Hi I am wondering which lens is better to have in your bag...

Canon 50mm 1.4 usm
or
Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
I am using a full frame canon camera.

I have read all the reviews and also checked out the quality of the lens here:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=473&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=6&LensComp=115&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLI=0&API=6

I am looking for great sharpments, colors and contrast.at all fstops.


the price difference is about $100 bucks more for the sigma over the canon.


Anyone have an opinion?

Discussed to death on the Canon and Nikon forums. Do a search you will find lots of information and examples.

Dave

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that these people do:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/797713
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/804874
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/762702
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/755975
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/717198
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/712976

Search is your friend.

My hat off to Mikethevilla,and thanks for providing a nice list of links to previous post on this subject. I was looking for a replacement for my "lost" Canon 50/f1.4, which my son seems to "borrow" it...permanently, and from one of the links above, I like Jman13's perspective answer If you don't want to risk Sigma's QC..then pay $1300 and get the Canon 50L. , that quite so true. I already sent couple of L-lens for calibrate and both came back stunning sharp. So rather tear my hair out, or wait for a perfect lens, I think sending it back for adjustment is a reasonable price too pay, but then again - when it became a norm then it's time for switching brand. Hey, wait a minute, did I just said that there is no perfect world !...
BTW, I shopped for the Sigma and it seems out of stock for awhile now.

Sam

I read all the posts and reviews here on the site. Most people seem to love the sigma however QC is horrible.. Has to be calibrated or returned several times to get a good lens. I am not sure if that was just a fluke or not.

Sigma seems to be a better lens, better overall build, sharper, better bokah and just an overall impressive lens..

So anyone buy the sigma 50mm 1.4 in the last few months? Any returns for calibration issues?

I have a question on sigma warranty. If I buy the lens from outside the usa/canada will sigma still honor the warranty in the usa?

what is the warranty on this sigam 50mm lens?

Sigma has international warranty on lenses as do Canon. I'd grab the Sigma any day. In the f/1.4 - f/2.8 region it's superb, better than my Contax Zeiss 50 f/1.4 which was better than the EF 50 f/1.4 and 50 f/1.8 II. The bokeh is creamy smooth (too smooth for some folks), but it's sharp wide open.

The Sigma on a 5DII or camera with Micro Adjustments does just fine.

I had the Canon and sold it for the Sigma. The Sigma is just a beautiful lens...

I'm anxiously awaiting the chance to use my Sigma 50mm. I know it's a great lens, but i've just not been able to get it calibrated.

It's on its 3rd repair trip since July when I bought it.

Yep, I've not been able to even shoot with the lens and I've owned it almost 4 months.

Still anxious though! I've got high hopes.

*note: I don't think my scenario is the norm, I just really got the short straw on this one.

From what i've read on most threads about this, the Sigma is a better lens than the caon 1.4.
now the canon 50L is a different story.........

Yes, the Sigmalux is great. If you can, I strongly recommend though to check several copies before buying it. I had to send back the first copy I got (severe front focus), but my second one is awesome, sharp wide open, and much better bokeh than the EF 50/1.4.

So from what I am hearing the sigma 1.4 50mm lens is great only if you get a good copy or are willing to wait 3 weeks while it gets calibrated by sigma.

No one locally carries this lens so I am forced to mail order it. Anyone buy one of these in the last 30 days? any issues? (canon mount)

From the the-digital-picture.com tests it seems like the canon 50mm 1.4 seems to have better overall sharpness over the sigma 50mm 1.4 lens. Am I missing something??

caringserv wrote:
I read all the posts and reviews here on the site. Most people seem to love the sigma however QC is horrible.. Has to be calibrated or returned several times to get a good lens. I am not sure if that was just a fluke or not.

Sigma seems to be a better lens, better overall build, sharper, better bokah and just an overall impressive lens..

So anyone buy the sigma 50mm 1.4 in the last few months? Any returns for calibration issues?



I bought one a couple of months ago. Perfect right out of the box. Stunningly sharp at all distances and even extremely good wide open. This example at f/1.4 is heavily cropped and minimally sharpened:

This has been beaten to death many times, and the outcome is always the same - the sigma is the better lens in every regard, but many many people have problems with the autofocus.

My experience went to trying 3 copies in the shop and then buying the Canon. I went in with the express intention of getting the sigma, but i just couldn't buy a lens that missed focus by so far.

I bought one of these a few months back, and it was promptly returned as the AF was way off. I ended up getting a 35 L instead.

Tons of debate, as for me - I'm for Canon 1.4.

I can't seem to find this lens anywhere locally. So buying online and praying I get a good one doesn't seem to be cost effective.

If by chance I do find the lens locally and they will let me try it what do I need to look for? Rather what do I need to do in order to insure I got a good one?

There seems to be a huge list of problems with the lens if you end up with a bad copy that is.

Now from the reviews I am reading:
canon 50mm 1.2 L
canon 50mm 1.4 non L
sigma 50mm 1.4

They seem to produce around the same quality of pictures from what I can tell on the the-digital-picture.com website. Is the canon 1.2 L lens really worth 2.5x the money?

I read all the comments on all the topics and the answers are not very clear, everyone is all over the place.