Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART

[basketballfreak6]

anyone excited about this upcoming lens? particularly their claim in regards to gunning for Zeiss Otus IQ?

hope pricing is closer to the $899 dirtcheapcameras have listed as for pre order than the $1499 listed by camerapro tho

[Lance B]

It's not a focal length I use very often. However, it would be good to see another lens manufacturer putting pressure on to make top shelf lenses.

[Mary Anne]

No not really.. I use my Canon 50mm f/1.4 often and I am quite happy with it. Though good to see there is a new lens out there.

[basketballfreak6]

It's not a focal length I use very often. However, it would be good to see another lens manufacturer putting pressure on to make top shelf lenses.
absolutely, it seems Canon/Nikon's been a bit complacent these days, whereas sigma been really innovating in the lens department, i too find that i am more in love with 35mm after owning the sigma 35 art but there have been occasions where the framing i wanted 35 gave too much distortion as i had to get too close so i can potentially see myself using both the 35 and 50


No not really.. I use my Canon 50mm f/1.4 often and I am quite happy with it. Though good to see there is a new lens out there.
Mary Anne this lens is particularly exciting because it is a complete redesign (and apparently very similar to that of the $4000 Otus) of the old 50mm focal length and promises great wide open sharpness (which is a major weakness of all previous 50mm's) , if its bokeh quality holds up as well (sigma's old 50 1.4 despite af issues had one of the best bokeh out of all the 50's) then it'd almost be a no brainer buy at a fraction of the cost of the Otus

[JM Tran]

I find the 50mm focal length to be too boring and the least used in my line of work and personal things, so not really interested in the lens.

However, I have been waiting for a while now since they announced news of a 135mm f1.8 lens, hopefully it will be released soon.

[arthurking83]

Sigma have posted an MTF graph for the new 50.

In an estimated comparison to the Otus ... it may well give 'as good' results as the much hyped Zeiss lens.

Nikon and Sigma use similar graph values so it's easier to 'compare' values as a rough indicator as to relative performances between those two makes.
Zeiss use different scale values, so a comparison would be only an estimate, which of course then you'd take in measurement discrepancies too.

But ... it does look quite good(this 50mm Art lens).



if so, I may even be tempted to update from my original version .. which BTW works quite well on the D800E, even compared to the Nikon 50/1.2.

As long as bokeh is nice on the new version ... I reckon I'll be in on one.

I like the 50mm length. It's boring for sure in terms of perspective, but that's what makes it more of a challenge .. trying to do something interesting with something so seemingly 'boring'.

[basketballfreak6]

Sigma have posted an MTF graph for the new 50.

In an estimated comparison to the Otus ... it may well give 'as good' results as the much hyped Zeiss lens.

Nikon and Sigma use similar graph values so it's easier to 'compare' values as a rough indicator as to relative performances between those two makes.
Zeiss use different scale values, so a comparison would be only an estimate, which of course then you'd take in measurement discrepancies too.

But ... it does look quite good(this 50mm Art lens).



if so, I may even be tempted to update from my original version .. which BTW works quite well on the D800E, even compared to the Nikon 50/1.2.

As long as bokeh is nice on the new version ... I reckon I'll be in on one.

I like the 50mm length. It's boring for sure in terms of perspective, but that's what makes it more of a challenge .. trying to do something interesting with something so seemingly 'boring'.

for me the biggest issue would be price, i had massive headaches with my old copy of the 50 with auto focus (but that was on my 60D) so i sold it but i'd imagine it would no longer be an issue with their new design and use of the dock, i can't see it priced that high but if it really is ~1500 like camerapro had listed as estimated pre order price i wouldn't end up getting it, not because it's not worth the price (if its iq truly matches up or get very close to the otus) but i don't love the 50mm focal length enough to spend that kind of money on it and that i have the fantastic 35mm art already

that lens would go lovely with your resolution monster that is the d800e tho :P

[arthurking83]

I can't imagine this one to retail for $1500.
Those pre release prices aren't accurate.

Even Sigma have yet to release a price.

My guess is about US$499-599.
50's no matter how good, are almost always very slightly cheaper than equivalently fast 35's.

Look at Sigma's 35/1.4 at about $800-900ish, and one could reasonably guess at about US$500-600 initially for the 50 Art ... dropping to street prices of around $400 or so as the hype and demand settles.

I've never had too much issue with the 50/1.4 in terms of focusing.. you should expect some focus shift on a fast lens too tho .. and knowing this you should adapt to suit.
My main issue with the current 50 is the clacking noise the lens makes as the lens group moves back/forth under AF-C mode(my preferred method).
It's only noticeable at the camera, not so much for the subject at normal distances tho .. and it's just an annoyance, not a performance issue.

But you're right about the ability to adjust the lens's ability to focus via the USB dock. eg. more accurately for specific distances.

[basketballfreak6]

i actually believe it will be priced around the same as the 35 art...only because it is a complete redesign of the 50mm focal length (retro focus instead of double gauss) but i am not going to complain if it does get released at a lower price

my problem with the 50mm that i had was that it would af perfectly fine within a certain distance, beyond that it would be consistently off, i wasted too much time dealing with sigma (it's a whole month gone every time i gave it to cr kennedy to try fix up the problem) so just sold it to a guy that does video, of course if the dock was available then i would most likely still have the lens today

[arthurking83]

The dock only works on compatible lenses.

current 50mm is not a compatible lens type.
I guess it wouldn't be hard for Sigma to be able to retrofit the CPU with the ability to communicate with the dock/software if they ever see fit.

I'd even pay for the service if they ever did offer it.

[basketballfreak6]

The dock only works on compatible lenses.

current 50mm is not a compatible lens type.


yea that's what i mean, if something like that was available back then

in saying that there is rumour that sigma is going to update firmware on dock to allow compatibility with older lenses, hope that is true