syrcular
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 p.4 #13 · Sigma 45mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary Review | |
I just picked up both the Samyang 45mm f1.8 and the Sigma 45mm f2.8, to do a little shootout this weekend between the two and to help me decide on which one I like better.
I gotta say...it's been really hard to decide because both of these lenses have pros and cons, which even them out. I'll post some images later when I've imported them into my computer, because I just got back from a morning of testing the two lenses.
Build quality definitely goes to the Sigma. It's built like a professional lens, and it also looks extremely cool on your camera. Definitely see it looking nice not only on the Sony, but the Panasonic and Leica cameras as well.
Image quality wise they are slightly different. When shooting portraits with subjects that are close, they produce about the same level of background blur, with the Samyang edging out a little more. But you really have to look at it, to see the difference. I also agree with Fred, that the rendering does look slightly better on the Sigma, even if the background blur is not as prevalent as the Samyang's.
For more street shots, where subjects are far, the difference in subject separation varies. I would say that the Samyang edges out a little bit more in that department with it's f1.8 aperture, when subjects or objects show up in the foreground, but the difference to be honest is negligible.
Color rendition is slightly different as well. Samyang had a more saturated color orange-ish hue to it, while the Sigma had a slightly cooler temperature. I would say based on looking, side by side, the skin tones look more accurate to me on the Sigma.
Differentiators for the Sigma I would say are that the Sigma's minimum close focus distance was impressive. You can get really close to a subject and get some really interesting shots, and that's where you see some serious background blur and bokeh. And speaking of Bokeh, I found the Samyang bokeh to be a little too busy and swirly, at times, while the Sigma was a bit more calm and aesthetically pleasing to my eyes.
Differentiators for the Samyang was that I often got brighter shots, and when shooting portraits, got some really great subject separation. Sometimes you would get a little bit of a dreamy effect which looked cool. Also I found the Samyang to lock on eye autofocus a lot better than the Sigma. In most situations I did not run into any focus issues with the Samyang, and that's on v1.0. The Sigma however I got some inconsistent behavior, especially when using eye autofocus. When comparing the two, I would say the Samyang definitely locks on face detection and eye autofocus better than the Sigma currently.
All in all comparing these two lenses, they felt like different animals all together.
It's clear that the Sigma is a street/travel lens, with solid construction, and with the right techniques, offers some really interesting images. However it could use a firmware or two to fix some of the autofocus issues talked about here in this forum as I ran into similar issues.
The Samyang, feels more like a portrait lens, to me. I felt I got the best results with this lens is when I shot portraits, then I did with street. If I were a street portrait guy, I would probably lean more heavily towards this lens. The build quality sucks, but is not too bad, and it is really light..but most importantly it's a sharp lens and the image quality overall is very good.
Which one am I getting? I'm not sure. I've always had trouble with the 40-45 focal range. Thought I'd give it another try, and I'm still on the fence. I may just have to shoot some more with it to determine whether this focal range is right for me. And to be honest I liked both these lenses, so it's gonna be hard to decide between the two.
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Aug 12, 2019 at 02:43 AM