Clearly there are some good copies out there. And clearly there are many bad ones too. I guess it's a game of chance. I suppose our odds of getting a good one go up the more of them we purchase. Perhaps the third time might be the charm for me?
badlydrawnboy wrote:
Dpreview likes the 50/1.4. Not a peep about AF issues.
"Focus accuracy was generally impressive, although with a certain tendency towards slight front-focus at close distances and F1.4, especially with low-contrast subjects. The lens also shows some evidence of a slight focus shift to the rear on stopping down, which meant our sample focused correctly when set to F2."
Received my replacement lens (last one had squeaky focus ring). This one is number 1008*** it also focus well, but with the same slight front focus in close (around 1.5 to 2.5 feet). Everything else seems to be perfect so I'm very happy
RalphJ wrote:
"Focus accuracy was generally impressive, although with a certain tendency towards slight front-focus at close distances and F1.4, especially with low-contrast subjects. The lens also shows some evidence of a slight focus shift to the rear on stopping down, which meant our sample focused correctly when set to F2."
In short, the lens has some of the same tendency to front focus up close
and back focus at long subject distance as others have reported here,
though perhaps not quite as bad. [Mine is serial # 10014xx.]
The Canon is more consistent. I still like shooting with the Sigma better,
since the AF is generally good enough in normal shooting conditions and
it is optically better for large aperture shooting. I'm keeping it.
[Lots of sample images in the write-up.]
A quick, probably dumb question on my part, and forgive me if it's been addressed recently and I missed it - why not post the entire serial number? Might this not be helpful in letting others know if some of our favorite retailers are putting returned merchandise back out on the shelf as new? Or is there some nefarious use for full s/n's that discourages their posting?
It's habit now, but the main reason one wouldn't post a full serial number
is on the _rare_ chance that someone might try to claim that the lens
you have (and just posted the serial number of) has actually been stolen
from them. If they don't know your serial number, then there's little chance
they'd try to pull that stunt.
Of course, I bought mine new, and have a receipt with serial number from the
dealer, so I'm safe. But if I had bought one used without dealer receipt
then it would be more of an issue.
Hadn't considered the notion of a "stolen" scam; makes sense now that you point it out; given some of the horror stories you hear about certain auction sites, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
In any case, I'm using mine on a crop camera (40d); the s/n is 10018xx. I did informal testing on everyday subjects that I would use such a lens for, and was very happy with the results, as well as the function of the lens. After seeing your tests (and Henrik's over at DPR), I decided to do my own, shooting a test chart with the Sigma and several other 50's I have for comparison, including a 50/1.8II, 50/2.5 compact macro, and an elderly Nikkor 50/1.8 AI on a cheap adaptor (just to mix it up a little). I shot at different f-stops using Live View to focus, at several distances, and also did an autofocus test for each. No AF problems at all with the Sigma (OK, it was just a test chart). No great resolution surprises either, the 50/1.8II is a very sharp lens, but 'build quality' should not be used in the same sentence. The Sigma more than held it's own; anything else would just be repeating previous (favorable) comments.
Excellent. Glad it is working out for you.
While I could certainly make do with the EF 50/1.4, the Sigma is a pleasure to use
at wide aperture. I would not hesitate to shoot wide open with it when needed.
I`m having problems with sigma autofocus too... just tested one copy of sigma 50/1.4 at a local store (sadly, they said they didnt have another one, because its a new model and they just received this one)
tested it with a 5D
the backfocus with far objects was really TERRIBLE
the red arrow shows the focusing point (~800 kb pictures, resized to 1500x2250)
and this is a 100% center crop from a well-focused shot
looks like that copy even wasn`t as good as it should be in terms of sharpness
that sigma had a serial like 1008XXX, cant remember the last 3 numbers
quite sad about that sigma
i bought a canon 50/1.4 after that test
I've been pretty interested in this lens since it was first released but like most people I was worried about the back focus issues.
I went to one of the large retailers here in Tokyo the other day and spoke with their rep and asked him about the problems of the lens and he did indeed confirm that quite a few people have returned the lens. He also told me that Sigma requested them to ship back all lenses with serial numbers starting with 1008 and below. They are now selling the 1009 series and he said that the back focus is has been addressed. He also said that the firmware for the lens has also been updated.
I am going to purchase this lens sometime during this coming week and give it a go. I feel pretty confident about the camera shops here in Tokyo since they have yet to steer me wrong.
I was told that if for any reason that I wasn't happy with the new lens I could simply return it and get a refund. Maybe Sigma is starting to pull back the old lenses and replacing them. Worth another shot I think!
However, AF isn't a big deal to me. The new Ziess ZE 50 has me sort of forgetting about the Sigma, yet the Siggy seems mighty fine even viewed as a MF lens.
I sure hope someone does a head-to-head comparison of these two.
I am very encouraged about this news! I tried two copies of the lens (both below 1008) and they each had a terrible back-focus problem. However, I absolutely loved the lens in all other respects so I hope they truly have resolved the problem.
Anyone know whether US retailers now have copies with >1009 serial numbers? I'm hesitant to order it from Amazon until I know.
That post above by frcsyk looks like an unofficial announcement by an anonymous Sigma representative. This person creates an account here and immediately posts just one message, which happens to look a lot like PR writing. If I'm right, that's good news, don't you think?
