When Zeiss announced its 55mm f/1.4 Otus lens, it described the motivation as “DSLR cameras with high resolution 35mm sensors put enormous demands on lenses.” In other words, the modern DSLR sensor has a resolution that exceeds the design of the last generation of lenses. What’s the point of shelling out $3300 for a 36MP Nikon D810 if you’re using a lens designed in the film era?
This is all well and good, and the Otus lives up to the hype, but with a price tag of $3,999, it is out of reach of 99% of photographers. Cue Sigma.
Following on the success of their enormously popular 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens, Sigma released a 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM. At $949, the Sigma model isn’t exactly cheap when compared to the current generation of Nikon and Canon lenses, but it simply outperforms those lenses by a wide margin, and according to DxOMark, the Sigma comes awfully close to the Otus for 1/4th the price.
At 1.79lbs (815g), the Sigma is a beast. The new Art line of lenses feature a stiff focusing ring, which is an intentional design feature. Sigma told us, “The new global vision lenses feature a well dampened focus ring which is smooth and allows for better control of focusing for both still and videography.” And unlike the Nikon/Canon offerings, the Sigma has more plastic parts, but not your run-of-the-mill plastic, theirs is a Thermally Stable Composite (TSC). “[TSC] offers minimal thermal shrinkage combined with exceptional hardness and 25% greater elasticity than polycarbonate. Since its thermal shrinkage is low, TSC matches well with metal parts, further contributing to the high-precision construction of each lens. It also allows for reduction in size and weight of the lens while maintaining its premium quality.”
Given the hype, several of us at the PhotoShelter office were excited to try out the lens. Todd Owyoung, Sarah Jacobs and I took the lens out in “real world” situations and photographed a variety of subjects. The clarity of images was immediately apparent, and everyone started lusting after the lens.
Todd noted, “As comedian Steve Martin famously prescribed, ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.’ The 50mm f/1.4 ART is Sigma’s execution of that advice. The optical quality of this lens is not only too good to ignore, it’s flat out better than anything Nikon or Canon offers in the same range.
“I love the rendering quality of this lens. It has a very rare combination at wide apertures of delivering exceptional sharpness while still maintaining a very smooth character. Optically, just about everything about this ART lens is superlative. Flare, ghosting and chromatic aberration is all extremely well controlled, while the resolution and contrast is phenomenal.”
Nikon D810 ISO 64 f/5.6 at 1/500s
full crop
After trying it out on a weekend trip to CT, Sarah was so excited that she rented the lens from LensProToGo for her trip to Europe. “Shooting with a 50mm feels natural to me – I’ve owned Canon’s “nifty-fifty” (1.8) since I started shooting, and so I was especially excited for this upgrade.”
The emergence of Sigma as a top tier lens manufacturer is part of the vision of CEO Kazuto Yamaki who took over the company in 2012 after the passing of his father, Michihiro Yamaki, who founded the company in 1961. The younger Yamaki devised a “Global Vision” plan which reorganized the lens offerings into three categories (Contemporary, Art, and Sports), with the simple purpose to “promote the love of photography.” This broad mission might be construed as marketing speak, but the results speak for themselves.
| Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM | Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G | Canon 50mm f/1.4L USM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year Announced | 2014 | 2008 | 1993 |
| Minimum Aperture | f/16 | f/16 | f/22 |
| Filter Thread | 77mm | 58mm | 58mm |
| Weight | 815g | 280g | 290g |
| DxOMark Score | 35 | 17 | 24 |
| Price | $949 | $425 | $399 |
People
ISO 500 f/3.5 at 1/100s
ISO 3200 f/1.4 at 1/250s
ISO 100 f/8 at 1/640s
ISO 100 f/2.8 at 1/3200s
ISO 500 f/3.2 at 1/100s
Places & Things
ISO 100 f/1.6 at 1/500s
ISO 400 f/2.8 at 1/100s
ISO 100 f/2 at 1/640s
ISO 6400 f/6.3 at 1/2000s
Is the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM sharp?
Extremely. Even wide open, the lens is incredible sharpness, which makes the out-of-focus areas all the more prominent.
Full crop. ISO 400 f/3.5 1/400s
How is the chromatic abberation on the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM?
There is very little chromatic abberation. Even in this full crop of a highly backlit leaf, you don’t really see any purple fringing or axial distortion.
ISO 100 f/1.4 at 1/125s
Does the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM have good bokeh?
With a 9-bladed aperture, the Sigma gives you a very round circles of confusion with no distinct signature. It’s a creamy look that will satisfy any shooter. But circles aside, the real test to me is the separation of foreground and background elements. Can you get that Sartorialist look that would make even the most cynical fashion blogger weep with joy? The answer is clearly yes. This is a sweet lens.
ISO 400 f/1.4 at 1/10s
ISO 100 f/1.4 at 1/2000s
Pros
- Incredibly sharp
- Very pleasing optical signature
- Reasonably priced compared to Zeiss
Cons
- Heavy
- Expensive compared to Canon/Nikon
Conclusion
The question of whether to get this lens or not should be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the trade off in sharpness and general awesomeness is offset by the sheer weight of the lens. This isn’t the fault of Sigma per se – glass is heavy, and there’s no way to get around the physics of the situation. But the weight was the single negative that all three of us echoed. Great street photography lens, except it’s really heavy. Great environmental portraiture lens, except it’s heavy. On the other hand, photojournalist Andrew Gombert recently weighed his camera bag for me, and it came in at a whopping 22.5 lbs, so what’s another pound? A lot, according to Sarah, “Taking it on a weekend trip was one thing, but carting that amount of glass around Europe for travel shots was a beast. I got some great sharp, tight shots – but ultimately I won’t be buying this lens. It’s just too dang heavy.”
Canon and Nikon will inevitably offer newer versions of their 50mm lenses, but the question is at what price point? I have no doubt that their engineers are capable of designing modern lenses for high resolution sensors, but will the market bear another $1000+ normal lens, or is the sweet spot in the $300-500 range? Whatever the case may be, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM is a tremendous value for what you get, and is clearly the new normal.
Sigma 50mm DG HSM: The New Normal
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