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

Product Information

One nice thing about this lens is that it’s eligible for Sigma’s mount-conversion service. If you buy this lens and then switch camera systems in the future, they can change the mount for you. In 2008, Sigma released a large diameter standard lens designed for digital SLRs, “SIGMA 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM”. At that time, products for film cameras were prevalent, yet we spent enormous effort to set a new benchmark for the 50mm lens that optimizes the characteristics of digital cameras, such as compensating peripheral brightness, controlling the point images in the corners, and improving the image drawing, not only around the focusing point, but also other areas in the image. It’s worth mentioning that it’s unavailable for Canon RF or Nikon Z mirrorless mount systems. But a Nikon adapter and a Canon adapter work perfectly for those systems. So you can mount the 50mm Art on them as well.

There are no lateral color fringes as shot on my Nikon D810 , which corrects any that might be there automatically for any lens. Nikons need no lens data to correct this; they can correct any random lens. 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. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

Key Features: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art

Amateurs waste too much time worrying about lens sharpness, and since this lens is designed for amateurs, it's super sharp. When shooting at f/1.4, vignetting is noticeable towards the corners of the image frame. That’s not an altogether bag thing, as it can give an attractive look to many types of image, including portraits and still life shots. And if you’d rather have a more uniform level of peripheral brightness, in-camera correction for vignetting is available. The lens relies more heavily on in-camera correction for distortion, as is the case with the majority of recent lenses designed for mirrorless cameras. Whereas the previous DG edition was essentially a zero-distortion lens, the DN exhibits noticeable pincushion for a 50mm prime, when auto correction is disabled. All in all though, image quality and all-round performance are absolutely fabulous. Most prime lenses heavily vignette when shot wide open, especially on a full-frame body. As expected, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens vignettes a bit wide open, with vignetting levels falling sharply when stopped down. Vignetting levels vary by focus distance – at close focus the lens vignettes much less than at infinity, as measured by Imatest: Image: Shot at f/1.4, there is plenty of detail around the subjects’s eye, and the large aperture helps to create a lovely shallow depth of field Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM | A reveiw – Image quality In this box sits the case with the lens and hood inside. The case is the padding - there is no foam.

Of course, lens design has moved on leaps and bounds since this 1960s example, and the latest Sigma offering, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM | A, shows just how far things have come. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM is built similar to current Nikon prime lenses – it has a solid plastic exterior and a metal mount. The lens feels very solid in hands and its large size and heavy weight make it feel like handling the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G. It is almost twice heavier than the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G, which is only 280 grams, and almost three times heavier than the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G (185 grams). The 77mm filter thread is a little too big for a 50mm lens in my opinion, because 77mm filters are expensive. Those who use 77mm filters like polarizing filter will probably be happy about not having to use a step-up ring, but such filters typically get rarely used on 50mm lenses in first place. There is, however, an advantage to having such large front element – as you will see in image samples below, it helps in reducing vignetting at large apertures. Here is how the Sigma compares to other Nikkor lenses (From left to right: Nikon 50mm f/1.8D, Nikon 50mm f/1.8G, Nikon 50mm f/1.4D, Nikon 50mm f/1.4G and Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM): NIKON D3S + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm, ISO 400, 1/80, f/5.6 It secures very rich brightness in the peripheral areas, which can be a common problem for a lens with a large diameter. By positioning wide elements in the front group, it has improved the efficiency at large apertures. Since it is capable of minimizing vignetting, very clear depiction across the image is ensured. As for sharpness and vignetting, this is where we can see some differences. At f/1.4, there was a noticeable amount of vignetting on this lens. The center was a fair bit brighter than the corners. The lens already starts strong at f/1.4, with impressive center and mid-frame performance. Corners are a bit weak, but that’s expected from a fast prime lens. Stopping down the lens improves sharpness significantly, with amazing sharpness levels reached in the f/4-f/5.6 range. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art is one of the few lenses that could reach such high sharpness levels, making it one of the best performing prime lenses we have tested so far. If you want to see how impressive this lens is to other 50mm primes, take a look at the Lens Comparisons section of the review.

Flare blob, full solar disc, 02 September 2014. ( Nikon D810, Sigma 50mm f/1.4, f/8 at 1/250 at Auto ISO 100, Athentech Perfectly Clear.) bigger. So when I first found out that Sigma had plans to update its existing Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM, I got really excited, since I knew that the new Art-series lens would not disappoint. It has been too long since both Nikon and Canon updated their 50mm f/1.4 primes. In the case with Nikon, its newer 50mm f/1.8G yields better sharpness than the bigger and heavier 50mm f/1.4G. In short, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G is just not good enough for modern high-resolution sensors and its performance at maximum aperture is rather disappointing (and the Canon 50mm f/1.4 is quite similar in that regard). The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art announcement was very timely because it hits a sweet spot between the sub-par 50mm f/1.4 Nikon and Canon lenses, and the exotic manual focus Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4. Canon EOS 6D + 50mm @ 50mm, ISO 100, 1/800, f/1.6

This Sigma lens is much bigger, heavier and more expensive than similar camera-brand lenses like the superb Nikon 50mm f/1.4 G. The 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens isn’t designed to be a budget option. It’s actually designed to be a step up. Sigma is positioning this lens as a top-of-the-line lens for people who want the best.

For comparison, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM weighs only 0.6 lb (290 g). So this lens might not be the ideal choice for travel photography. Key Features If all you care about is the best possible optical quality for the next several years, then by all means this Sigma lens is superbly sharp, focuses extremely fast and has no visible distortion. If you don't worry about long-term as I do, this Sigma lens is fantastic. It is supposed to work on all EOS cameras, which means everything from 1987's EOS 650 to everything in 2014. Once again, the smoothest of the bunch is the Nikon 58mm f/1.4G, followed by the older Sigma 50mm f/1.4, then the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art and the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G.