Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens Test

Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens Overview

When Sigma released its first aperture “fifty dollars” a few years ago, many photographers gave a very unambiguous assessment of what happened: a third-party manufacturer encroached on the sacred - creative optics with an individual pattern, which was traditionally famous for “brand” aperture fixes. However, it turned out that corporate identity for modern photographers is not as important as sharpness. Here she was different new lens!

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F2, 1/320 s

And the optically identical fifty dollars released with different mounts began to be sold like hot cakes. And if so, they thought at Sigma, then why not set your own tone in this market segment? Why is Sigma worse than Carl Zeiss? And in 2014, the company created its second fifty dollars, now in the framework of the ART series. This series combines creative optics with outstanding performance. Today, this lens - Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art - is in our edition. Check what he is capable of? Its cost, size and weight clearly indicate that very interesting results are expected from this fifty dollars!

Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art

Price Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art I didn’t just start talking about weight: 815 grams is a lot for a full-frame fix. Even the ultra-fast Canon EF 50mm f / 1.2L USM weighs one and a half times less. Yes, and the thread diameter of the light filter of a less fast Sigma is larger: 77 versus 72 mm. On glass and metal, Japanese engineers apparently decided not to save. The lens is assembled solidly, it looks solid, it is pleasant in the hands. Of the polymeric materials, only the autofocus switch and the rubber overlay on the focus ring are made. Everything else is blackened metal. In a word - a thing! But Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art has no moisture protection. In any case, it is not stated in the characteristics of the lens.

Optical lens design

We put the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art on the camera. Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is currently available with Sigma, Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A mounts. In this test I will use a Canon EOS 6D camera. The camera has a relatively simple phase-detection AF module, however, with a very tenacious center point. However, there are no problems when focusing on any points. The lens with the camera was not subjected to additional adjustment or adjustment, and nevertheless, at all points of autofocus, it clearly falls into sharpness even at an open aperture. There are no complaints about the focusing speed. The built-in HSM motor moves the lenses of the lens rather quickly. I would say that in focusing speed there is complete parity with branded fifty dollars with the same aperture. Any yaw or idle runs back and forth does not occur even when shooting with very difficult lighting. In Live View, working with the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is also no different from shooting with branded lenses.

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installation: ISO 160, F1.4, 1/125 s

If you want to focus manually, then consider: the focus ring is small. For a photo, this means almost nothing, but smooth refocusing during video shooting will not be as easy as, for example, with non-autofocus Carl Zeiss. The minimum focusing distance is 40 cm, which is usual for fifty dollars. For macro photography this is not enough, but shooting flowers with a beautifully blurred background will definitely work.

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F1.4, 1/4000 s

Maximum shooting scale

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installation: ISO 100, F1.4, 1/400 s

The first thing you notice when viewing frames with the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is sharpness. It is high in comparison with branded counterparts. No, not even that: it's one of the harshest fifty dollars on the market! Starting to shoot on it, I tried to cover the diaphragm a little out of habit, trying to avoid the inherent soft-optics soft effect. It turned out in vain: you can safely shoot on an open aperture and get sharp shots. Of course, aperture gives some increase in detail, but it is achieved to a greater extent by increasing the depth of field. Across the entire field of the frame, the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is relatively sharp already at the open aperture. We can say that at f / 2, the sharpness over the entire field of the frame is sufficient to allow the Canon EOS 6D matrix.

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F1.4, 1/320 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F1.8, 1/200 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Settings: ISO 100, F2, 1/160 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F2.8, 1/80 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Settings: ISO 100, F4, 1/40 s

Sharpness is perhaps the main advantage of this model. You get a reliable and predictable working tool that will provide technically high-quality images in almost any environment. For example, I was invited to rent several pre-holiday and festive Easter services in one of the churches near Moscow. The lens allowed us not to think about lighting in general: neither day nor evening, nor even at night. To remove a portrait from hands at night by candlelight? Not a problem!

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 10000, F1.4, 1/160 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 200, F1.8, 1/40 s

The backlighting does not spoil the quality of images: glare and flare are not formed. Chromatic aberration you will certainly find in the pictures. But their level will be extremely low for fast fixation. Moreover, it must be taken into account that this lens is not “native” to the camera, and chromatic aberration is not suppressed by software during intracameral JPG conversion. With post-processing, you can easily reduce them to an already low level of almost zero.

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F1.4, 1/160 s

Things are great with vignetting. It is noticeable only at f / 1.4 and f / 2, and even then the level of darkening of the corners is relatively low. Here, it turns out, why was such a giant diameter of a front lens so huge for a fifty dollars. Vignetting test

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F1.4, 1/640 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F2, 1/320 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F2.8, 1/160 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Settings: ISO 100, F4, 1/80 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F5.6, 1/40 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 100, F8, 1/20 s

Perhaps the only controversial point is the nature of the pattern of this lens. Bokeh is so regular and soft that it becomes even a little boring. Yes, glare is evenly filled, without contrasting borders, with the rarest exception. The "scale effect" or ghosting in the bokeh is also not visible. But there isn’t that magical effect that expensive branded legend fixes like Canon EF 85mm F1.2L USM can sometimes give to pictures. Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lacks its own recognizable pattern. This is just a soft and correct blurring background fix, which once again proves a simple truth: it is very, very difficult to combine perfect sharpness and unique bokeh in one lens.

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installations: ISO 160, F1.4, 1/160 s

Canon EOS 6D / Canon EF 35mm f / 1.4L Installation: ISO 160, F1.4, 1/125 s

conclusions

The Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is the sharpest full-frame fast shutter that has ever participated in our tests. Already at the open aperture, he gives such a sharpness that many of his competitors have not dreamed of. This is a true masterpiece of optics, embodying the victory of modern technology over all possible distortions. From a technical point of view, it provides flawless shots. Vignetting and chromatic aberration are kept to an absolute minimum. The only subjective disadvantage of this model can be called not too expressive, although correct bokeh. But that’s the price tag for perfect performance. We recommend this lens primarily to all wedding and reporting photographers because of its highest sharpness on an open aperture. Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art will help you to forget about the problem of lack of light once and for all, allowing you to get great pictures already on the open aperture. However, the lens will perfectly cope with any other genre, but only if you are ready to put up with its considerable weight.