p.2 #1 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
I think its a great beginning of new era of retro style lens, not clinical, but some products that will satisfy hobbyists, regular users, not pros. "Character" of those series will help to keep lens small, which many times is a goal of most users. It is simply an option. I think we should not judge it comparing to more advanced, high IQ lens. Its like Voigtlander producing new lens with old optic designs, with flaws, but bringing back the character of old lens. Many of us likes that old vintage style, purely for nostalgic reasons.
I think this new line is a good move.
p.2 #2 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
phinix wrote:
I think its a great beginning of new era of retro style lens, not clinical, but some products that will satisfy hobbyists, regular users, not pros. "Character" of those series will help to keep lens small, which many times is a goal of most users. It is simply an option. I think we should not judge it comparing to more advanced, high IQ lens. Its like Voigtlander producing new lens with old optic designs, with flaws, but bringing back the character of old lens. Many of us likes that old vintage style, purely for nostalgic reasons.
I think this new line is a good move....Show more →
Agreed - the Sigma Art lenses are meant to be high performance with all of the size and weight that comes along without compromising. If the CL line is priced around where the I series is it will make sense.
p.2 #3 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
I very much welcome this release, hopefully soon followed by a 35/1.4 option as well. The jury is still out reg the speed and accuracy of the new AF system. What what will the price be?
p.2 #4 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
patotts wrote:
I very much welcome this release, hopefully soon followed by a 35/1.4 option as well. The jury is still out reg the speed and accuracy of the new AF system. What what will the price be?
Springtime 2027 feels like far away.
Some will cringe at the fact that the focusing ring rotates when focusing using AF. It's like in the old days with some Pentax (and other) lenses. The lens doesn't seem to have any floating elements for keeping subjects clear and "sharp" when focusing close. I noticed the images taken at shorter distances were taken at f/2.
Speed and accuracy, of course, we'll have to wait to learn about those important parameters. I fear Sigma will try to charge a lot of money. But, they have to meed Chinese competition so let's see about that as well.
p.2 #5 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
I think it is interesting this is an unit focus lens. All of the optics move around when focusing, and with close focus the lens barrel extends quite a bit. Also the focusing ring with the distance scale moves when user uses AF, reminds me of the old screw mount Nikon AF lenses.
E: My guess for the price will be around 500€. Reason is that it's basically even simpler than a Nikkor Z 50/1.4, a lot more simpler than 50/2 Sigma contemporary, small lenses, unit focus (no internal focus, no floating elements), so very simple to make. Manufacturers used to sell basic 50/1.4 lenses like this for decades aroun 300-400€ price so I don't see any reason to raise the price significantly, especially when the lens comes from a 3rd party mfg like Sigma.
p.2 #6 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
Ihmemies2 wrote:
I think it is interesting this is an unit focus lens. All of the optics move around when focusing, and with close focus the lens barrel extends quite a bit. Also the focusing ring with the distance scale moves when user uses AF, reminds me of the old screw mount Nikon AF lenses.
E: My guess for the price will be around 500€. Reason is that it's basically even simpler than a Nikkor Z 50/1.4, a lot more simpler than 50/2 Sigma contemporary, small lenses, unit focus (no internal focus, no floating elements), so very simple to make. Manufacturers used to sell basic 50/1.4 lenses like this for decades aroun 300-400€ price so I don't see any reason to raise the price significantly, especially when the lens comes from a 3rd party mfg like Sigma....Show more →
The I-Series 50/2 is currently priced at ￥94,428 at Map Camera as new. I guess this could be around 120K at launch due to all the novelty factors and with it being a faster lens that's likely to be popular.
Sigma's new releases seem to be getting more expensive at least in Japan. For example the new EVF-21 for FP2 is priced at 132K at Sigma online store. EVF-11 for the original FP was around 60K when I bought it at launch.
p.2 #7 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
Very interesting idea - I love that Sigma is pursing lenses like this. I suspect they'll update the 50/1.4 Art like they did with the 35/1.4 Art II and we'll find our optical perfection there. But the idea of a lens with classic rendering in the central portion of the frame, sensible fall off and beautiful bokeh - very curious for a proper photo-focused test of this lens. Charts won't be its thing, for sure.
I think, as everyone else has pointed out, the AF will be the wild card. Several compromises there so we'll have to see if they're worth it.
p.2 #8 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
Well, many of us never thought we'd see the day of a characterful and aesthetically pleasing fast lens from our friends at Sigma. The worm has indeed turned, and Sigma has, at least partially, thrown in the towel! So we have won another battle in the long war against technical excess.
At 50mm, they've gone from 14/11 (50/1.4) and 17/13(50/1.2) designs, the kind of thing they have been well known for, for seemingly decades now - to this 8/6 one, the spec of which resembles Sony's FE55 more than anything they themselves have made before. Judicious use of aspherics can be really nice in low element count lenses - that Sony has five asph surfaces.
Sigma are also selling its virtues well, to judge from the early pre-release material. It even looks like a modern Chinese remake of a Leica M lens - very tidy. The lack of FLE might be an asset in this brave new world of true-to-life photography: 'lens achieves a gentle softness within the focus plane'.
Made for pure photography too, this is quite the admission: 'The autofocus performance is slower than an STM/HLA system, making it less suited to the demands of video autofocus'. Keep your fingers off the barrel.
A big giveaway is also the fact that it carries a higher iris blade count than either of the two monsters it shares the focal length with - 14 vs 13 and 11. Now do a 35mm and a 75mm. Two thumbs up.
This 50mm offers rich textured rendering and beautiful tonal gradation that delivers unique expressive character. Unlike conventional fast standard primes that prioritize sterile, clinical sharpness at the expense of size, the 50mm F1.4 CL DG offers a distinct artistic signature while maintaining a pocketable form factor.
This new lineage of I Series prime lenses is fundamentally designed to maximize the joy of photography by providing a shooting experience and optical appearance unlike any other. Yet despite the “classic” design and nomenclature, this 50mm maintains lightning-fast autofocus capability in its exceptionally compact formfactor through the application of Sigma’s newly developed RDD autofocus actuator.
The I-Series 50/2 is currently priced at ￥94,428 at Map Camera as new. I guess this could be around 120K at launch due to all the novelty factors and with it being a faster lens that's likely to be popular.
Sigma's new releases seem to be getting more expensive at least in Japan. For example the new EVF-21 for FP2 is priced at 132K at Sigma online store. EVF-11 for the original FP was around 60K when I bought it at launch.
These videos are very helpful in seeing how the lens operates and moves. The first video makes the movemnets seem minimal, but the second makes the movements seem greater in extension and busyness--but they are making extreme focus moves in both videos. I don't think I would be bothered by these movements in actual use after the first ten minutes.
I do see the rendering of this lens as a more pronounced version of the rendering-design that Sigma achieved in the i series 45/2.8, which is my most used lens.
p.2 #12 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
phinix wrote:
Not many likes 50mm length, but I bet once they make 35mm or 28mm, lot of peeps gonna throw their money at Sigma
If it were true that not many people like 50mm lenses, there wouldn't be significantly more different 50mm lenses on the market than of any other focal length, I think.
p.2 #13 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
Nifty Fifty wrote:
If it were true that not many people like 50mm lenses, there wouldn't be significantly more different 50mm lenses on the market than of any other focal length, I think.
Sorry, I meant not all people will use 50mm lens, some may not like that length.
p.2 #14 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
phinix wrote:
I think its a great beginning of new era of retro style lens, not clinical, but some products that will satisfy hobbyists, regular users, not pros. "Character" of those series will help to keep lens small, which many times is a goal of most users. It is simply an option. I think we should not judge it comparing to more advanced, high IQ lens. Its like Voigtlander producing new lens with old optic designs, with flaws, but bringing back the character of old lens. Many of us likes that old vintage style, purely for nostalgic reasons.
I think this new line is a good move....Show more →
Thanks, I see this excatly simliar!
Some addition from me:
...or adapt older Lenses because the are chap and has no clinical rednering.
This Sigma lens is also an itteration of the double Gaus design...
I am very borred about the clinical sharp pictures. So I am decided to use my old Minolta primes with the LA-EA5 for landscape, marco, architecute, travel, art, etc.- Except for wild life where I use a modern lens,
p.2 #15 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
chiron wrote:
These videos are very helpful in seeing how the lens operates and moves. The first video makes the movemnets seem minimal, but the second makes the movements seem greater in extension and busyness--but they are making extreme focus moves in both videos. I don't think I would be bothered by these movements in actual use after the first ten minutes.
I do see the rendering of this lens as a more pronounced version of the rendering-design that Sigma achieved in the i series 45/2.8, which is my most used lens.
Thanks! I think the movements will be rather small if user sticks to focusing distances between ~1m and infinity, and the extension just gets more noticeable when focusing near MFD. I'm wondering how it works when AF is linked to half-press of shutter button (as it usually is), and user has adjusted the focus manually while not touching shutter button, and then wants to take a shot without any changes to focusing. A bit concerned about whether focus point can stay put when pressing shutter button. I've never been into using back-button AF but if this lens works better that way might have to give it a try.
It's very nice that the focusing is mechanically coupled and not focus-by-wire, I'm hoping the focus feel will be as good as it is with CV native E-mount lenses.
I hope Sigma would later do a 28mm as a CL lens rather than the usual 24mm and 35mm. I'm already pretty happy with the 35/2 DG DN that I have and I have less interest in classical rendering at very wide focal lengths.
p.2 #16 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
phinix wrote:
I think its a great beginning of new era of retro style lens, not clinical, but some products that will satisfy hobbyists, regular users, not pros. "Character" of those series will help to keep lens small, which many times is a goal of most users. It is simply an option. I think we should not judge it comparing to more advanced, high IQ lens. Its like Voigtlander producing new lens with old optic designs, with flaws, but bringing back the character of old lens. Many of us likes that old vintage style, purely for nostalgic reasons.
I think this new line is a good move....Show more →
Canon made a lens with crappy peripheral IQ recently also, the 45/1.2. It's definitely a fad. It makes one wonder if some of those folks will regret it later on.
p.2 #17 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
Once you look past the formulaic rule following - a form of brainwashing - you start to understand that 'image quality' actually describes the *appeal of the image*, not its freedom from 'optical aberrations', like some childish scorecard laid down by a bunch of misguided technicians. The sharpness epidemic is the aberration. And now even the Complexity Kings at Sigma are for turning. As but one good example:
'The defining characteristics of Mandler-Era lens designs:
Gentle Sharpness with Natural Transitions.
Rather than extreme edge-to-edge sharpness:
Sharpness is often strong in the center, rolling off naturally toward the edges.
Transitions from in-focus to out-of-focus areas are smooth and organic, not abrupt.
Subjects appear to sit within the frame rather than being cut out and pasted on top of it.
This is especially noticeable in portrait and documentary work.'
Mandler designed almost all of the most famed and respected Leica lenses, from 1950-85. So of course, this look is not a fad, but a well-established fact of the visual process of human beings. it conforms to natural human vision with its natural curvature and center-weighted vision. It's a return to normalcy.
It's very different to the robotic resolution scans of an image encouraged by a sclerotic lens production industry that is tired and out of ideas. For them, it's just bigger and heavier and more expensive - the rubes will keep buying it, they hope. What a ($$) racket. Lens producers will either get on board the new wave or they get left behind in the wash. That's where the regret is.
Most character lenses do better stopped down than the edge-to-edge uber-sharp optics do at portraiture, street, intimate imagery, close ups with elegant fade, just about everything else. Who cares about the corners at wide apertures, they are at the edge of your vision. No one composes for content located there, no one rational in any case. 'Wow, the corners are great' said no one ever when looking at your images.
p.2 #18 · Sigma 50mm f/1.4 CL DG - new line of lens!
There is another reason people are looking for late 20th century rendering styles - the very phony digital look of AI imagery. People don't like being fooled.
'Looking at production trends and camera rental data, industry experts estimate that true vintage optics or rehoused vintage series represent roughly 15% to 30% of high-end and independent narrative film productions.'
And all the recent new lens ranges are strongly character-based. ‘While camera sensors continue to push massive resolutions (4K, 6K, and 8K), the prevailing philosophy among modern cinematographers is to capture a highly resolved image and then *immediately destroy its digital perfection* using optical and post-production tools. The goal in high-end filmmaking is no longer about maximizing sharpness, but rather blending modern resolution with organic texture.’
They are interested in image quality. Not lens sharpness alone, but more balance. The super sharp lenses accentuate the problems with digital, so the cine world wants to 'take the edge off it'. Audience responses give them an instant feedback, of course, and that is why so many use older lenses. Who makes cine lenses that also operate in stills photography?
Leitz (Leica), Zeiss, Canon, Sigma, most of the big names. Even Nikon, soon. Not Sony, however: 'Rather than spending R&D and manufacturing capital to compete with established cinema lens makers, Sony lets the market supply specialized cine glass while it focuses on sensors, bodies, and hybrid photo/video lenses.'
