Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM -SIGMALUX-

1/60 so not so sharp... f1.4 on 40d
WB not adjusted

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Despite me telling myself I wouldn't (I knew in my heart I would... darn heart ).

I went and "ordered" one of these today (the shop will get it in in about an hour and a half).

Just sold my 50mm 1.4 (CANON) which was pretty good, but I didn't like the bokeh that much. Went to the shop for a look... and something came over me, I had to get the Sigma.

Hope it turns out to be the right choice.

Update. Now I'm confused.

I tried it in the store. It seemed rubbish. Quite soft on my 5D.

Now I'm wondering if it's the 5D screen playing tricks on me.

I'll post a sample the shot was focused on the の Looks OK doesn't it back focusing maybe, but I could have slightly moved.... But then (sorry see next post)...

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I focused on the Leica (both 100% crops, same photo, one with no sharpening one with - done in LR).

Is this too OOF for a prime? On the LCD of the 5D they looked bloomed quite a bit.

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Stealthy Ninja wrote in post #8328890
Despite me telling myself I wouldn't (I knew in my heart I would... darn heart ).

I went and "ordered" one of these today (the shop will get it in in about an hour and a half).

Just sold my 50mm 1.4 (CANON) which was pretty good, but I didn't like the bokeh that much. Went to the shop for a look... and something came over me, I had to get the Sigma.

Hope it turns out to be the right choice.

I would have hung onto the Canon so that you can compare them side by side. I own them both, and so far prefer the Canon. The Sigma front focused BADLY when I first got it. It's a lot better after calibration, but my copy still doesn't do so hot from 1.4 to 1.8 like other people have claimed. It also sometimes fails to focus and instead makes a clanking noise. It's going back to Sigma one more time. I think I have a bad copy and am going to try to convince them to send another one. For any shoot that's mattered I've trusted the Canon 50 1.4 far more than the Siggy. This bums me out because I bought it hoping it would be an upgrade. It still might be depending on what Sigma does with my warranty claim. If the one I get back isn't better than the one I have now, the Siggy is going to be the fish I throw back.

It might be front or back focusing. This lens is known to do that. It was front focusing badly on my 20D before I sent the lens back for calibration.

went through 3/4 copies all front focusing.. then I had the last one calibrated to my body...

I just go mine. Few issues.

First, is the hood loose for everyone? Mine doesn't click into place at any point and I found it cocked 30º at one point last night. Plus, it's a pedal hood, so 30º should have put it in the frame, but it didn't (hinting the hood is smaller than it could be).

Second, does the aperture SOUND loud when you guys stop down? It's actually a cool mechanical noise IMHO, but it's MUCH different than any other lens I've ever used... If it's fine, I like it, but it does make me wonder.....

third, mine front focused slightly. Basically, at 1.4, the back edge of the plane in focus was what I focused on. Once the shots are processed/sharpened they look OK (but you can tell it's sharper in front, you just might not pick up on the image being not perfectly sharp on the subject, ie you guys could tell, a mother couldn't ). But I have micro adjust, so I dialed in +10 and it's working much better now. Basically, what I focus on now is at the 1/3 mark, not centered, but some lenses/FLs do it that way anyway... I might dial it down to ~7ish if it's an issue, but now at least what I'm aiming at is nailed down.

It's just a bit of a bummer to get a lens you know is great optically, but have to wonder about it's AF calibration FROM THE FACTORY.... Why? Can't they test these better? The front element is sexy as hell though and their boxing/caps/case are all nice than they were a few years ago.

(don't mind the color on these, my work computer isn't setup for 5Dii RAWs and LR did something with the profiles, the background is sharpened and bordered, the 100% crop is untouched)

focused on sarasa which IS sharp, it's just at the very back edge of the DOF...

Send it in, it looks to be front focussing, mine did that on my 5Dmk2 as well, almost the exact same situation, I had mine dialed in with microadjust a littl better than yours....But I own a 20D too and wanted it to be spot on for both...Sent it in....You can see the results I posted earlier in this thread....And my flickr folder for the calibrated copy

An example wide open after calibration

those examples are all BEFORE I adjusted it... my only reason for sending it in would be for resale purposes or if I were to let my wife use it (on the XSi)?

and what about your hood/aperture, any of the same issues?

Ahhh, I see....No, my aperture doesn't make a sound that I've noticed and the hood snaps on tight....Good luck Ben, Love your work

my hood is fine... but i just recently noticed something.

can someone look at their sigma and focus on an object that's beyond infinity and then check to see if the distance window actually says infinity? i noticed that mine does not focus to infinity but half a centimeter or so before infinity.

i also noticed that the focus seems to be hit or miss at infinity but tack sharp when within the MFD to infinity.

Not sure if it's the lens... pretty sure it's not the body.

My hood works properly but it does take a firm twist to lock it into place.

My hood snaps on very snugly, there is no play at all. Also my apertures make no noise whatsoever.

My copy requires about a +13 or 14 (still adjusting) to get anything remotely sharp at f/1.4
I'm likely to send it in to sigma however because it's absolutely unusable on my 40D.

@ my hood comment... I wasn't going far enough to actually snap it in place. It's quite nice how firm it snaps on once I realized that....

You shouldn't have to 'micro-adjust' this lens (or any lens for that matter).
Send it in!

Ben, your lens is FF by a tad... not as bad compared to mine before. That lady's nose would have been sharp instead. lol.