I'll try to do some more methodical test shooting for you guys later. My thing with lenses is always horses for courses. I've always had redundancy in the medium wide angle world because its so useful in both my paid and personal photography. Sigma 35 f1.2 is great for posed portraiture and weddings, but its such an impractical lens for use outside of that.
What I'm trying to get a handle on right now is how well the Sigma 35 F2 'fits' into my day-to-day as a family documentary lens. In this context, I'd say the lens is mostly positive as the color rendering and contrast is similar to that of the Sigma 35 1.2 and 45 vs the gritty rendering and muddy contrast of the 35 1.8.... but there are some trade-offs in the bokeh in the corners as Fred pointed out. Also, for loosely framed shots, you're going to see some nervousness if the background is complex. Does this make ore break the lens? It depends on what your priorities are. Horses for courses, the lens does most of what I need it to. Don't get me wrong I'm super anal about bokeh for my outdoor posed portraiture where I'm shooting in a lot of foliage with backlit golden hour ligh, but I don't intend to use this lens there...that's where the Bigma lives, and not where I intend to use the 35 F2.
I do have the 35GM on pre-order so I'm interested in seeing how this fits into my kit. I never found the 24GM to be compact enough for personal use....Loxia 21, Rok 75, FE 35, CV40 fit the bill for me there and the Sigma 35 F2 is more aligned with those lenses in terms of shooting experience. so its more a question of how much better the GM is than the Sigma 35 1.2.
I received my set of Sigma I Series lenses on Tuesday but the weather has been a combination of snowing, very cold and very overcast skies so not very good for doing lens testing. The forecast for the coming week does not look great either with a major snow storm headed our way next Tuesday and Wednesday. I will try to do centering tests on each lens and when conditions improve some infinity tests. However, I do love the feel and size of each lens. The AF seems fast and accurate and even the manual focussing is very smooth and easy to fine tune on my A7RIV.
Here are a few quick shots I did yesterday during a break in the snow but with heavy over cast skies. I mainly wanted to get a comparison of two different scenes at each focal length (24, 35, 45, 65). I had no Lens corrections and default LR sharpening only applied. You can see some vignetting in the corners of the 24mm and a bit in less so the 35mm but these are easily corrected in LR. There are no LR lens profiles for these 4 lenses yet.
I also did a lens size comparison of the 4 Sigma Contemporary I series lenses (sorry only had my iPhone for that) with and without lens hoods and on of the Voigtlander 35 f/1.2 SE next to the Sigma 35mm f/2.
So far I'm very pleased with this I series as a nice light prime lens kit. I can easily fit all 4 lenses with 2 mounted on A7RIV's in my Peak Design Everyday Sling 10L bag.
Hope to get some decent weather for more infinity testing in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks Chuck! Looking forward to more comparisons in better conditions.
I realize these Sigma are AF lenses, but I'd be curious how they stack up IQ-wise against Loxia MF set. Maybe someday someone could compare 25, 35, 50, and 85.
Mystik wrote:
I'll try to do some more methodical test shooting for you guys later. My thing with lenses is always horses for courses. I've always had redundancy in the medium wide angle world because its so useful in both my paid and personal photography. Sigma 35 f1.2 is great for posed portraiture and weddings, but its such an impractical lens for use outside of that.
What I'm trying to get a handle on right now is how well the Sigma 35 F2 'fits' into my day-to-day as a family documentary lens. In this context, I'd say the lens is mostly positive as the color rendering and contrast is similar to that of the Sigma 35 1.2 and 45 vs the gritty rendering and muddy contrast of the 35 1.8.... but there are some trade-offs in the bokeh in the corners as Fred pointed out. Also, for loosely framed shots, you're going to see some nervousness if the background is complex. Does this make ore break the lens? It depends on what your priorities are. Horses for courses, the lens does most of what I need it to. Don't get me wrong I'm super anal about bokeh for my outdoor posed portraiture where I'm shooting in a lot of foliage with backlit golden hour ligh, but I don't intend to use this lens there...that's where the Bigma lives, and not where I intend to use the 35 F2.
I do have the 35GM on pre-order so I'm interested in seeing how this fits into my kit. I never found the 24GM to be compact enough for personal use....Loxia 21, Rok 75, FE 35, CV40 fit the bill for me there and the Sigma 35 F2 is more aligned with those lenses in terms of shooting experience. so its more a question of how much better the GM is than the Sigma 35 1.2.
Chuck Coyne wrote:
I received my set of Sigma I Series lenses on Tuesday but the weather has been a combination of snowing, very cold and very overcast skies so not very good for doing lens testing. The forecast for the coming week does not look great either with a major snow storm headed our way next Tuesday and Wednesday. I will try to do centering tests on each lens and when conditions improve some infinity tests. However, I do love the feel and size of each lens. The AF seems fast and accurate and even the manual focussing is very smooth and easy to fine tune on my A7RIV.
Here are a few quick shots I did yesterday during a break in the snow but with heavy over cast skies. I mainly wanted to get a comparison of two different scenes at each focal length (24, 35, 45, 65). I had no Lens corrections and default LR sharpening only applied. You can see some vignetting in the corners of the 24mm and a bit in less so the 35mm but these are easily corrected in LR. There are no LR lens profiles for these 4 lenses yet.
I also did a lens size comparison of the 4 Sigma Contemporary I series lenses (sorry only had my iPhone for that) with and without lens hoods and on of the Voigtlander 35 f/1.2 SE next to the Sigma 35mm f/2.
So far I'm very pleased with this I series as a nice light prime lens kit. I can easily fit all 4 lenses with 2 mounted on A7RIV's in my Peak Design Everyday Sling 10L bag.
Hope to get some decent weather for more infinity testing in the next couple of weeks.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Thanks for the RAWs Chuck. Downloading now.
It's COLD!
Fred, yes it is very cold and the light was horrendously flat, but I just needed to get some sense of the focal length differences and how sharp these lenses are across the frame. I hope the weather improves soon! So far I'm liking these little primes.
Received my Sigma 65mm F2 today. Absolutely love it. The build quality is just outstanding. As are the images it produces. I do not usually gush over a lens but this 65mm is just fantastic. Love the focal length, the rendering and the bokeh is smooth and beautiful especially for a F2. The downside is I was also out taking some test shots of my new Sony FE 35mm 1.8 and compared the Sigma is is flat and boring. The rendering that is. I think its going back and I will get the Sigma 35mm F2. If it renders anything like the 65 I will be very happy. Nothing special here as I am but just a learning hobbyist and was just walking around trying out the 65mm. Here are a few shots.
Chuck Coyne wrote:
Fred, yes it is very cold and the light was horrendously flat, but I just needed to get some sense of the focal length differences and how sharp these lenses are across the frame. I hope the weather improves soon! So far I'm liking these little primes.
They are all sharp at infinity. Probably even better at f/5.6. The edges of the frame are like the mid-zone in my diagonal tests and so far so good. I didn't expect the 24mm to be that good.
Fred Miranda wrote:
They are all sharp at infinity. Probably even better at f/5.6. The edges of the frame are like the mid-zone in my diagonal tests and so far so good. I didn't expect the 24mm to be that good.
I agree about the 24mm, didn’t expect it, only hoped for it.
I'm jazzed about getting the 65. Seeing sample shots of the latest batch of I series lenses, the shots from the 65 seemed to be the ones that caught my eye the most. For its size, it seems to have much less catseye than other lenses around the FL (thinking of the 75/85 competitors.) The bokeh looks pretty smooth as well (as you note.)
Alex W wrote:
Received my Sigma 65mm F2 today. Absolutely love it. The build quality is just outstanding. As are the images it produces. I do not usually gush over a lens but this 65mm is just fantastic. Love the focal length, the rendering and the bokeh is smooth and beautiful especially for a F2. The downside is I was also out taking some test shots of my new Sony FE 35mm 1.8 and compared the Sigma is is flat and boring. The rendering that is. I think its going back and I will get the Sigma 35mm F2. If it renders anything like the 65 I will be very happy. ...Show more →
I just got a "shipped" notice for my 24mm from B&H, so it should be here tomorrow, hopefully. Will try to get some samples up ASAP, but it is frigging COLD in Philly right now.
Fred Miranda wrote:
For those who already got these lenses (24, 35 and 65), let's post some samples!
I'm more interested in how they render as I already know they are all excellent at infinity stopped down a bit.
imagesfromobjects wrote:
I just got a "shipped" notice for my 24mm from B&H, so it should be here tomorrow, hopefully. Will try to get some samples up ASAP, but it is frigging COLD in Philly right now.
I’m in the same boat....out near Harrisburg the weather isn’t much better.
imagesfromobjects wrote:
I just got a "shipped" notice for my 24mm from B&H, so it should be here tomorrow, hopefully. Will try to get some samples up ASAP, but it is frigging COLD in Philly right now.
nice set! I am very curious how the CV35 se fits in between. I have the Sigma 45 and 65mm and will soon buy the 24mm 3.5 and instead of the Sigma 35mm f2. I am curious how the cv35mm really compares between the Sigma I series lenses.
I like manual lenses and a fast 1.2 is always useful compared to f2 f2.8 and f3.5
so .... if you could tell us whether the Voigtlander is going well between the I series, would be fantastic!
Chuck Coyne wrote:
I received my set of Sigma I Series lenses on Tuesday but the weather has been a combination of snowing, very cold and very overcast skies so not very good for doing lens testing. The forecast for the coming week does not look great either with a major snow storm headed our way next Tuesday and Wednesday. I will try to do centering tests on each lens and when conditions improve some infinity tests. However, I do love the feel and size of each lens. The AF seems fast and accurate and even the manual focussing is very smooth and easy to fine tune on my A7RIV.
Here are a few quick shots I did yesterday during a break in the snow but with heavy over cast skies. I mainly wanted to get a comparison of two different scenes at each focal length (24, 35, 45, 65). I had no Lens corrections and default LR sharpening only applied. You can see some vignetting in the corners of the 24mm and a bit in less so the 35mm but these are easily corrected in LR. There are no LR lens profiles for these 4 lenses yet.
I also did a lens size comparison of the 4 Sigma Contemporary I series lenses (sorry only had my iPhone for that) with and without lens hoods and on of the Voigtlander 35 f/1.2 SE next to the Sigma 35mm f/2.
So far I'm very pleased with this I series as a nice light prime lens kit. I can easily fit all 4 lenses with 2 mounted on A7RIV's in my Peak Design Everyday Sling 10L bag.
Hope to get some decent weather for more infinity testing in the next couple of weeks.
Arty73 wrote:
nice set! I am very curious how the CV35 se fits in between. I have the Sigma 45 and 65mm and will soon buy the 24mm 3.5 and instead of the Sigma 35mm f2. I am curious how the cv35mm really compares between the Sigma I series lenses.
I like manual lenses and a fast 1.2 is always useful compared to f2 f2.8 and f3.5
so .... if you could tell us whether the Voigtlander is going well between the I series, would be fantastic!
Sorry, but I decided to go with the Sigma 35 f/2 instead of the CV 35 f/1.2. I'm not as much interested in the speed of f/1.2 for this set of small and light primes. I want sharp images across the frame at apertures in the f/4 - f/8 range mainly for travel and landscape images. I know the rendering on the 45mm and from what I see on the 35mm at f/2 or f/2.8 is very pleasing and good enough for my purposes.
Got the 24mm this morning just as we were going for a walk, so here are some images right out of the box. I processed them the way I normally print, hence the warm tone.
I was wrong about the size of the 65/2. It’s actually fine. The stock situation in Australia seems to be the opposite of that in the US. I now have the 35 and 65 but no info regarding the 24.
