Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art announced

Pricing all depends on how Sigma wants to position the lens in the market place.

If this has the IQ comparable to the Otus (obviously can't be better than $4000 lens), and they price this under $600, they can COMPLETELY CORNER the market on 50mm primes. In fact, it can very well be the most popular lens available.

There is no way, Canon or Nikon will compete at the same price point.

On the other hand, they can easily sell it at what it is worth on the market, which would be around $1000.

Mornnb wrote in post #16596105
It may miss focus half of the time but Sigma's current 50mm is an awesome lens. The optics are incredible, it has the best bokeh of any lens I've ever used.
That being said though since I got the 24-70mm II 2.8 I've found no reason to use the Sigma 50mm... 2.8 is plenty shallow enough for 90% of shoots. It will have to take something as good as the Zeiss Otus for me to even consider picking up a 50mm prime.

people don't necessarily buy fast lenses for the DoF, it's the low light performance :P

2.8 is hardly acceptable in many indoor situations.

Jerobean wrote in post #16599914
people don't necessarily buy fast lenses for the DoF, it's the low light performance :P

2.8 is hardly acceptable in many indoor situations.

I buy them primarily for DOF.

F2.8 + a full frame sensor gathers enough light for most situations.

The ability to shoot at a very large aperture gives more options creatively, and can be useful when trying to blur out distracting background elements, and/or create a sense of dimension.

mystik610 wrote in post #16600103
I buy them primarily for DOF.

F2.8 + a full frame sensor gathers enough light for most situations.

The ability to shoot at a very large aperture gives more options creatively, and can be useful when trying to blur out distracting background elements, and/or create a sense of dimension.

I agree. Rarely will f/2.8 not be fast enough when coupled with 1/60 shutter and ISO12,800+

but 1.4 at 3200 is sooo much nicer!

I don't think I will ever buy a lens slower than 2 again unless a specialty wide angle. Between the light when you need it or creativity when you want it, fast lenses offer so much more....

Nick3434 wrote in post #16600187
but 1.4 at 3200 is sooo much nicer!

I don't think I will ever buy a lens slower than 2 again unless a specialty wide angle. Between the light when you need it or creativity when you want it, fast lenses offer so much more....

Agreed, if you need that much light gathering ability and don't need too much DOF.

Last weekend I shot a wedding in a church in the evening...no flash allowed. f1.2 saved my shots. But such situations aren't typical (at least in my uses).

Just addressing the point made earlier that people don't buy primes for DOF. Usually when I reach for my primes, its specifically because I need the shallow DOF.

SnapshotRN wrote in post #16599646
Pricing all depends on how Sigma wants to position the lens in the market place.

If this has the IQ comparable to the Otus (obviously can't be better than $4000 lens), and they price this under $600, they can COMPLETELY CORNER the market on 50mm primes. In fact, it can very well be the most popular lens available.

There is no way, Canon or Nikon will compete at the same price point.

On the other hand, they can easily sell it at what it is worth on the market, which would be around $1000.

Why can't they make a lens that compares with the otus? Just because something sells for 4000 doesn't mean it's worth 4000. Zeiss name alone probably adds 2k to the price. there are many cheaper lenses that compete with many zeiss models.

Sigma is going hard. This new Art series is a complete makeover of their image. Before they were grasping at their canon counterparts, now they are coming out swinging with better lenses.

the 35 beats the 35L, this 50 will surely beat the 50L, 18-35 1.8 zoom...fastest zoom ever created with great performance to boot.

yeah, they'll never have canon's AF (since they can't license it) but if we are comparing to Zeiss, they are all MF anyways.

sigma is swinging, and they are connecting with all punches right now.

^They're definitely making some good glass now, but I wouldn't say that they're straight up the best in the business either (in terms of all the lenses they currently produce). Keep in mind that the lenses that they've recently bested were old designs that were in need of a refresh. Their new 24-105mm in most regards is about the same or worse than the L from what I've read too, so again, I wouldn't say they're beating everyone, but they're definitely making big strides which is good news for all of us.

I definitely appreciate their aggressive pricing, but I fear that will change the bigger a name they develop for themselves.

I'm pretty sure this lens will be same as their 35... 899 new.

Will be worth every ounce.

Jerobean wrote in post #16599914
people don't necessarily buy fast lenses for the DoF, it's the low light performance :P

2.8 is hardly acceptable in many indoor situations.

Totally disagree with the bolded part of your post. Totally agree with the not bolded part of your post. I like to have the option of shallow Dof whenever I want. Also, I know everyone's situation is different, but I can count on one hand the amount of times I was in a low light situation where I was not allowed to use a flash. If you are able to use a flash (and can use is effectively) you will get WAY more interesting results than by using available low light and super wide apertures...99% of the time. Thus, I'll never buy a lens slower than f/2 either.

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16600719
^They're definitely making some good glass now, but I wouldn't say that they're straight up the best in the business either (in terms of all the lenses they currently produce). Keep in mind that the lenses that they've recently bested were old designs that were in need of a refresh. Their new 24-105mm in most regards is about the same or worse than the L from what I've read too, so again, I wouldn't say they're beating everyone, but they're definitely making big strides which is good news for all of us.

I definitely appreciate their aggressive pricing, but I fear that will change the bigger a name they develop for themselves.

Agreed. Based on what we've seen of Canon's more recent lens releases (i.e. 24-70 II), Canon is still capable of producing some of the best glass in the business.

Interested to see what the new 35L, and all the other lenses they're rumored to brining out this year, will be like. I'd imaging they'd be exceptional lenses, but will carry a really high premium.

mystik610 wrote in post #16600867
Agreed. Based on what we've seen of Canon's more recent lens releases (i.e. 24-70 II), Canon is still capable of producing some of the best glass in the business.

Interested to see what the new 35L, and all the other lenses they're rumored to brining out this year, will be like. I'd imaging they'd be exceptional lenses, but will carry a really high premium.

Exactly.

On the second part though, not necessarily. Look at all their new IS primes. All of those are exceptionally good and very affordable. And contrary to most people's misunderstanding, they are updates of their old screw driven lenses (24/2.8, 28/2.8, 35/2) so it makes perfect sense that they'd have a 50/1.8 IS coming soon. Then we can only hope they'll continue the trend and release a new 20/2.8, 28/1.8, 50/1.4, 85/1.8, etc, etc...

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16600893
Exactly.

On the second part though, not necessarily. Look at all their new IS primes. All of those are exceptionally good and very affordable.

Their new IS primes are only affordable because no one bought them so they were forced to drop the price. They started out being very overpriced (over $800 each).

kindollfamilly wrote in post #16601012
50/1.8 IS, now that sounds kinda cool there.....

It's all but confirmed, there have been rumors about it everywhere.

Sirrith wrote in post #16601014
Their new IS primes are only affordable because no one bought them so they were forced to drop the price. They started out being very overpriced (over $800 each).

True, but that's much the same story with just about every canon product... early adopters pay a premium, to some people it's worth it

Sirrith wrote in post #16601014
Their new IS primes are only affordable because no one bought them so they were forced to drop the price. They started out being very overpriced (over $800 each).

They would have sold for $800 if Canon put a red ring on them