I've been reading a lot of info on Sigma's 50mm f/1.4. Mostly bad news, but a fair share of good reports. With all the thousands of 50's floating around out there, and only a handful of bad reports, I figured there must be quite a few good copies of this lens. So I went to a local shop, who had 4 copies in stock ( bad sign ), and tried them all out. Serial numbers were in the 1015 to 1016 range. 3 out of 4 were excellent copies, with only one showing minor front focusing, but man talk about bokeh! Better than anything I've seen before. So I couldn't resist...and took one home. I quess the reason for this post is to say to people, If your interested in this lens make sure you try more than one before buying, and take your laptop along for comparing lenses. Sample photo @ f/1.4. C&C welcome.

Thanks, Bill

Love mine

I loved mine. The bokeh is something special indeed, but in the end I found it a bit boring. Anyhow, it is one of the very best normal lenses ever made, in my opinion. I've tried almost everything there is for Nikon mount, and the Sigma gives best sharpness (perceived, not MTF) at f/1,4 and has the smoothest bokeh.

It's probably my favorite lens...I quite using my 28-70/2.8L for it. You'd have a hard time convincing me it's not the best value in an AF lens out there right now.

I still kick myself for selling mine.

I just took my first pics with mine last night (on 5D). Bokeh is very, very nice. I took all shots wide open just to get a feel for how it would do and the shots that were nailed were sharp, some very sharp. I did notice some CA, not terrible, but will continue to observe to see how and when it appears. It takes me a while to get a good feel for a lens but after 1 night it was quite pleasing.

Here's another one taken @ f/1.4. I'm still learning this lens too. Things should just get better.

IMO it is a thing of beauty, it does wonders on my 5D and new Mk2's. I have to fight with my son to get him to take it off his 50D. Sigma would seem to be getting a tighter grip on QC and are really turning out some interesting lens.

I hear there's a new batch coming out soon...but I couldn't wait

Agreed. Wonderful lens. Beautiful bokeh, great colors and a really nice drawing style:

Great pics Jordan! Love the bokeh of the lens

Is it OK when focusing past 10ft?

Yeah, the bigger problems with the lens are generally at long distance (20 feet,
and out). Of course, one is unlikely to shoot wide open at long distance anyway,
so this is less of a practical problem than it first seems. It is present on my
copy, though.

www.pbase.com/tswen/sig50af

Great optical performance, however.

Beni wrote:
Is it OK when focusing past 10ft?

Mine's fine at long distances.

My only focusing issues are right near MFD wide open...it'll sway to the front JUST a smidge. It usually still catches the focus point in the DOF, but barely. By f/1.8, the small focus shift in the lens will correct that very small front focus, and the same happens when shooting even a couple feet from MFD. As I almost NEVER shoot at f/1.4 and MFD, it's never really been an issue for me, as I required more DOF when shooting that close 99% of the time.

Very happy with mine which I bought here on FM; so didn't have an opportunity to check out more copies. But planning to send to Sigma for a check and calibration anyway. Never had service from Sigma so I'm hoping for excellent customer service.

Regards,
Mike
Newfoundland, Canada

I'm not to worried about long distance shots. I bought mine for close encounters

is it me or all all these images soft? besides the baby ones.

packrobottom wrote:
is it me or all all these images soft? besides the baby ones.

I agree. The first dog shot looks like it might be back-focused, but it is hard to tell. The second dog shot is soft. And the shot after the baby ones is (mildly) soft as well. I can't see any in-focus plane, so camera shake/low shutter speed maybe?

The sigma 50 1.4 is everything but soft Hard to tell from web-sized images though

ulrikft wrote:
The sigma 50 1.4 is everything but soft Hard to tell from web-sized images though

Not saying the lens isn't capable of producing sharp results, just that several of the images posted here seemed soft even at the small web resolutions.

I havent taken a soft image with that lens, even shooting at wide open apertures.

hi,
i'm sorry that i did listen to much to all the bad stories,
now i bought it, and its great.


r-)

Mine (S/N 103xxxx) is soft at f1.4, noticeably softer than my EF50 1.4 even if the test shot of EF50mm is just AF on tripod, remote, mirror lockup. The test shots of Sigma50mm are taken on tripod, live view x10, manual focus, remote control.

Had the 30mm, and its just everything i want.

Im looking forward to receiving the 50 for the 5d.

Colors, bokeh and sharpness is perfection..

I wonder if any of you claiming the results to be "soft" have ever used a 50/1.4 lens at all? Of course it is somewhat soft at f/1.4. But the Sigma is less soft than any other 50 mm lens @ f/1.4 that I've tried (which includes all fast Nikkors later than 1970:s or so).
Resolution-wise, it might be considered "softer". But the local contrast is high and spherical aberration is low, so the percieved sharpness is higher.

Is this "soft" to you? I hope not. Any softness is due to the downscaling.
Edit: On FF, of course.