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JustAnEngineer
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Mon Apr 07, 2014 8:21 pm

Yeats wrote:
Ask Ansel Adams or Henri Cartier-Bresson if they needed to have a fast lens.
Ansel Adams had some of the best professional photography gear that was available at the time. Of course, it's junk compared to modern consumer cameras, but he didn't intentionally use inferior equipment.

I use my EF 85mm f/1.8 USM on the EOS 7D rarely. My most successful outing with it was at a children's Christmas pageant, where it let me get some good shots of the indoor performance while seated in the fourth row of pews. The 17-55 is more hand-holdable in low light.
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Airmantharp
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Mon Apr 07, 2014 8:45 pm

To add- you don't have to have a fast lens if you have light. But if that light isn't natural, you're going to have to make some, or you're not getting the shot.

I abhor blasting people with flash for casual photography.
 
Yeats
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:13 pm

JustAnEngineer wrote:
Yeats wrote:
Ask Ansel Adams or Henri Cartier-Bresson if they needed to have a fast lens.
Ansel Adams had some of the best professional photography gear that was available at the time. Of course, it's junk compared to modern consumer cameras, but he didn't intentionally use inferior equipment.


I didn't say anything about "inferior equipment" :wink: For the bulk of his professional photography, Adams used small apertures because large apertures did not suit his imagery. Heck, Group F64.

My point to hiro_pro is that not everyone "needs" a fast lens, as he asserts. Everyone simply needs *a* lens.
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:24 pm

Airmantharp wrote:
To add- you don't have to have a fast lens if you have light. But if that light isn't natural, you're going to have to make some, or you're not getting the shot.

I abhor blasting people with flash for casual photography.


Or, you could boost ISO. 8)

re: blasting people with flash, I once got into an argument with someone regarding Bruce Gilden's "technique" of getting up in a person's face and firing off the flash. I said that if that ever happened to me, the guy's equipment would be smashed to the ground, and maybe his face, too. Check out how Gilden assaults this old lady at 0:33: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkIWW6vwrvM
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:39 pm

Yeats wrote:
Or, you could boost ISO. 8)


Sure, you can do that, but that degrades image quality too. I mean, I've gotten clean high ISO10000 shots out of my Canon (see below), but the challenge in low light is that you very often have to keep the shutter speed high enough to stop motion, and even with a wide aperture, you're still pushing the limits. The 6D is about as good as it gets at higher ISOs (the 1D X may be a little better, depending), but we're still not at the point where >ISO3200 is usable all the time :).

Handheld, 24mm f/2.8 1/8 ISO10000:

Image
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Tue Apr 08, 2014 9:59 am

Airmantharp wrote:
Yeats wrote:
Or, you could boost ISO. 8)


Sure, you can do that, but that degrades image quality too. I mean, I've gotten clean high ISO10000 shots out of my Canon (see below), but the challenge in low light is that you very often have to keep the shutter speed high enough to stop motion, and even with a wide aperture, you're still pushing the limits. The 6D is about as good as it gets at higher ISOs (the 1D X may be a little better, depending), but we're still not at the point where >ISO3200 is usable all the time :).

Handheld, 24mm f/2.8 1/8 ISO10000:

Image


I guess the difference is that I'm not part of the new, noise-averse generation of camera enthusiasts.

Your statement, "But if that light isn't natural, you're going to have to make some, or you're not getting the shot." is actually quite limited in scope.

You can boost ISO - high-ISO images of modern ILC's are much cleaner than pushed ISO 400 films of yesteryear. Or, you can use a tripod.
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:31 am

Yeats wrote:
Handheld, 24mm f/2.8 1/8 ISO10000


That is impressive for handheld. of course you would need f1.4 on a fifty to get the same control.

Having a d600, it is amazing what we can do in high iso that we couldnt do just a few short years ago. my d80 was useless over iso400 and i remember how bad the grain could look when you pushed iso1000 film. this was taken handheld:

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Airmantharp
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:56 pm

I'll have to note that the lens in question has image stabilization- and a very good implementation at that. Also, there was no subject movement, so 1/8 was actually feasible.

But yeah, I'd have to have f/1.4 on a 50 (at least) just to eliminate camera movement handheld without IS, which is part of the point; I'd also have needed a far higher shutter speed, in the range of 1/100+, to eliminate subject movement, if perhaps there were people walking in the shot.
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Fri Apr 11, 2014 3:54 am

So, it's being fairly widely reported that it'll retail for $949, and B&H is supposed to be shipping out Canon mount versions later this month- other mounts shouldn't be too far behind.
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Fri Apr 11, 2014 7:41 am

Sony mount is still waiting for the 18-35/1.8 and the 24-105/4. :(
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Fri Apr 11, 2014 10:56 am

TheEmrys wrote:
Sony mount is still waiting for the 18-35/1.8 and the 24-105/4. :(


Don't feel bad- Pentax users just got a body with amazing autofocus, and nearly all of their lenses are too damn slow to take advantage of it! Oh, and they don't get the cool third party glass either :).


But back to the 50/1.4- there's a number of houses that have posted sample shots or videos, and this thing looks awesome. Very well corrected for a consumer-level lens, very sharp, smooth rendering, and very fast AF. I'm drooling here!
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:18 am

DXOMark tested the 50mm Art

Looks awfully close to the 55/1.8 and just behind the OTUS, but it is head and shoulders above anything from anyone else. Excellent lens. I wish they would have tested it on a D800, though.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:36 pm

TheEmrys wrote:
DXOMark tested the 50mm Art

Looks awfully close to the 55/1.8 and just behind the OTUS, but it is head and shoulders above anything from anyone else. Excellent lens. I wish they would have tested it on a D800, though.


The difference in vignetting and LoCA (and LaCA, for that matter) will make the lens worth it for Sony shooters willing to deal with the size and weight. The Nikon version should be in tester's hands in about a month, I think.
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:02 am

The $949 pre-orders are expected to be fulfilled on 4/29.
http://www.canonpricewatch.com/blog/201 ... unced-949/
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:46 pm

Brian's review at The Digital Picture is up. Aside from some AF annoyances (also prevalent in the 35/1.4 Art) with the 5D III and 1D X bodies used for the review, it garners a stellar recommendation.
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:53 pm

What sort of AF annoyances?
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Thu Jun 12, 2014 10:32 pm

Yeats wrote:
TheEmrys wrote:
This has gotten plain silly. F/1.4 is the standard fast aperture. Aside from canon's f1.2's (which reaaly need to be stopped down a bit), faster than f/1.4 tend to be voightlandar or leica lenses (the new panny looks amazing btw). Amazing glass can be found in mf, but there are some very good reasons for a normal focal length to be af.


There's a Pentax 50/1.2 & Nikon 58/1.2, also.

When I look at the new Sigma 50/1.4 or the Otus 1.4/55, I'm not thinking about the speed so much as the quality. I mean, you can get a mf Pentax 50/1.4 for under $100, but the IQ is not in the same league as the Sigma or Zeiss.



To me it's both. For that level of quality, the Zeiss and Sigma are pretty fast. Of the lenses you mention prior, the Pentax/Nikon 50/55/58 mm F1.2s are all manual focus which may not appeal to some, and none of them are using aspherical elements except the very expensive Nokt - which deals more with correcting coma instead of spherical aberration. I have a nikon 50mm F1.2 and converted FD SSC 55mm F1.2 for my 5D, and they're fun to use, but if you want to be awed at sharpness, you need to stop down to F2.0 at least.

The nice aspect about the sigma, isn't just that it's 1.4, but that the MTF/sharpness/micro-contrast is actually pretty good there.
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Thu Jun 12, 2014 11:35 pm

Beomagi wrote:
The nice aspect about the sigma, isn't just that it's 1.4, but that the MTF/sharpness/micro-contrast is actually pretty good there.


It's on my list, right next to Tammy's new 150-600. I'm actually up in the air; I want the Sigma more, but I could use the Tammy more. Fun times!

(and I have Canon's 50/1.4, which while as ancient of a design as any of the planars, both works very well on my 6D and is stupid sharp when stopped down versus all competition except the 50 Art and Otus in the mount, with AF)
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:26 am

Airmantharp wrote:
(and I have Canon's 50/1.4, which while as ancient of a design as any of the planars, both works very well on my 6D and is stupid sharp when stopped down versus all competition except the 50 Art and Otus in the mount, with AF)


Oh, there are a couple of 50's that are sharper, and with far better micro-contrast than Canon's. Canon really needs to update their 50/1.4.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
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Re: Sigma 50/1.4 "Art" Lens review

Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:33 am

TheEmrys wrote:
Airmantharp wrote:
(and I have Canon's 50/1.4, which while as ancient of a design as any of the planars, both works very well on my 6D and is stupid sharp when stopped down versus all competition except the 50 Art and Otus in the mount, with AF)


Oh, there are a couple of 50's that are sharper, and with far better micro-contrast than Canon's. Canon really needs to update their 50/1.4.


Sure, but none with AF on Canon EF-mount, or on Nikon, or Sony, or Pentax... They're all ancient designs, and perhaps Nikon is the worst offender; they re-sleeved their old 50/1.4 formula into a new 'G' body, but didn't really upgrade the optics, like Canon, except that Nikon's transition is much more recent; same with their 50/1.8G. So they have lenses that are optically equivalent to Canon's ancient designs with upgraded built quality- woohoo!

For Canon's part (and unlike Nikon), a 50/1.8 IS USM has been on the rumor mill for some time; it may or may not be real, but given the advances that Canon has been able to make with their current trio of stabilized primes, like the 35/2 IS which is a true next-gen design unlike Nikon's 'has been' 35/1.8G update, it's not hard to believe that Canon is seriously willing to keep pushing forward.

If only they'd apply similar resources to upgrading their sensors, or to bribing Sony for some Exmors.

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