New Sigma 35mm f/1.4 HSM DG

Tony Parenti wrote in post #15331600
Yes but still quite noticeable when zoomed out. I just don't find it acceptable, especially in your example. But I'm sensitive to those types of things...

Interesting. I didn't even notice mine had them until you mentioned it and I went back and looked You're right though, they are there. They look like fingerprints in the highlights.

And yes, the lines inside the bokeh are a bit annoying, still, it's not going to show on most pictures. You trade slightly uglier bokeh for more sharpness and lower price. The lens is well worth the money.

I am not going to shoot for maximum bokeh (subject at 30cm from the lens) most of the time.

Mookalafalas wrote in post #15331503
Here's one I put up in the other, sample images, thread. The onion patterning is so faint that even at 100% I don't mind it at all, but I know for some folks it is very...what, disturbing? Unpleasant? These oof highlights are just slightly oblong, but I have other samples that are much worse. It's too bad, but it will probably effect less than 1% of the pictures I take, so I don't mind too much.

This ^^

and

Earwax69 wrote in post #15331650
And yes, the lines inside the bokeh are a bit annoying, still, it's not going to show on most pictures. You trade slightly uglier bokeh for more sharpness and lower price. The lens is well worth the money.

I am not going to shoot for maximum bokeh (subject at 30cm from the lens) most of the time.

This^^

I'm not sure I would say "uglier" bokeh, but maybe slightly less pleasing in a very select few photos that showcase OOF specular highlights as a key feature. I won't get into a big discussion about the actual definition of "bokeh", but there is "bokeh" (creamy high quality OOF areas of a photo) and there are "bokeh balls" that are but one aspect of the bokeh of a photo. The onions that appear are really only apparent in shots that have bokeh balls in them. For most people these bokeh balls may only appear in a handful of shots. For the other 99% of peoples' shots that showcase delightfully OOF BG's, these balls having onion lines in them are not even present. For all intents and purposes, I honestly think it will be hard to distinguish the difference between the OOF areas of a shot taken with either the S35 or 35L...balls aside. Why can I imagine Alec Baldwin doing a sketch on SNL about this??

For me, the sharpness of this lens WO, as well as the seemingly better sharpness at the edges is what makes me think I'll be more than happy to have it in my bag for years to come. I do understand that once you get fixated on something it is hard to let it go though. Best of luck to everyone in finding a 35 that you will be happy with.

Can't say I'm seeing a HUGE difference in sharpness between the 35L and the Sigma. I think what's helping the Sigma is the lack of CA... which it controls really really well.

That's just it, I don't think there is a huge difference between either of the two lenses in question. However, my personal opinion is that there is no doubt the siggy I have now (in the short time I have had it) has been more reliably sharp at the wide apertures and toward the edges than the 35L I previously owned. The lack of CA only helps with this. It just comes down to what is important to a person in a particular lens. It is this that will help one determine what will work best for them. If there was one perfect lens and one perfect camera, everyone on this forum would have the same signature!

Bokeh is always subjective. One persons taste is someone else's bitter face.

Tony Parenti wrote in post #15331914
Can't say I'm seeing a HUGE difference in sharpness between the 35L and the Sigma. I think what's helping the Sigma is the lack of CA... which it controls really really well.

I keep hearing this bad CA with 35L. Maybe I don't shoot that often in bad lighting but here is one shot from day before @f2. I don't see CA like sometimes I would see with my 85mm f1.8.

Any information on the AF performance so far?

bobbyz wrote in post #15332113
I keep hearing this bad CA with 35L. Maybe I don't shoot that often in bad lighting but here is one shot from day before @f2. I don't see CA like sometimes I would see with my 85mm f1.8.

I do find at 1.4-1.8 there is some CA, like there is on the 85L - but it is easily fixed and disappears from f2 and narrower. It is definitely present @ f1.4 on high contrast edges, the Sigma has it over the 35L in this regard. Whether it bothers you or not is subjective.

I can see some if you pixel peep on your image, but depends how closely you want to look.

If there's front focus on mine, it's not more than 1mm. I cannot notice it. I might do a test in the future but for now I dont see the need. As for the speed, it's fast. No hunting at all. Zero. Nada.

Tony Parenti wrote in post #15329251

Sigma 35 1.4 - Wide open - no sharpening in ACR or PS, all ACR sliders left to default position of 0. I did straighten and front image crop the image so a slide reduction in sharpness. Auto WB. Compared to the Canon, definitely sharper and I believe a better color rendition. The Canon 35L seems to push towards magenta, while the Sigma leans towards yellow/green....

PS, I never let him watch TV that close obviously. Just wanted to add some higher contrast to the scene.

Tony, I love the warm and life like colors. The details and contrast are great too.
This is surely better than what I get with the Canon 50mm f/1.4 wide open. What ISO were you at?

The was at ISO 1600....

Man, if it wasn't for that bokeh onioning I'd have the 35L up for sale right now... I gotta get outside with the siggy and do some real world tests instead of pixel peeping. Also the onion ringing is REALLY predominant on red round bokeh balls, more so than any other color.

Tony Parenti wrote in post #15332885
The was at ISO 1600....

Man, if it wasn't for that bokeh onioning I'd have the 35L up for sale right now... I gotta get outside with the siggy and do some real world tests instead of pixel peeping. Also the onion ringing is REALLY predominant on red round bokeh balls, more so than any other color.

I'm just gonna go outside this weekend with mines and use it then compare it to the old shots from my 35L. I'm not gonna lie either I dislike the onion bokeh as well and disliked it a ton on the Tamron 24-70. I will probably weigh the good over the bad though, Tamron supports the VC while Canon's doesn't so I'll do the same for the Sigma vs. the Canon (of course in the end there were onions in all the lenses mentioned). I couldn't really tell there were onions on the 35L and S35 sample shots even though they are clearly there. Now if only this day would pass by quickly...lens to arrive at my house @ 10.30am this morning and I'm one hour away at work in the next metro!

Please post your impressions today Vixen!

TDP has test shots up.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …omp=0&FLIComp=0​&APIComp=0