50mm for evening / night photography - Otus vs. Sigma Art

Hi,

I'm event / landscape / portrait photographer. I want to add / replace my Zeiss Makro Planar f/2 with new 50mm lens, because I really miss the aperture f/1.4 and I need better quality especially if I'm on the way with my cam in the evening / night (with tripod).

I expect following improvements:

- rendering of colors
- bokeh
- rendering of stars at f/10-16 from lights
- almost zero CAs
- and at least of course higher aperture

compared to my Zeiss Makro Planar.

AF would be nice, but I don't need it.

I'd prefer Zeiss Otus 55, but there is Sigma Art what costs only 1/4 ...

Which lens is a better choice especially for my needs? Let's talk only about quality, first.

how often do you shoot events?

do you find yourself having much use/need for AF? im assuming that your entire kit contains lenses other than zeiss glass.

the otus is definitely an impressive lens from the sample shots ive seen but youre looking at a very extreme price difference between the otus and 50 art.


a fifty with AF is always nice but if you can afford the otus and it wont put you in any financial situations that would causes issues in the future then id personally grab the otus. but if you want it just because gear lust and its going to break the bank then i would go with the sigma art

I don't use the 50/55mm as focal length as event photographer. I often use my Sigma 35mm Art.

As I see, the Sigma 55mm produces the same rendering style like his "little brother" does. I think, the Otus'd give me just another "style" of pictures and it could be worth.

With 50mm I go for street / landscape / portrait photography.

I personally wouldn't even purchase the Otus if it was $500.

AF is far too important to sacrifice for a slight increase in image quality.

image quality isnt always everything, if IQ was that important canon would have quit making or updated the 50 f1.2L and the 85f1.2L both of which test terrible in the IQ for lab tests but render the image unique compared to other glass out there. so yeah when you buy zeiss or even the zeiss otus your not only paying for that slight increase in IQ your paying for the zeiss name and the way their glass renders the images.

mclaren777 wrote in post #17277938
I personally wouldn't even purchase the Otus if it was $500.

AF is far too important to sacrifice for a slight increase in image quality.

Manual focus really isn't difficult with a little practice. It all depends on your experience/skill and what you're shooting. Saying "AF is more important than IQ" is purely subjective.

That said, I'd still go with the Sigma between the two due simply to the price. Personally I prefer the rendering of the makro plannar over both anyway, not worth the trade just for one stop of aperture imo.

It is a pointless question. Your Canon camera sensor is not able to get the best from Otus. Maybe new FF cameras will be able to work fine with it but right now the Sigma seams to be a better solution.

Buy the Sigma and with the money you save, put your kid through college!

Carl73 wrote in post #17280157
It is a pointless question. Your Canon camera sensor is not able to get the best from Otus. Maybe new FF cameras will be able to work fine with it but right now the Sigma seams to be a better solution.

That's simply false. There's more to the Otus than just it's resolution and even that is certainly noticeable on any Canon sensor. I still think the price is far from worth it though.

mclaren777 wrote in post #17277938
I personally wouldn't even purchase the Otus if it was $500.

AF is far too important to sacrifice for a slight increase in image quality.

That's exactly how I feel when it comes to Ziess. I didn't buy a body with a kick ass AF system to use manual focus.

I'd only consider it an option for landscape shots.

If it doesn't bother you though see if you can get your hands on both lenses and have your own little shoot out.

mclaren777 wrote in post #17277938
I personally wouldn't even purchase the Otus if it was $500.

AF is far too important to sacrifice for a slight increase in image quality.

For many applications, autofocus is over-rated or simply not relevant: close-up/macro, landscape, still-life/table-top/product, and even some street/casual. (Note that I could have just made an idiotic blanket statement like, "autofocus is over-rated", but then I would fall into expressing a tunnel-vision-based sweeping generalization which would make me sound just as silly as the above comment.)

Image quality, on the other hand, is image quality: you can get by with "good enough", but you can never have too much!

^^^ Well stated and needless to say, I agree!,

The best image quality and whether the lens used is manual focus or AF is irrelevant.

jeetsukumaran wrote in post #17281021
For many applications, autofocus is over-rated or simply not relevant: close-up/macro, landscape, still-life/table-top/product, and even some street/casual. (Note that I could have just made an idiotic blanket statement like, "autofocus is over-rated", but then I would fall into expressing a tunnel-vision-based sweeping generalization which would make me sound just as silly as the above comment.)

Image quality, on the other hand, is image quality: you can get by with "good enough", but you can never have too much!

I don't take pics of bugs or pieces of fruit so I guess I'll be ok. I did mention landscape but meh, I'll stick with my AF lenses, I don't have a problem with IQ either.

El Pedro wrote in post #17281644
I don't take pics of bugs or pieces of fruit so I guess I'll be ok. I did mention landscape but meh, I'll stick with my AF lenses, I don't have a problem with IQ either.

Well, you might be able to manage without manual focus, though one cannot speak for your IQ.

One might however, hazard some guesses as to your creativity and breadth of perspective (based on the "bugs or pieces fruit" comments ... ).

jeetsukumaran wrote in post #17282293
Well, you might be able to manage without manual focus, though one cannot speak for your IQ.

One might however, hazard some guesses as to your creativity and breadth of perspective (based on the "bugs or pieces fruit" comments ... ).

No need for the insults buddy. Easy to be a smart Alec with your keyboard in hand.

BTW, the great thing about an AF lens, it can MF too.