Sigma 311101 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon, Black

Product Information

First things first, the Sigma 50mm Art is considerably heftier than any of the Canon EF 50mm lenses. It’s 85mm wide by 100mm long and weighs 815g in its EF-mount version. Compare that to the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM which measures 74x51mm and weighs 290g – this makes the Sigma wider, twice as long, and almost three times the weight. If you have a higher-end Canon body, the Sigma will feel well-balanced, but on smaller and lighter bodies the Canon lens will feel more in proportion. The focal length, maximim aperture and filter thread size (82mm) are all printed on the barrel just behind the focus distance window Beyond Art

Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art — SIGMA Canada Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art — SIGMA Canada

Lateral chromatic aberration is even better controlled in the DN lens compared with its forebear, which was already very good. As such, there’s virtually no color fringing to be seen towards the edges and corners of the frame. Axial chromatic aberration is also minimal, so there’s very little fringing around high-contrast edges in scenes that fall just in front of or behind the plane of focus. Resistance to ghosting and flare is again impressive. Bokeh is lusciously soft and dreamy. We noticed some ‘onion ring’ effect with the DG lens in defocused lights and bright spots but this is much more minimal in the DN lens. I am just going to come out and say it, there is no comparing the Sigma 50mm F/1.4 DG HSM Art to the Canon 50mm F/1.8. The Sigma is better in every aspect with the only exception being the cost. But still, there is a reason for the comparison you are about to see/read. But there are other 50/1.4 lenses to be had. So does the performance of the Sigma 50mm f1.4 ART match the corresponding mark-up in price, and what if you’re considering the Zeiss Otus, the most expensive ‘standard’ lens on the market? Let me go through all alternatives step-by-step. Unlike the virtually distortion-free DG lens, the DN edition gives a level of pincushion distortion which can be rather noticeable when disabling in-camera correction. Reliance on auto correction has become increasingly common in recent lenses designed for mirrorless cameras. Verdict Obviously there is some difference here due to the Sigma being wide open at F/1.4 and the Canon being wide open at F/1.8. Looking at the 100% crops below and you will see that the Sigma is clean and sharp, while the Canon is hazy and barely useable.

Update:

Nikon has the AF-S 50mm f1.4G (410 EUR/USD) and the AF-S 58mm f1.4G (1600 EUR/USD). See my Nikon 50mm f1.4G review and my Nikon 58mm f1.4G review. There’s no shortage of 50mm lenses on the market, and many camera and lens companies actually offer a choice of apertures too. The f1.8 versions are definitely worth considering: they are smaller, lighter, cheaper, less obtrusive and often deliver similar – or even superior – image quality than their bigger brothers. The loss of 2/3 of a stop may not be as relevant as the marketing literature wants you to believe. But if you absolutely want or need f1.4 (or brighter) then you have the following alternatives with autofocus: Sigma’s Art collection continues to go from strength to strength and introductions to the series in the past couple of years include the 20mm f/1.4, 24mm f/1.4 and, most recently, the 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art in Sony E and L-Mount fittings. A sublime performer The pictures below illustrate the 50mm F1.4 Art's angle of view on full frame and APS-C, taken from our standard position. As is Sigma's way, the lens is just slightly 'wide' for a 50mm prime (its measured focal length is 48mm), bringing it closer to a classic 'normal' view on full frame. On APS-C cameras it behaves like a short telephoto lens. The Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art is a fitting member of Sigma’s renown Art series offering very high optical performance at prices that are comfortably lower than the professional lenses from either Canon, Nikon, Sony or Panasonic. It delivers very good image quality in the center even wide open at f1.4 when mounted on a 46MP full-frame body easily surpassing the performance of Canon’s or Nikon’s standard 50mm f1.4 lenses. And it shows a gradual softening toward the corners and a beautiful Bokeh which makes it a prime choice for portraiture.

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon EF - CameraLK Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon EF - CameraLK

can be content with “very good” rather than “extreme” sharpness at the fastest apertures or in the corners As always, you can remove chromatic aberration in your favourite post-processing software. In Adobe Lightroom, for example, there is a dedicated tool that does an excellent job of removing all traces of fringing. For the SOOC JPGs, you can also enable the Chromatic Aberr. Corr. option in the Digital Lens Optimiser sub-menu. The Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art joins the highly regarded Sigma Art series of lenses as a favourite amongst photographers. We have found it is particularly popular for wedding, portraiture and gig photographers due to the focal range and wide maximum aperture. The F1.4 aperture is not only perfect for lower light conditions that you might find at weddings or gigs, but you have the ability to really play with your depth of field to create unique and interesting images. The staple Sigma 50mm 1.4 DG HSM has been redesigned and reengineered to set a new standard for the Art line. With a large 1.4 aperture, the Sigma 50mm 1.4 prime lens is a pro level performer for shooting everything including portrait photography, landscape photography, studio photography and street photography. A Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) ensures quiet, smooth and accurate autofocusing and paired with Special Low Dispersion (SLD) glass and Super Multi-Layer coating, the 50mm 1.4 is a high performance lens for the modern DSLR sensors. 13 elements in 8 groups allow for unsurpassed performance even at wide apertures and close-up photography is easily managed with a minimum focusing distance of 40cm. The Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens is the new exceptional standard, standard prime. Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is fairly typical for a lens of this focal length and maximum aperture. At f/1.4 the corners are 2.17 stops darker than the image centre and visually uniform illumination is achieved with the aperture stopped down to f/4 or beyond.

Sigma 50mm F/1.4 DG HSM Art Review Series

As far as sharpness is concerned, this lens puts in an excellent performance, especially in the centre of the frame. At f/1.4, sharpness in the centre is already outstanding, although clarity towards the edges of the frame lags behind somewhat. Sharpness towards the edges of the frame improves as the aperture is stopped down, reaching very good levels by f/2.8 and outstanding levels by f/4.

Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art review | Digital Camera World Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art review | Digital Camera World

Image stabilization: No lens in this comparison has an optical stabilization. But the modern mirrorless bodies from Sony and Nikon provide built-in sensor-shift stabilization. [0] The DN lens is noticeably shorter and lighter than the Sony E and Leica L mount versions of the older DG lens. (Image credit: Sigma Imaging) Optics: All the modern designs since 2013 are pretty complex at 12 to 13 elements in 8 to 10 groups and employ aspherical elements. Only the F-Nikkor (8 elements in 7 groups) and the Canon (7/6) are much simpler designs but even the Canon employs an aspherical element. [+]This is an in-depth review of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art prime lens that was announced on January 6, 2014 for Sigma SA, Canon EF, Nikon F and Sony A mounts. Ever since Sigma announced its new “Art” lens line, it has been releasing superb new lenses and updates. The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art received the highest praise from us at Photography Life, especially after we compared it to the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G and other 35mm lenses in our extensive review. Normally here we would have a test to see if you could tell the difference, but given how the Sigma is so clearly better in every way, it would be pointless. Instead, here are some more sample shots from the two lenses for you to compare.

Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM review - Digital Photography Review

The Nikkor 58mm f1.4G is Nikon’s flagship standard lens for its DSLRs, yet it missed out on our top award in my review because its performance in the APS-C/DX and the full-frame/FX corner was a bit of a let-down for this price. As you can see in my review comparing the Sigma to this lens, the APS-C/DX corner of the Sigma is also a bit weaker than one could have hoped for but in the FX-corner the Sigma clearly prevails. The Nikon 58/1.4G generally has less loCA but compared to the Sigma suffers a bit from focus-shift and the resulting coloration plus astigmatism. Regarding coma both lenses are on the same pretty good level. The Sigma has the advantage in focus speed: 0.6 vs. 0.8 seconds.

As a member of Sigma’s renown Art series the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art is expected to perform on a very high level. It is positioned roughly between standard 50mm f1.4 lenses and the top-end models from Canon, Nikon, and Sony in price. The big question then is how does it to compare to those below and above it in price? Does it offer a sufficient step-up from normal 50mm f1.4 lenses to justify the price, and does it give the pricier models a run for their money? To find out, Thomas and Gordon teamed-up to give the Sigma 50mm Art a real workout and compared it against a whole slew of other lenses including the Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4, Canon EF 50mm f1.2L USM, and Sony FE 50mm f1.4 ZA. We’ve completely updated our original review from 2014 with test-shots on the 46MP Nikon Z7 and the 42MP Sony A7R II. So if you’re interested in which high performance standard prime lens to choose for your camera system, you’ve come to the right place! Crucially the Nikkor 50mm f1.4G is cheaper than the Sigma 50mm Art, so like Canon’s EF 50mm f1.4 below, it’s a case of weighing-up whether you can afford to pay the extra for the Art as well as being happy to carry it around. If you can afford the extra price and don’t mind the size, the the Sigma Art is the way forward. But if your budget – or size desires – drive you towards the Nikkor 50mm f1.4G, it’s still a fine lens for the money.