form wrote:
I'm not looking for OMGSOSHARP edges wide open, I'm just trying to avoid the OMGFINGERPAINTING edges that I saw with a few (not all) 50mm lens reviews.
From my experience, Sigma 50 and Canon 50L look very different - Canon holds better resolution for more of the frame, and the bokeh also has more "character" and is somewhat more nervous and 3-dimensional. Both have some fringing wide open, though the Sigma is worse. I don't mind some character to the bokeh, and I accept that the best 50mm still has a fairly limited resolution quality wide open even in the center. But I really find it difficult to tolerate extremely butter-soft edges and low contrast, because these are not really possible to remedy in post.
One more thing interesting to note about Sigma is that their f/1.4 lens acts more like an f/1.6 lens for light gathering - if you stop down from f/1.4 to f/1.6 you will notice an extremely insignificant difference in the brightness (much less than 1/3 stop), whereas the Canon 35L I have used for so long is easily 1/3 stop brighter at f/1.4 than the Sigma 50....Show more →
This is due to sensor amplification that canon applies to wide aperture lenses to compensate for sensor related inefficiency with wide light entrance angles caused by the large aperture. Canon only applies this to canon lenses.
For corner sharpness, the nikon 50's are better than the sigma / canon. The bokeh will be more edgy and nervous, but it seems you may like that.
okafoja wrote:
Your 24mm f/1.4 is sharp edge to edge at 1.4 and all your Sigma lenses have no AF issue.
You must be a special guy.
Well, let's put it this way: I don't just shoot brick wall tests with my lenses. I rate my lenses' sharpness on actual use, and I have never been disappointed and said "oh gosh I wish it was much sharper at the edges".
AF issues - seriously, no issues with my Sigma lenses so far.
