Sigma 50 1.4 testing

My sig 50 will be coming in next week, just hoping anyone can give me some initial tests to see if I got a good or bad copy.

I'm not too sure where to start, so maybe a list of tests I can run would be awesome.

Thanks

Focus, snap a pic, and see if it's in focus

If it's out of focus, start a thread lamenting how terrible sigma's QC dept is. Bemoan the fact that you'll either need to return the lens or spend $30 to send your body and lens in for calibration to end up with a crazy good lens for $529 and a week without a camera all in. Let others tell you to take pics using live view and MF to make sure it's capable of being sharp.

If it appears in focus, use focus charts and batteries to take tons of pics, but under no circumstances should you take a pic of something useful. Once you can get one or two that seems off (definitely don't use a tripod, that's cheating), perform the steps in the first part of this post.

Sorry to keep posting, but actually I am 0/2 on my first copies of Sigma lenses and have no issues with it.

My 30 1.4 took one return (no focus accuracy at all), and the second was off by a good bit. I sent the lens and camera into Sigma and it came back absolutely perfect.

My 10-20 had the severe left side blurry issue (official technical term I believe ) but the second looks very promising.

Despite the cost of several hundred per lens, it seems these lenses offer a fantastic bang for the buck. I would honestly rather lose a bit of time and spend an extra few dollars for shipping to still end up well off in the end.

The issue I had with mine was it focused fine at close distances (with heavy MAF, and somewhat inconsistently), but was way off at longer distances. I mean long distance at f2.8 was not sharp at all.

Test mutiple distance subjects at various apertures to ensure consistent focusing.

highergr0und wrote in post #14250890
If it's out of focus, start a thread lamenting how terrible sigma's QC dept is. Bemoan the fact that you'll either need to return the lens or spend $30 to send your body and lens in for calibration to end up with a crazy good lens for $529 and a week without a camera all in. Let others tell you to take pics using live view and MF to make sure it's capable of being sharp.

If it appears in focus, use focus charts and batteries to take tons of pics, but under no circumstances should you take a pic of something useful. Once you can get one or two that seems off (definitely don't use a tripod, that's cheating), perform the steps in the first part of this post.

Best post ever!

Mines misses focus all the time at 1.4, but works perfectly at f2.0 I'm happy to live with it.

javig999 wrote in post #14251804
The issue I had with mine was it focused fine at close distances (with heavy MAF, and somewhat inconsistently), but was way off at longer distances. I mean long distance at f2.8 was not sharp at all.

Test mutiple distance subjects at various apertures to ensure consistent focusing.

Yeah, I had this problem with my 30. A photo with the subject 10 feet away looked like a blob. When it came back from the factory, it was dead on.

Don't fall into the trap of looking for a problem. As said, go out take some pictures and see if you like them. Please don't start taken pictures of so call focus charts. All my Sigmas work perfectly.