Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM

#1 fxk

Seems an extremely odd move for Sigma - first of all, a prime in the world is all zoom, and in 50mm - the "normal" lens for 35mm, with Nikon and Canon having many choices in that focal length. Canon alone has 3 - from $70 to well over a grand. Where's the market for another 50mm prime?

6:10 pm - Thursday, March 20, 2008

#2 Bruce Esbin

What will make this Sigma 50mm 1.4 prime special besides the HSM is the fact that it will have a molded glass aspherical element which should go a long way in insuring very high quality images taken at it's full aperture of f/1.4. It seems to be on paper anyway nearly equivalent to the EF Canon 50mm 1.2 L except a half a stop slower. The Sigma will no doubt be much more affordable as well. Bravo to Sigma.

6:37 pm - Friday, March 21, 2008

#3 Reaz

I have been waiting for this lens for a long time. My camera is Nikon D40x and it only supports AF-S or HSM lense. This is the 2nd prime lens for my camera(another is Sigma 30mm F1.4 HSM which is too wide for me. Thanks Sigma for the great move. We all D40/D40x/D60 users are getting fan of Sigma

5:45 am - Thursday, March 27, 2008

#4 FG

Well you have the AFS-60mm and AFS-105mm micros as well. The release of this lens hopefully pushes Nikon to speed up their replacement of current AFD lenses to AFS.

Unless there is a significant price advantage or optical improvement, I am likely to stay with Nikons.

1:40 am - Monday, March 31, 2008

#5 Reaz

Well those are F2.8 not F1.4. I forgot to add the word “FAST” (1.4) prime lens. If I go to 2.8, I prefer zoom lens than the primes. I have already Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 HSM lens and that lens is excellent. I love Nikon but it's very sad that they want earth as the price of the lenses for very few improvement of image quality and cost of heavy weight.

2:47 pm - Monday, March 31, 2008

#6 Ledpaddle

Does anybody know the filter size of this thing yet?

3:38 am - Wednesday, April 9, 2008

#7 Khimmy

77mm

4:26 am - Monday, April 14, 2008

#8 JR

When can one expect this to come in stores?

How long after the release of the 30mm did it become availabe?

6:37 pm - Tuesday, April 22, 2008

#9 Johnson

67mm not 77mm

4:13 am - Monday, May 5, 2008

#10 Bruce Esbin

Sigma announces this optic with specs and then their is virtually no info on release date or price. Why do they bother to announce the lens with no follow up? On paper this lens appears to be an answered prayer as an affordable fast high image quality 50mm than Canon's 50mm 1.2 with an aspheric element as well to improve IQ when shot wide open. It's only a half a stop slwer than the Canon L lens and I could easily live with that.

5:40 pm - Monday, May 5, 2008

#11 Mark Goldstein

Bruce, Sigma have released some more info about this lens:

http://tinyurl.com/5djygz

9:55 am - Tuesday, May 13, 2008

#12 Ledpaddle

Now the price has been announced in G.B. and I still do not know what the filter size is. Khimmy says 77, but Johnson says 67.

6:49 pm - Saturday, May 17, 2008

#13 Darrell

The filter size is 77mm. It is not 67mm.

3:08 am - Wednesday, June 4, 2008

#14 Gslusher

The price is about USD 499 from the major sources like Adorama, but it's not available yet.

5:03 am - Friday, July 4, 2008

#15 George Papachristou

I just received the Sigma 50mm 1.4 the other day & quickly put it through some shots. First, the lens is built very well... better than the Canon 50 1.4. It's also more substantial in size & very quiet. It focuses instantly with seemingly total confidence. It finds the target & locks in FAST!!! It also comes with a nice padded case for the lens & a hood!!! Pictures came out sharp & DOF was as expected for a 50 prime. Last word.... I believe it to be a super buy & better than Nikon or Canon's offerings. I also have a Sigma 105 Macro, a Canon 70-300 zoom, a 28-135 Canon zoom, & a Canon 17-40 L-series wide angle.

11:53 am - Friday, July 11, 2008

#16 Steve

I also just recieved my 50 1.4 from sigma and canoot reccomend this to anyone for the price. I you want a fast prime it may work for you. It is so soft at 1.4 some pictures are unsuable. When tested at f2.8 with my tamron 28-75 f2.8 at 50mm the sigma had alittle smoother bokeh but also had ca and still wasn't as sharp as the tamron. I will be sending this back to b&h;and try something else.

4:32 pm - Saturday, November 1, 2008

#17 Francis Lee

when compare with Nikon AFS 24-70mm f/2.8, which would be better at 50mm performance ?

For me, I would prefer 50mm lens as within 24-70, you may only have few steps adjustment. However, the lens perform is totally differnet.

7:11 am - Sunday, November 2, 2008

#18 Norbert

Steve..if that lens is "soft" in the center, it must either have been a bad copy or misfocused.

The performance at f/1.4 is really impressive, far better than any classic 50/1.4 design. I am using it on the 5D Mark II and the only drawback is its large size and weight.

9:54 pm - Thursday, January 29, 2009

#19 Leo

I have not been able to test the lens. But I will soon. I own a Canon F1.4 wich is not good until you stopped at F2.8 and smaller. Then the lens beats any zoom. But for an F1.4 lens you expect better. So this Sigma good be a very nice lens for me. I have my doubts about misfoccusing, and the story of Steve does make sense in that negative way. But if you try in advance and you have a good one, well then it is an bargain. Ofcourse the filtersize is 77 mm, goes nice with the rest of my filters.

11:26 pm - Thursday, February 5, 2009

#20 Steve

Norbert...It is just typical Sigma I guess. Just a bad copy. No issues with my old nikon 50mm1.8, sharp at 1.8. I had a nikon 1.4 before I sold it, but found the 1.8 alittle sharper. I really wish It worked out as I have nothing against sigma, their 20mm 1.8 is great and sharp, and so is their 15-30, wonderful copies, 20mm went through 3 to get a great copy. I just decided I didn't want to go through that again with the 50mm, pia lol. I can't find any local stores that carry it, sending back and forth to online stores is not fun.

12:08 am - Friday, February 6, 2009

#21 Norbert

Sigma's QC can surely be a problem. Ironically, I had problems with getting a good copy of the 15-30. The first one from a mailorder store had so extreme field curvature that either the corners or the center was sharp, but never both. I sent it back and ended up selecting between 2 copies at a local store.

I also bought the 30/1.4 in a store (selecting between 3) and now the 50 (first one was already good), which cost me quite a premium compared to online prices. But considering the performance of good Sigma copies, it was worth it.

12:22 am - Friday, February 6, 2009

#22 Leo

That's is wise way of buying a lens Norbert. In the Netherlands you have online shop who also have a real shop. So even the cheapest one can be tested. I have one Sigma lens, the 12-24 where the auto focus is as good as dead. Does not go from close distance to infiniti. But with such a wide lens, witch I always use on F16, not a big problem. Never had problems with Canon lenses....

1:02 am - Friday, February 6, 2009

#23 Swedgatch

I have recently added a few lenses to my collection.
This Sigma was one of them.
Just took the lens out for a few pics around home.
This piece of glass "rocks"!!!!

I am so impressed at this point that I feel I could live with only one lens.
This one!

One can pull and tug at the specs, but for the price, the "big guys" produce nothing like it.

I am please with this and all of the glass that I own that says Sigma on the case.

4:47 pm - Monday, May 10, 2010

#24 Leo

I agree with you Swedgatch, it is one of the finest lenses I own. I do not want to change it for a Canon F1.2 and I use it very often. It's in the league of the Canon 85mm F1.2 and Canon 135 mm F2.0. It is that good! Sold the Canon 50 mm F1.4, that lens is poor in compering. It is better then the Canon 35 F1.4, wich has a lot of CA. And cost nearly 4 times as much! The Sigma 50 mm F1.4 is a bargain and I love it!

5:22 pm - Monday, May 10, 2010

#25 Nimz

I agree with Leo and Swedgatch...just so in love with my sigma 50mm...even though I would like to try a 24-70mm f2.8 purely for the zoom I would need to sell this 50mm...but just can't seem to part with it...its just too good!...

9:50 pm - Thursday, May 13, 2010