Played with this lens a bit at the store. Love the size, IQ and bokeh. I don't think it would get much use because of the FL, but if you are looking for a shot tele, hard to see how you go wrong wth this.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the separation with this lens - I feel like at this distance of a few meters it does a really nice job of isolating the subject while maintaining a clean background (EFCS on if you are curious).
Anyone care to comment on shooting with 65mm compared to a traditional 85mm? Do you feel overall field of view makes the 65mm more versatile? I'm in the market for one of these.
gordec wrote:
Anyone care to comment on shooting with 65mm compared to a traditional 85mm? Do you feel overall field of view makes the 65mm more versatile? I'm in the market for one of these.
The 65i is a great lens. I bough tt and hoped it would give my 'the verstile option'.
My feeling on the focal lenght; it's a like a long 50mm. It didn't give me enough reach for the feeling of short-tele lens as my 75mm Voigtlander does. Not even close to a 85.
gordec wrote:
Anyone care to comment on shooting with 65mm compared to a traditional 85mm? Do you feel overall field of view makes the 65mm more versatile? I'm in the market for one of these.
I think it definitely feels like a long normal, and wider than an 85. Whether that works for you depends on what you shoot, but also your camera. Since getting an A7riv I find myself cropping with abandon, because even with pretty extreme cropping, I still have plenty of pixels to print at the biggest sizes that I do.
As a result when thinking about focal length range, l prefer a lens at the wide end of the range. So my 65 kind of becomes a 65-100 and does cover the short tele range.
I sold my 85 as it was always too long. 65 feels like a tight 50 to me which works better for portraits for me and is a much more general purpose lens that pairs well with 35-40mm for me.
I find field of view visualizers like our samuli vahonen made very useful for deciding on lens kits.
darrellc wrote:
I sold my 85 as it was always too long. 65 feels like a tight 50 to me which works better for portraits for me and is a much more general purpose lens that pairs well with 35-40mm for me.
I find field of view visualizers like our samuli vahonen made very useful for deciding on lens kits.
My current A7C line-up .. this helped me choose the 65 (Sigma 35 is closer to 32)
This is a pigeon egg of a lens.
Matching perfectly with a 35 mm lens for a two lens kit.
Being 85 too long and a 50mm too short.
Then you can expand with a 24/20 and a 135 to compose an all purpose kit.
When the quality is like this Sigma you have the perfection close to your hands.
Bield Farm under Bield Crag, Little Langdale, English Lake District.
Taken on a walk from Hodge Close to Slaters Bridge with my Panasonic S5 and Sigma 65mm.
After using the 85/1.4 DG DN since the day it was released I can't really say that I love it's rendering. It's amazingly sharp wide open and it has nice bokeh, but I don't know... I often find it gives me a clinical look.
I didn't really pay attention to the release of the 65 DG DN, because I already had the 85.
From what I'm seeing now I seem to really prefer the rendering of the 65. It doesn't seem to be as flat. It's SA also seems a little bit less corrected, which gives the rendering a certain smoothness.
I might sell the 85 (even though it's a different focal length)...
Jochenb wrote:
Some very nice images in this thread!
After using the 85/1.4 DG DN since the day it was released I can't really say that I love it's rendering. It's amazingly sharp wide open and it has nice bokeh, but I don't know... I often find it gives me a clinical look.
I didn't really pay attention to the release of the 65 DG DN, because I already had the 85.
From what I'm seeing now I seem to really prefer the rendering of the 65. It doesn't seem to be as flat. It's SA also seems a little bit less corrected, which gives the rendering a certain smoothness.
I might sell the 85 (even though it's a different focal length)......Show more →
I agree with you about 85 dg dn. I have similar feeling about this 85mm. Another lens come to mind is FUJI 110mm f2. I can't put my finger on what is wrong but I never feel the excitement for their look. Maybe I am just tired of this modern high performance shallow DOF look. 65mm is quite wonderful and has very neutral look fit wide range of application with no drawing attention on its bokeh.
I like the lower than average optical vignetting from the 65i so we don't see noticeable cats-eye towards the corners even wide open. In this regard it's similar to the Sony 85/1.4 GM. IMO, they actually have similar rendering + resolution when both at f/2 but to me the Sony wide open's rendering is more pleasant. (More SA)
If you don't need the faster aperture and enjoy shooting at 65mm, the Sigma 65i is a great lens.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Agree and it's my favorite focal length combo.
Going to order the 35GM soon, and was thinking about a 85mm (or Tamron 70-180mm) to pair with it. But after reading the reviews about this 65i, and when I see the quality of the pictures here, I'm starting to really consider it instead of a 85mm. But since the 35GM can also be used as a ~ 50mm f/2 equivalent in crop mode, would the 65mm f/2 be different enough ?
Not sure this is exactly what you're looking for, but I'm hoping it's better than nothing. I shot these with AWB in camera, which then Lightroom honored and I left the color balance "As Shot". Did correct for vignetting and distortion. Little bit of sharpening. Tried to keep the processing equivalent. I didn't think about it until after, but I had a Kenko L41 UV filter on the CV and a Zeiss UV filter on the Sigma.
Not sure this is exactly what you're looking for, but I'm hoping it's better than nothing. I shot these with AWB in camera, which then Lightroom honored and I left the color balance "As Shot". Did correct for vignetting and distortion. Little bit of sharpening. Tried to keep the processing equivalent. I didn't think about it until after, but I had a Kenko L41 UV filter on the CV and a Zeiss UV filter on the Sigma.
