Canon or Sigma 50mm 1.4?

[tmjjk]

Which of these would you suggest? Pretty sure this is what I am going with... Lens choices are KILLING me! Mostly photograph children outdoors... but I want something super fast and super sharp..Thank you

 

[TheBiles]

The Sigma supposedly has awful auto focus issues. I just spent a couple hours researching this myself, and I'm not willing to gamble on getting a "good" copy of the Sigma when the Canon works 100% of the time.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201

 

[o hey tyler]

Canon/1.4

 

[billross77]

I went though this same decision a couple of weeks ago. I ended up going Canon for dependability. I'm not sure if I ended up with a bad copy or what, but the focus seems off. I haven't set up any tests to prove front/back focus, but I've never had this problem with my 85mm, 28-78 or rental lenses. At least I bought through amazon so returns are pretty easy.

 

[stingx]

I've actually been playing with my dad's old Pentax lens - a super-takumar 50mm 1:1.4 - since getting my new mount and I have never been so impressed by a lens. All manual, of course, but still. Just a great lens. The DoF at that aperture is dreamlike.

For less than $10 for the converter and around $60 for the lens there's no harm in trying these old lenses out.

 

[tmjjk]

My camera has the red circle and the white square... It's a canon xs. Trust me I will do more research before I purchase a lens, but are you saying you can use a film camera lens on a dslr? Just no auto focus and you must purchase a converter? And FD is for full frame right?

 

[TheBiles]

My camera has the red circle and the white square... It's a canon xs. Trust me I will do more research before I purchase a lens, but are you saying you can use a film camera lens on a dslr? Just no auto focus and you must purchase a converter? And FD is for full frame right?

The Canon 50/1.4 is a film camera lens (as are any "EF" mounts). Technically, you could use any lens you wanted with the proper adapter, but you could lose things like auto focus (actually, you WILL lose auto focus) or proper metering depending on the lens. All EF and EF-S lenses will work with your camera with full auto focus, metering, and automatic aperture control--anything else depends on the adapter and the lens.

 

[tmjjk]

Thank you very much!! And I see that FD is a previous mount... Not full frame... And FL was a mount before that as well. I've been baffled by lens choice for quite awhile now. Since I finally made up my mind on the 50mm 1.4, I've now run across a slew more of options and questions. I really appreciate the help

 

[DanPower]

If it helps I bought the Canon 50mm 1.8 the other day and it is AWESOME, razor sharp and so far the autofocus is just perfect, no issues yet. Can't comment on the Sigma, but if my 1.8's quality is anything to go by I would be very sure the canon 1.4 is going to be great.

Why not consider the 1.8? You can get caught up in 'i want the best and most expensive' mindset, but I talked Bing Lee down to $120 for my 1.8 which is about $10 more than you'd get it sent from China off eBay... you could experiment with that and if you decide you REALLY need that extra poofteenth you could sell it for close to what it cost, lenses hold their value pretty well.

I'll admit the 1.8 does feel a little cheap and plastic-y... I was a little disappointed when I opened the box but then I remembered I'd paid just over a hundred bucks for it LOL The 1.4 does 'feel' nicer, but I can't argue with the photos my 1.8 takes, they're awesome. I may or may not upgrade down the track, but at the moment the 1.8 is perfect for me and it was cheap enough that if it didn't turn out to be what I wanted I wasn't going to cry about it.

Anyways I digress but just something to think about.

 

[o hey tyler]

If it helps I bought the Canon 50mm 1.8 the other day and it is AWESOME, razor sharp and so far the autofocus is just perfect, no issues yet. Can't comment on the Sigma, but if my 1.8's quality is anything to go by I would be very sure the canon 1.4 is going to be great.

Why not consider the 1.8? You can get caught up in 'i want the best and most expensive' mindset, but I talked Bing Lee down to $120 for my 1.8 which is about $10 more than you'd get it sent from China off eBay... you could experiment with that and if you decide you REALLY need that extra poofteenth you could sell it for close to what it cost, lenses hold their value pretty well.

I'll admit the 1.8 does feel a little cheap and plastic-y... I was a little disappointed when I opened the box but then I remembered I'd paid just over a hundred bucks for it LOL The 1.4 does 'feel' nicer, but I can't argue with the photos my 1.8 takes, they're awesome. I may or may not upgrade down the track, but at the moment the 1.8 is perfect for me and it was cheap enough that if it didn't turn out to be what I wanted I wasn't going to cry about it.

Anyways I digress but just something to think about.

The major issues with the f/1.8 aren't only in build quality. It's also the fact that it has five aperture blades, which produce ugly pentagonal bokeh when stopped down. The OP already has the f/1.8 (as the expressed in one of my threads), so that's already covered anyway.

 

[hukim0531]

Sigma AF focus issue is real no matter how many claim they always get spot on all their Sigma purchase. If you don't want the hassle of Sigma lottery or calibration, just go with Canon.

 

[cgipson1]

The Sigma supposedly has awful auto focus issues. I just spent a couple hours researching this myself, and I'm not willing to gamble on getting a "good" copy of the Sigma when the Canon works 100% of the time.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201

Many (even most) of the lower end Sigma's do sometimes have issues with back/front focus... and sometimes even mechanical issues. But their higher end lenses (read that as more expensive) are typically much more reliable. The Sigma 150 and 180 Macros are wonderful lenses.. and the 50 1.4 / 85 1.4 series usually have no problems. I would look at the experience of the person complaining about a lens.. because if they are relatively new to photography, it may be them, and not the lens!

 

[o hey tyler]

The Sigma supposedly has awful auto focus issues. I just spent a couple hours researching this myself, and I'm not willing to gamble on getting a "good" copy of the Sigma when the Canon works 100% of the time.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201

Many (even most) of the lower end Sigma's do sometimes have issues with back/front focus... and sometimes even mechanical issues. But their higher end lenses (read that as more expensive) are typically much more reliable. The Sigma 150 and 180 Macros are wonderful lenses.. and the 50 1.4 / 85 1.4 series usually have no problems. I would look at the experience of the person complaining about a lens.. because if they are relatively new to photography, it may be them, and not the lens!

I have a Sigma 85/1.4 (as you probably know). It focuses great on the 5D1, but backfocuses to enough of a degree that microadjusting can't fix on the 5D2. So, I'm going to have to send it in and get it calibrated. Hopefully it's not because I am too new to photography and it's just me.

 

[cgipson1]

The Sigma supposedly has awful auto focus issues. I just spent a couple hours researching this myself, and I'm not willing to gamble on getting a "good" copy of the Sigma when the Canon works 100% of the time.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201

Many (even most) of the lower end Sigma's do sometimes have issues with back/front focus... and sometimes even mechanical issues. But their higher end lenses (read that as more expensive) are typically much more reliable. The Sigma 150 and 180 Macros are wonderful lenses.. and the 50 1.4 / 85 1.4 series usually have no problems. I would look at the experience of the person complaining about a lens.. because if they are relatively new to photography, it may be them, and not the lens!

I have a Sigma 85/1.4 (as you probably know). It focuses great on the 5D1, but backfocuses to enough of a degree that microadjusting can't fix on the 5D2. So, I'm going to have to send it in and get it calibrated. Hopefully it's not because I am too new to photography and it's just me.

No Tyler... probably not you! I do find it interesting that it works on one Canon.. but not the other.... sounds more like a Canon issue. Shouldn't they calibrate their bodies to similar specs? (not knocking Canon... or trying to start a war, just seems odd)!

 

[TheBiles]

The Sigma supposedly has awful auto focus issues. I just spent a couple hours researching this myself, and I'm not willing to gamble on getting a "good" copy of the Sigma when the Canon works 100% of the time.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201

Many (even most) of the lower end Sigma's do sometimes have issues with back/front focus... and sometimes even mechanical issues. But their higher end lenses (read that as more expensive) are typically much more reliable. The Sigma 150 and 180 Macros are wonderful lenses.. and the 50 1.4 / 85 1.4 series usually have no problems. I would look at the experience of the person complaining about a lens.. because if they are relatively new to photography, it may be them, and not the lens!

The 50/1.4 is one of their "EX" lenses, which shouldn't have this problem in the first place. I've seen enough professional reviewers and enough users who actually know what auto focus microadjustment is complaining to not take that crap shoot. Google will quickly pull up all of the user responses.