $150 more for something that performs the same as my lens, with the addition of HSM.

I don't think ANYONE, should buy this lens actually, even if they are a Nikon D40/D40x/D60 user. You'd save more money buying the Nikon version with the cost of autofocus. Canon already has an USM version so I hope no Canon users are looking towards this one.


PS: It makes the Sony version look cheap as dirt. $350 > $500

 

[LuisAugusto]

It's for preorder now on quite a few websites. But seeing as how it is $500, I'd think I'd stick to my Sony 50mm f/1.4. I don't think spending $150 more for something that performs the same as my lens, with the addition of HSM.

I don't think ANYONE, should buy this lens actually, even if they are a Nikon D40/D40x/D60 user. You'd save more money buying the Nikon version with the cost of autofocus. Canon already has an USM version so I hope no Canon users are looking towards this one.

Lets first see if it represents an upgrade in image quality, all 50mm lenses (Nikon, Sony and Canon equivalents) are very soft on the edges wide opened (specially the sony one, but it's sharper at the center than Nikon and Canon), even the far more expensive 50mm F/1.2 USM L from Canon has a low corner resolution, maybe this one at the expend of a little bit more of money than others F/1.4 (but the pre-orders are probably showing a slightly higher price) will offer better results in this regard.

 

[lostprophet]

Its not available in the UK yet, and we can't get a date for delivery and baring in mind that the Sigma UK website hasn't got the MTF charts up yet it might be sometime before its released http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/lenses/standard/50mm.htm

The 120-400 OS and 150-500 OS are available and they were announched on the 31st on Jan so they took about 5 months to arrive.
The 50mm F1.4 was annoucned on March 18th so maybe it will be around in about 6-8 weeks??

 

[Samriel]

It's already being sold in Japan. Its around USD450 at Amazon.co.jp. I'm hoping to see some reviews soon.

As LuisAugusto already said, what I'm wondering is if this price means that Sigma managed to overcome the border softness problem. I don"t see any other reason to buy it over the original brand 50mm versions.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

It just seems alot bigger then it needs to be.

 

[Senor Hound]

It just seems alot bigger then it needs to be.

Its because it makes you look cooler...

Maybe the price will drop some where its, I don't know, LESS than the Canon/Nikon versions? And if you own a Pentax, they just released a 1.4 that's only 200! This lens will either have to be better/different in some way, or get a lot cheaper. Otherwise it will never survive natural lens selection.