Sigma 50mm F/1.4

The closer you get to shooting wide open with that lens, the less leeway you have in the ability to focus and then reframe.

Grats on the lens, Jerry.

OOOF! You don't know how you just hit the nail on the head!

My most consistently good results come when I do not use the shutter button to focus, but use the focus button on the back of the camera while targeting the (for example), closer eye. Then once the focus is locked, I can reframe and get the composition I want without loosing the focus point. Though I use this technique to guarantee that the exact feature is in perfect focus, on no other lens is this technique mandatory at it's widest aperture than this lens.

Thanks for the kind words! :)
 
I've been shooting with the F4 for almost 2 years now as basically my only lens (that changed dramatically within the last 4 months). I know exactly how I hit the nail on the head, how hard I hit it, and how far it knocked it off kilter. :)

Soooo many blown shots. *sigh*
 
Good examples... taking note of pics #2 and #5 in particular, some people would say the lens was off, which it was not in either case.

In #2 the focus POINT was off from the head of the subject... note the sharpness of the arm.

In #4, someone may look at the right eye and say it was the lens' fault. It was not, the DOF was just that shallow.

Many unsuspecting users could easily mistake their errors and blame it on the lens... as I said, its a very unforgiving lens in that respect until you master it. Now, as many issues as there are, I am betting that the Canon users are having some more serious issues, but that, I feel, is unrelated to the Nikon mounts.

Thanks for the great shots! :)

This is very true. On number 2,....I'm so used to shooting at f2.8, where focusing on his side would have made all of him sharp at these distances, that I missed it slightly at f1.4.

On number 5, as you said, it's just the crazy shallow DOF....his right eye is plenty sharp. I had this issue even back with my 50mm f1.8 @ f1.8.

The closer you get to shooting wide open with that lens, the less leeway you have in the ability to focus and then reframe. Shooting that wide is a tricky beast, but wow when you nail the focus, the blur is so silky smoooooth.

This is the truth. It's not as easy getting shots at f1.4 that are sharp....or at least with the sharpness where you want it. I find myself moving my focus point on the camera to keep from having to reframe very much...helps a good bit. Even still, if my son moves the slightest bit, the focus is off, so you really have to get focus and snap the picture really close together to help avoid this on constantly moving subjects like a 2 year old.
 

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