IDURITA wrote:
Same with me here. My sharpest lens seems to be my OLY 50 f/1.2, only rivaled by my OLY 100mm f/2 ED.
I use my wide and standard Zuikos often for Panoramas. They make some excellent pano-lenses, they are not only sharp, but lightweight, which is important when putting on a pano head.
Here is an example of the sharpness of the Zuiko f/1.2 50mm.
Just look at the brick buildings behind the boats and the detailed foliage of the trees.
pdmphoto wrote:
The Zuiko 50/1.2 is the sharpest 50mm lens I have tested for FF (well over ten, including the Rokkor). The bokeh is not that crazy on the the Oly 50/1.2, but it is on the 55/1.2. Many don't consider that the Zuiko 50/1.2 was one of the last, and best, fast 50mm lens ever designed. The Sigmalux 50 is the only one I can think of being an obviously newer design. Here's a shot wide open from my Zuiko 50/1.2:
It does cover all the bases, and given it's relatively affordable, might be worth a try. I do manually focus at large apertures, but the AF would be nice in certain situations.
Cheers
Well, I called Sigma in Ronkonkoma, New York. They have my 5D and my 50/1.4
sitting on the shelf waiting for a tech to calibrate the lens. The chap on the phone
was courteous and friendly. He said this is the busiest time of the year for them,
and also some of their workers are on vacation, so it will be close to a three week
total turnaround for me, shipping included.
So, not exactly lightning speed, but if the job is done right I'll be pleased.
I just can't make up my mind on this lens. I have read the Sigma while wonderful at wider apertures, doesn't get tack sharp at smaller apertures like many other 50's like a Zeiss say. Is this the experience of others.
I want it all: good centre sharpness wide open, reasonably smooth bokeh, good microcontrast, and very sharp from f/2.8 on.
Maybe my Zeiss C/Y 50 f/1.4 is good enough. Would the ZE 50 f/1.4 with the 9 bladed aperture be the best compromise.
I would also consider the 50L if it didn't seem to suffer from the same focus issues as the Sigma. HelenaN has posted some top images from the 50L in the Canon forum recently
I will still be keeping my C/Y Zeiss 50/1.7 for landscape work, though it's likely not really needed.
The Sigma is pretty much of equal landscape quality, at least on the older bodies I have (5D, 30D).
There may be differences visible on a 5DII, but I won't be getting one of those right away.
The time of day varies between the shots, so don't read much into the white balance.
The Sigma does appear to have field curvature that the Canon 50/1.4 suffers less of.
The C/Y Zeiss 50/1.4 has good landscape sharpness, but my experience with that lens is that
it's bokeh is quite annoying in many situations. It also has not the best sharpness at minimum
focus distance, though I don't think the Sigma excels there either. Neither are macro lenses.
The Sigma really starts to sing at portrait distances.
Zeiss ZE f:1.4 is just a tad soft wide open, but that hint of softness evaporates from f2.0 onwards. As a landscape lens on my 5DII, the amount of detail and sharpness are stunning. As is, as usual with Zeiss, the rendering in terms of "3D" and colour.
philber wrote:
Zeiss ZE f:1.4 is just a tad soft wide open, but that hint of softness evaporates from f2.0 onwards. As a landscape lens on my 5DII, the amount of detail and sharpness are stunning. As is, as usual with Zeiss, the rendering in terms of "3D" and colour.
Thanks Philber, those shots certainly have superb detail and the Zeiss high contrast. I'm very pleased with my old C/Y Planar 50 f/1.4 on my 5D.
What's the bokeh like between f/1.4 and f/2.8?
Whayne,
I will still be keeping my C/Y Zeiss 50/1.7 for landscape work, though it's likely not really needed.
The Sigma is pretty much of equal landscape quality, at least on the older bodies I have (5D, 30D).
There may be differences visible on a 5DII, but I won't be getting one of those right away.
The time of day varies between the shots, so don't read much into the white balance.
The Sigma does appear to have field curvature that the Canon 50/1.4 suffers less of.
The C/Y Zeiss 50/1.4 has good landscape sharpness, but my experience with that lens is that
it's bokeh is quite annoying in many situations. It also has not the best sharpness at minimum
focus distance, though I don't think the Sigma excels there either. Neither are macro lenses.
The Sigma really starts to sing at portrait distances. ...Show more →
Thanks for the extra info Tim. The C/Y's bokeh isn't super smooth, but I find in many cases it's pretty decent and even with oof highlights it's not too bad. The rings have a bright thin rim, but not overly harsh.
Maybe if I could see a comparison of the ZE vs Sigma at all apertures I could decide if the Sigma is the way to go.
