Should I play the Sigma lottery?

alpha_1976 wrote in post #12610237
Can you show the results? I understand it's half price.

yeah, i would like to see results too. i'm sure the sigma is a fine lens, but the 85L is just about perfection - not sure how much better a lens can get.

sharper? the 85L is scary sharp, even at 1.2
bokeh? the 85L's boken can completely destroy backgrounds to pure mush....

just dont get how it can get any better.

alpha_1976 wrote in post #12610237
Can you show the results? I understand it's half price.

here is digital picture review. My results were almost identical. look at all the shots at the different stops. His review is spot on.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …X-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

and here is the 30mm review

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …X-DC-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

I don't see where sigma performs better even in that review?

umphotography wrote in post #12610482
here is digital picture review. My results were almost identical. look at all the shots at the different stops. His review is spot on.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …X-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

and here is the 30mm review

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …X-DC-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

scrolling back and forth over the Sigma and Canon at the same apertures, i much prefer the Canon's boken rendering.

umphotography wrote in post #12610482
here is digital picture review. My results were almost identical. look at all the shots at the different stops. His review is spot on.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …X-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx...

m.shalaby wrote in post #12610883
scrolling back and forth over the Sigma and Canon at the same apertures, i much prefer the Canon's boken rendering.

I have a lot of love for Sigma - their 50 hasn't come off my 5D ever since I mounted it about a month ago...but I gotta agree with Shalaby's comment about the 85 - the L has better bokeh from those samples...at pretty much all apertures.

I played the lotto and didnt win. It was front focusing pretty bad. Took the body and the lens to sigma center and got it calibrated and it is now dead on. No regrets here.

EDIT: The technician told me that they been getting lot of lens that are having problem on 60D lately.

I think some of you have lost perspective regarding the Sigma 30, 85 f/1.4 and the Canon 35L and 85L. The Sigma duo costs $1458, while the Canons run for $3598. You can pick up a used 1DsMKII for that price difference. Sigma lenses don’t have to be better or even equal to Canon lenses to be relevant. Would anyone ever compare a $50,000 car with a $23,000 car? It is not reasonable to expect the performance of these lenses to be 1:1, but the fact that they come so close is amazing. It is reasonable to expect the lens to function when you pull it out of the box.

I will never understand this lottery. Buy the lens, take the money you saved, and if you're super concerned about focus, send your lens into Sigma for calibration. I had an ill-focusing 30 that is now spot on. My first Sigma 85 went bad, and I returned it. My second trial (only got a second one because I heard bad AF motor just meant bad AF motor, no calibration would fix it) turned out great. Spot on and sharp on both. I spent $1230 on my 30mm and 85mm, I'd say I made out pretty well.