p.1 #1 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
I received the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens from B&H yesterday and tried it out with my D700 today. My overall impression is that the lens is quite sharp even wide open after applying Jason O'Dell's D3 capture sharpening settings in NX2. I did see a bit of CA in a few wide open shots but nothing terrible. It focuses quite quickly and silently as expected, and feels very well made (as it should for the price).
While I love my Nikon 24-70 f/2.8, I will probably keep and use the Sigma in really low light situations. I had the Zeiss 35mm ZF, which was also fantastic, but it "only" went down to f/2 and manual focusing started to annoy me.....
p.1 #7 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
Je l'aime
Sigma primes have a certain look to them I can't pinpoint, but I love. I've got the 30mm f1.4, and I can count on it for a certain dark flavour to my shot.
It's something I like sometimes and want to kick in the teeth at others
p.1 #9 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
genoph wrote:
Je l'aime
Sigma primes have a certain look to them I can't pinpoint, but I love. I've got the 30mm f1.4, and I can count on it for a certain dark flavour to my shot.
It's something I like sometimes and want to kick in the teeth at others
I agree. I had my 30 1.4 for sale and decided to keep it. I have mainly been shooting the D700 since getting it. But as long as I have a DX body, the Sigma 30 will stay.
p.1 #11 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
Any focus weirdness to report? The problem the Canon folks had is the only thing keeping me from this lens.
That said, I just sold a fantastic 30 1.4. Before packing it up, I popped it on the D700. I'm betting it would make very nice 9Mp square pics. It was very good over the entire part of the non-vignetting frame.
I hope Sigma (and Tamron and Tokina) are hard at work on some other non-low-end-consumer oriented lenses. I'd love to see the 120-300 pick up OS and maybe a long fast tele - such as 120/f2...
p.1 #12 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
intero wrote:
Any focus weirdness to report? The problem the Canon folks had is the only thing keeping me from this lens.
That said, I just sold a fantastic 30 1.4. Before packing it up, I popped it on the D700. I'm betting it would make very nice 9Mp square pics. It was very good over the entire part of the non-vignetting frame.
I hope Sigma (and Tamron and Tokina) are hard at work on some other non-low-end-consumer oriented lenses. I'd love to see the 120-300 pick up OS and maybe a long fast tele - such as 120/f2...
-Tom
No focus weirdness to report yet, Tom. I thought I might run into that after reading the reviews, but as you can see, I took it out at night and had no issues. It acted just as good as the Sig 30/1.4(I call it the Dirty Thirty) on my D300.
p.1 #14 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
DragonflyDM wrote:
Why are y'all paying twice as much for a Sigma lens when Nikon has the same lens for half price? Does it do taxes??
Is it the same lens? The Nikkor has had the same optical formula since 1977. Though it's a good formula, it's not the best. Center sharpenss on the Sigma is better than the current Nikkor. Bokeh is rendered better. Autofocus is not even remotely close enough to compare. Neither is build quality. You were saying............?
p.1 #15 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
phillip ino wrote:
Is it the same lens? The Nikkor has had the same optical formula since 1977. Though it's a good formula, it's not the best. Center sharpenss on the Sigma is better than the current Nikkor. Bokeh is rendered better. Autofocus is not even remotely close enough to compare. Neither is build quality. You were saying............?
I have to agree here. The reason this lens is so expensive is because there really is no direct Nikon competition.
p.1 #17 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
Well I have to admit that I like none of these shots in particular. The 1.4 seems like a pointless lens because of the awkwardly large size, and no advantage with a wider aperture. I've had sigma's before and they always caused me grief a year or two down the line when new bodies came out. My dog chewed the last one - did me a favor as far as I was concerned. That was a smart dog!
p.1 #19 · First samples of Sigma 50mm 1.4 with D700
and actually, I need to mention that I do think Phillip inio's shots are great .... but there is no signature look to the lens there ... in fact it looks like a different lens rendered the image, though it is hard to tell with the way the shots are set up.
I would like to see the bokeh, in something like trees with specular lights in the picture at f 4.0.
