Sigma 50mm f1.4

[Silverpenguin]

Looks like a nice lens! I'll be interested to see how the new Nikon 50mm AFS, thats rumoured to be coming soon, will compare.

Making a new 50mm makes perfect sense now that full frame sensors are appearing. It won't be too long before they filter down in to cheaper and cheaper bodies.

 

[lukeap69]

Sigma 30 1.4 is my first prime so I immediately bought the 50 1.4 as soon as it was available where I am. I do not do test but in real life usage, this has blown me away. I love this lens. My next prime will be EF100 2.0 (or EF85 1.8 - still deciding)

 

[icassell]

Sigma 30 1.4 is my first prime so I immediately bought the 50 1.4 as soon as it was available where I am. I do not do test but in real life usage, this has blown me away. I love this lens. My next prime will be EF100 2.0 (or EF85 1.8 - still deciding)

Would you post a few?? I'm considering the Sigma 50.

 

[usayit]

Didn't they already do that?

Ah... missed it.. :blushing:

 

[Montana]

A 77mm diameter f1.4/50??? Wow. That' s a beast!

Yes it is, but not bad for the Canon shooters that own a 70-200 2.8L I believe Nikons 70-200 2.8L is 77mm filter as well.

Derrick

 

[icassell]

Yes it is, but not bad for the Canon shooters that own a 70-200 2.8L I believe Nikons 70-200 2.8L is 77mm filter as well.

Derrick

Hey, I could use the same filters I use for my Sigma 10-20!

 

[shivaswrath]

Love the fact that it AF's on D40's and has FF use on D700/D3's. . . .I was considering a 50mm Nikkor 1.4 or 1.8, well-knowing that I would have to MF; the Sigma makes itself "upgradeable" for those that have a 1.5x and will be FF in the future.

And I'm confused on everyone's take on the test results.

For crop-factor bodies, Sigma was on par.

For FF, Sigma kicked ass.

No?

I found this quote for the corner softness:
Corner softness at wide apertures

The most obvious result from our studio tests is that this lens exhibits fairly extreme corner softness at wide apertures on full frame, and it's possible some potential buyers will be concerned by this issue. In this regard it's important to appreciate that with the extremely small depth of field afforded by 50mm F1.4 lenses, and assuming a reasonably centrally-placed subject, the likelihood of any object in the corners of the frame being remotely in focus is in fact minimal, and corner resolution therefore near-irrelevant.
However for those who still like to fret about such issues, and are possessed by the unnatural urge to shoot planar subjects face on at unusually wide apertures, then not to worry, we've saved you the trouble and the results are shown below. Even at F1.4, central resolution is high (although contrast is rather low), but the corners are extremely soft, and this is exacerbated by darkening due to vignetting. However stop down to F4 and the image quality has picked up substantially; central sharpness is now pretty impressive, and the corners show a far more acceptable result. It's worth noting that this is a significantly better performance than most zoom lenses (relatively few of which even open up to F4 at 50mm), illustrating the optical advantages offered by primes in normal everyday shooting.

But may be irrelevant for those shooting at 1.4 and looking for sharp corners, right?