Sigma 35 art or 50 art ?

Hello guys!

I made a mistake, i tried a Sigma 35 and had no intention to switch my 35L but now I am tempted. It is better or equal in every way.

The 50 art also seems amazing and the only reason I bought the 35L was that I had hard time finding a 50 with no issues. (Focus shift etc)

So now I need some input. (I don't what as much gear as possible.)

The obvious is to switch to 35 art but 50 is a sweat fl. Portrait and cars is what I mostly do.

Would it be redundant to keep 35L buy 50 art and keep my 85 1,8 (amazing copy)

or go with only 50 + 85?

or maybe sell 35 + 85 just fly solo with the 50.

Thanks

You're asking a question which only you know the answer to. We don't know your style or your preference anywhere near as well as you do, and those are the only two things which matter in this choice.

For me personally, I don't find a use for both a 35 and a 50. I rarely use my 50. But that is just me. Others find it very useful to have both.

P.S. I love my 35A.

As portrait lenses, 35, 50 and 85 have different perspectives, and I have primes in all three focal lengths. Some understandably find 35 and 50 redundant, but I personally think its worth keeping them both around as they produce very different "looks".

35mm will exaggerate background elements and bring more of the background into the frame. Great for environmental portraits where you want to frame the interaction between your subject and your background. Not so great when you have a lot of distracting elements in the background. It's also an extremely versatile focal length that can frame landscapes and indoor group shots as well as portraits. Using a tight framing will create unflattering distortion.

50mm is a normal perspective that closely resembles the perspective your eyes see. I like it for candids and casual portraits, as it captures photos from a very natural "true to life" perspective. It still keeps a lot of the background elements in the frame, but in a far more understated way than 35mm, which will draw a lot of attention to the background. Also a bit harder to work with when trying to frame landscapes and group shots indoors.

85mm is a compressed perspective that's useful when you have a distracting background that you want to keep mostly out of the frame. It doesn't completely nuke the background to a blur of color like 135+ does, so your photos still have some context. Also gives very flattering compression for portraits. I basically use 85mm when I have the space, and when the focus is purely on my subject.

I happen to have some comparisons of 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm from when I was testing out the new Sigma 50. Note that the 85mm shot is out of focus (poor MF technique on my part).

35mm:

I am rolling 24 and 50 and find that spread really nice. The 50 art is amazing for what it is worth. Maybe get that and see if sigmas 24 is about the same as the 24L and grab that too? I love my 24L, but the way sigma is producing I wouldn't be shocked at all if their 24 is right there, and that and a 50 could be had for a few hundred more than either canon version alone.

Anyway, FL is your choice, but the 50 is exceeding my high expectations of it fwiw.

This question is a bit like asking;"Do you prefer blue eyes or green?" imo.

That said, I'd go 35mm simply because 50mm is something I want to have on me all the time, that means I want it small and light. 35mm is something I'd only use for special shoots and thus wouldn't mind the extra heft.

Thanks for taking the time to answear, especially mystik. I know its wery much up to personal preference. After some more testing I do can see the use of both. Big suprise.

I'm going to be unhelpful now

I have the 35L and after seeing the Sigma Art in action I bought it and have not been regretting it at all. I never imagined a day where I'd have a 35L sitting in a bag unused! I've also got the 85L and for me, these two lenses are perfect for what I do (gig photography). However when I was covering a four day event recently I came across several occasions where 50mm would have been perfect. As such, this morning a 50mm art is being delivered

The reason I say I'm going to be unhelpful is that I would recommend owning all three lenses. There's nothing worse than selling something to find you wish you had it, even occasionally, afterwards. If you know you'll never need all three then it'd be pointless having all, but personally I'd rather have them even if only occasionally needing them, to avoid renting when you do need them. If you need justification, it'd save you money in the long run

So I made my decision to go with the Sigma 35 and sell my 35L, My dealer will not get any more 50 in art in a while.

20 minutes after my decision the Sigma started to make a quite high squeak when focusing.
I have read about his issue when the lens was introduced and I figure that Sigma got plenty of time to fix it.

This make me think about long term quality and quickly my patience with Sigma ended once more.
I might reconsider Sigma in some other time but for now the lust for the 35A ended quickly.

That depends on your shooting style

50 art for me feels like a wider version of the 85L, I am very comfortable shooting portraits with it

35 art for me is just a general purpose wide angle lens (I have 16-35 for ultrawides), but it is not my go-to lens for portraiture

Will Chao wrote in post #16948367
That depends on your shooting style

50 art for me feels like a wider version of the 85L, I am very comfortable shooting portraits with it

35 art for me is just a general purpose wide angle lens (I have 16-35 for ultrawides), but it is not my go-to lens for portraiture

Thanks for the answer. When the Sigma start to squeak I decided to stick with the 35 L for now.

Will! You got some skill, Beautiful work!

Will Chao wrote in post #16948367
That depends on your shooting style

50 art for me feels like a wider version of the 85L, I am very comfortable shooting portraits with it

35 art for me is just a general purpose wide angle lens (I have 16-35 for ultrawides), but it is not my go-to lens for portraiture

I agree about the 50art. My first thought was that it felt near identical to the 85L. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet as I've been busy, but hopefully will get something done on Thursday night, or possibly even tomorrow

Gallardo wrote in post #16937587
Hello guys!

I made a mistake, i tried a Sigma 35 and had no intention to switch my 35L but now I am tempted. It is better or equal in every way.

The 50 art also seems amazing and the only reason I bought the 35L was that I had hard time finding a 50 with no issues. (Focus shift etc)

So now I need some input. (I don't what as much gear as possible.)

The obvious is to switch to 35 art but 50 is a sweat fl. Portrait and cars is what I mostly do.

Would it be redundant to keep 35L buy 50 art and keep my 85 1,8 (amazing copy)

or go with only 50 + 85?

or maybe sell 35 + 85 just fly solo with the 50.

Thanks

Heya,

Only you can figure that out. I would opt to keep the 35mm over the 50mm focal length in almost any situation. But that's just my preference. I'd rather be slightly wide, even in portraits, and especially in environmental stuff, cars, etc, so that I can be closer and do more interesting perspectives without having to move much. 35mm does that.

You have a 35L. You want to swap to a 35 ART? Fair enough. Yes, it's better in every way. But is the swap worth it to you? It may be a near even swap, so that's no loss. Why not? Do what you think here.

As for the 50 ART. That's totally up to you, if you need that focal length. You say it's pretty sweet as a focal length, but is it? Are you routinely shooting at 50mm? Is it sweeter than 35mm or 85mm? I do a lot of portraits and environmental stuff, and 35mm and 85mm are my go-to options no matter the camera. They're just easy to use focal lengths, wide enough to get closer, so you can work in limited space, but still do what they should do. You can also find people rolling 50mm and 135mm. It's all about what you want, and what lenses you want. I like 35 at F2 and 85 at F1.4, so that's my go-to. If 50mm is your go-to, then the ART makes plenty of good sense. I have 3 50mm lenses and I really just don't care for them nearly as much as the 35mm focal length. You just have to try things and see what really works for you, to be your sweet focal length.

If you're just getting lenses to get lenses, then get all the ARTs, they're that good. Better than L's. But if you're looking to only have lenses that you actively use, keep it simple. I don't see a need for 35, 50 and 85. I definitely wouldn't just have 50 and 85. I'd rather have slightly wide and telephoto. Normal view portraits are not nearly as interesting to me, perspective wise. But it depends on your work and style.

85mm can absolutely destroy backgrounds. You don't need 135 for that. I can murder backgrounds with my 85mm:

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I have a 50 1.4(Canon) and the Sigma 35. While I do like the 50 focal length occasionally, the 35 is definitely what gets my creativity going. As others have said, this is purely preference and what you want to shoot. I now barely use my 50.

Waiting on a 24mm 1.4 art KILLER