Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art DG HSM lens announced!

[Ksanti]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/0...ource=news-list&utm_medium=text&ref=title_0_0

Personally very glad that I went with the Nikon 50 in the end (NB: Don't take this the wrong way, I'm almost certainly going to buy this lens at some point, but I needed a 50 and was deciding between the other 1.8g, 1.4g and sigma and bought a second hand 1.4g so that selling it on wouldnt drop value much when this was released) , my worry with the sigma was that I'd pick it up and a month later they'd announce a new one in the tasty 35mm 1.4 trim - this way I probably won't take quite as big a hit on the resale as well which is nice (though I'll probably wait until the inevitable few months of falling prices after launch). If it's anywhere near the level of their recent lenses; 35 f/1.4, 24-105 f/4.0, 18-35 f/1.8, then I'm likely to be one happy camper. Hopefully it's no more than c. £600, possibly less given 50's are generally quite cheap (though this seems quite complex to me).

Might actually consider selling off the 85 as well in anticipation of them replacing that, but I guess it may be a while considering how recent that lens is and the fact they haven't yet announced it (i'd imagine this time next year).

They also announced an 18-200mm lens but I doubt we're that interested in that one haha

 

[Ksanti]

Yeah their original one was already quite big, and since it's not a double gauss design, judging it next to the standard 50's is probably inevitably going to show it up as large. Personally I don't mind the heft as long as the performance is up there to justify it.

That said, it's 40mm shorter than the Zeiss 55mm 1.4 Otus lens which is the only non gauss standard lens I can think of off the top of my head.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/10/07/zeiss-announces-no-compromise-otus-55mm-f1-4-lens-for-slrs

I was just saying on facebook about this lens. I commented that this lens would have to be awesome to be sharper than the 50 1.4 I've got, and lo and behold, an internet person popped up to tell me I'm wrong and my lens isn't sharp. Gotta love the internet

But yes, that lens looks almost a third longer than the current version. I cannot wait to see the quality of image from it. IF, and it's a big IF, they release a lens sharper than my current one I'd be very interested in that.

I wasn't saying the old Sigma 50 isn't sharp, far from it. That wasn't what I was saying, so much as the build is a decided step down from the 35mm Art lens and a step down even from the 85mm lens which they haven't updated yet. That said, given they look to have gone a similar route to the 35mm I wouldn't be surprised if this was noticeably sharper than the old 50 - if there were no advantage they could have easily justified just re-releasing the old 50mm with a new casing in the Art line and a few new coatings. I knew Sigma would eventually bring the 50mm into the Art line, and it was a matter of the Nikon lens probably wont drop in value nearly as much as the Sigma, plus I would love to say 2 or 3 years from now be shooting a Sigma trinity of 35, 50 and 85 lenses all in the lovely build of the 35.

 

[Ksanti]

Sigma is doing amazing job with its lens line-up and dSLR/compacts. I reckon the next in line for the Art treatment is the 70-200 and maybe one of the macro lenses either 105, 150 or 180.


What about Sigma DP1m Art? ;p

70-200 is a weird one because it's used for both Sport and Art - they might want to put it into sport as that is a huge usage of 70-200s, plus it's also decidedly more empty as a category than the Art lineup at the moment (it's just the 120-300 2.8 at the moment, is it not?). But then if it's good enough an updated 70-200 could replace the Canikon versions in studio photography i.e. Art.

I think the 85 and one of the macros will be updated around this time next year - the 150mm in particular is already right up there optically so just slap a new case on it and you're done more or less.

 

[Ksanti]

Maybe it's just a matter of how much I've shot with everything but I got so used to the 50mm perspective that when I'm framing stuff up mentally I'm almost always thinking 50mm, and every time I put the 35 up to my face for the first few shoots, heck I still do it now from time to time, I had to take a few steps forward. It's been getting better but the 50 just feels so natural to me, and I've felt like the perspective is just that little bit more forgiving whereas I always feel like a 35 scene almost has to have a foreground focus and clear spatial relationships to pop whereas a 50 has almost always been easier for me in that regard.

That said I really haven't given the 35 that much shooting and nor have I gotten any images on the level of the likes I've seen here and elsewhere, so I stick with it when I can, the 50 just feels right to me at the moment.

 

[Ksanti]

The current signs 50 has very soft corners. Hopefully the new one brings it in line with the Nikon.

it's a completely different design to the current one so I wouldn't read much into this one's performance from this one (other than that it'll be better, otherwise they wouldn't have updated it). I'd be more interested in how it stacks up against the 58 1.4 and Sigma 35 than the 50 1.4g because it really doesn't have an excuse to exist outside of build if it's not beating out the 50 1.4g more than the current sigma already did.

 

[Ksanti]

Yeah I never had the issue with the 50 or 85 is more what I'm saying. When I get a break from exams I'll go on a few walkabouts with just the 35 I think.