To those of you who are lucky enough to have received a lens already, could you grace the thread with some images with subjects at nearby, moderate, and distant distances?

It'd be great to see how the lens renders subjects 10 - 20 feet away shot wide open to see what separation from background remains perceptible, as well as some distant landscape subjects with the lens stopped down to f/5.6 or f/8 or f/11 to get a feel for sharpness at infinity in both the central and extreme regions of the frame.

ct8282 wrote:
I saw a thread where that was discussed. In all fairness I really can't see where onion bokeh would affect an image. I think onion bokeh is a term made up by photographers to define a bokeh phenomena that would only ever bother pixel peeping photographers. Would a client ever notice onion bokeh?

Anyhow, my only criticism of this lens is the lack of weather sealing on the lens mount. Real shame they didn't add a seal but would I pay an extra £500 for a little rubber piece on the mount (i.e buy he Nikon version)? Err nope.

It definitely is not a "made up" term, they're Newton's rings. In my past experience with the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8, it was quite apparent and unattractive, but only in very unique situations. Chiefly, it became evident when close focus was combined with distant points of light against a dark background. Normally (99.9% of the time) it wasn't a problem, but it was an unfortunate trait nonetheless.

Just saw that Aden Camera in Toronto got in some of these lenses.

Frank_Maiello wrote:
ct8282 wrote:
I saw a thread where that was discussed. In all fairness I really can't see where onion bokeh would affect an image. I think onion bokeh is a term made up by photographers to define a bokeh phenomena that would only ever bother pixel peeping photographers. Would a client ever notice onion bokeh?

Anyhow, my only criticism of this lens is the lack of weather sealing on the lens mount. Real shame they didn't add a seal but would I pay an extra £500 for a little rubber piece on the mount (i.e buy he Nikon version)? Err nope.

It definitely is not a "made up" term, they're Newton's rings. In my past experience with the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8, it was quite apparent and unattractive, but only in very unique situations. Chiefly, it became evident when close focus was combined with distant points of light against a dark background. Normally (99.9% of the time) it wasn't a problem, but it was an unfortunate trait nonetheless.

Here's a sample of it from an image I took today with the Sigma 35mm (@ f/1.4):

Where is the best place to buy this right now? everyone appears to be out of stock on the Nikon mount.

The "3-D Pop" with this lens is stunning. It compares favorable with the Nikon 24/1.4 IMO...


_AEP6649.jpg by olivertolliver, on Flickr

rioni wrote:
Where is the best place to buy this right now? everyone appears to be out of stock on the Nikon mount.

just relax and sit tight, u will see it in 1 or 2 months

Did they get the nikon mount or was it only a canon mount?

lxdesign wrote:
Just saw that Aden Camera in Toronto got in some of these lenses.

mtakako wrote:
Did they get the nikon mount or was it only a canon mount?

lxdesign wrote:
Just saw that Aden Camera in Toronto got in some of these lenses.


They have limited stock of both Nikon and Canon.

I am tempted to get the Sigma even though I already have a Nikon 35 1.4G, a 28 1.8G and a Zeiss 35 ZF.2 f2....
I am thinking of selling either the Zeiss or the 28mm. hmmm decisions...

I bought Sigma 85 1.4 and 150 2.8 and i was very happy with them but sold them but these pictures make me lust for this lens, it lok like another adventure is about to start for me

I don't need to spend money on it right now, and I have grand designs for things other than DSLRs in the future, but this would be a great lens to own, and if I did any professional shooting around this FL, I can't imagine not owning one.

ct8282 wrote:

Let me be very clear here. These are shot at f1.4 and have had NO sharpening applied whatsoever. The only processing was some tweaks to exposure compensation and that's it.


You forgot to mention that the sharpening in your camera was set to HARD.

Isosceles wrote:
ct8282 wrote:

Let me be very clear here. These are shot at f1.4 and have had NO sharpening applied whatsoever. The only processing was some tweaks to exposure compensation and that's it.


You forgot to mention that the sharpening in your camera was set to HARD.

I see Onion bokeh never been a fan of it

Isosceles wrote:
ct8282 wrote:

Let me be very clear here. These are shot at f1.4 and have had NO sharpening applied whatsoever. The only processing was some tweaks to exposure compensation and that's it.


You forgot to mention that the sharpening in your camera was set to HARD.



If he shot these in RAW then the in-camera sharpening settings are not applied. The EXIF still retains it, though.

DontShoot wrote:
Isosceles wrote:
ct8282 wrote:

Let me be very clear here. These are shot at f1.4 and have had NO sharpening applied whatsoever. The only processing was some tweaks to exposure compensation and that's it.


You forgot to mention that the sharpening in your camera was set to HARD.



If he shot these in RAW then the in-camera sharpening settings are not applied. The EXIF still retains it, though.

Not if he used Capture NX2 - the NEF files get processed by default with whatever JPG settings he has set in the camera - at least that's how my NX2 works . . .

lxdesign wrote:
Just saw that Aden Camera in Toronto got in some of these lenses.

I see they still have it online (at list, $999). I did order mine through Henry's so hopefully it will arrive soon. If Aden had it cheaper I would go with them otherwise I'll stay with Henry's.

For Canadian buyers: I spoke with the photo manager at London Drugs; he called Gentec Intl (Sigma distributor in Canada) and confirmed that Gentec had stock which could be ordered for immediate delivery.

If you have a favourite local store, have them call Gentec on your behalf.

PS: LD quoted me $939.
Broadway Camera (Vancouver) has them listed on-line at $929 but any stock in transit is already spoken for.

I brought mine from Henry also during christmas when they have the lens on sale for 899. Talked to them today and they mention that they are expecting a Jan 21 shipped date. I had mention that adencamera has this in stock now. Hopefully they will get some stock soon and shipped the len. Hate the waiting game..


Red G8R wrote:
lxdesign wrote:
Just saw that Aden Camera in Toronto got in some of these lenses.

I see they still have it online (at list, $999). I did order mine through Henry's so hopefully it will arrive soon. If Aden had it cheaper I would go with them otherwise I'll stay with Henry's.

alundeb wrote:
Not to take anything away from you, but I don't think the 100% crops in the original post really is unscaled pixel crops. The math doesn't add up where we see the whole image as well, and the pixel level sharpness is too high for an unscaled pixel crops.


+1

Not even close to 100% crop, but looks good anyway.

OP: Once you rescale the crop, it's not 100% any more. You have to crop to the final pixels at once and then do nothing to the image. Just post the crop as it is. Then it will be 100% (one pixel on the sensor is one pixel on anyones screen).