Sigma AF 50mm 1.4 EX DG HSM - official thread - reviewed!

[Thomas]

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Update: Here's my review!
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Have a copy of this lens coming my way to complement my up-and-coming shoot-out of four f1.4 "normal" lenses for Nikon:
- Sigma plus Nikon 50/1.4
- Nikon AF-S 58/1.4G
- Zeiss Otus 55/1.4
The lens should be here in a few days together with the new 58/1.4 from Nikon.
As it's priced similar to the Nikon AF-S 50/1.4 it would be interesting to see which lens offers sharper images and which offers the better Bokeh.
Btw. I don#t necessarily expect the more expensive new lenses from Nikon and Zeiss to outperform its cheaper siblings inn the Bokeh category because sometimes the lesser corrected lenses can produce the smother Bokeh. So this will be a very special shootout with lenses ranging from 350€ to 3500€

[Thomas]

Lens arrived today, initial testing has begun. First results from the Siemens-Star test-shots look promising. Looks like a worthy contender for Nikon's f1.4 normal lenses.
There's some field-curvature at 2m distance but mostly regarding the FX-corners. In the DX-image-field the Sigma looks flatter than the Nikon AF-S 58/1.4 i.e. center and DX-corner are on a more even plane with the Sigma while the 58/1.4 has a "dent" at the DX-corner.

[Thomas]

Interesting observation: The Sigma 50/1.4 has a 6% shorter focal length than the Nikon 50/1.4G which in turn is 12% shorter than the Nikon 58/1.4G - at infinity. As I cannot measure absolute focal length I can only give you a calculated value assuming that the Nikon 58mm f1.4 has indeed 58mm focal length: then the Nikon 50/1.4 would really have a 51mm f.l. and the Sigma would end up having a 48mm focal length.

[Thomas]

Another quick update from my current testing: out-of-focus blur-circles of the Sigma look definitely worse than those from the Nikon 50/1.4G. That holds true with foreground subjects as well as background subjects.
There are also stronger "onion-rings" to be seen on the Sigma than on the Nikkor.
So Bokeh of the Sigma should be worse than from the Nikkor.

[matthiasmesser]

Hi Thomas,

just tested mine again after reading about your findings with contrast AFin live view: Mine focusses just fine on the D800, quite fast actually. Also, I was always particularly pleased with the bokeh rendering (if I recall correctly, that was one of the areas where the lens was considered superior to its Nikkor and Canon counterparts when it came out some years ago). Now we know that one of Sigma's problems always was QC -- you may want to consider sending back your sample for another one?

Oh, and by the way, great lens reviews you do there, they really give you an idea about performance in the field, which is what matters after all!

Cheers,

Matthias

[Thomas]

Thanks for your praise, Matthias.
Yes, quality control is certainly something that Sigma needs to step up. I got the test-lens from their pool of rental lenses. And you would think that they do some checking on those lenses when they come back before they go back to a customer - especially to one that they know does some testing and writes reviews...