New Sigma 50mm 1.4

I just received my new Sigma 50mm 1.4. After reading a whole bunch of reviews and user experiences, I decided to roll the dice and hope that my 5D2's microadjust would be able to correct any focusing issues. Straight out of the box it was obvious that it wasn't focusing correctly. Did some more test shots and settled on +13. That's quite a bit of adjustment but now everything seems to be good. The colors are very nice--just like my L lenses. Just like what others have observed, the bokeh is really nice. From 1.4 to 2.8, there's some chromatics going on but it's negligible by f/4.

Congratulations!

I am glad you could resolve the problem this way, as I've seen different amounts of backfocus on the same lens at different distances and apertures (it also may have focus shift).

Are you still going to have the lens calibrated by Sigma, or will you leave it the way it is?

Oh, and we need duck shots .

Kind regards, Wim

Since getting mine I have been doing a lot of test shots between my 85mm 1.8 & my Siggy 50mm 1.4. Something I just noticed on some shots I took last night is that the 50mm seems to focus great in good light situations. However, under low light I am getting soft pics compared to the 85mm.
Since low light is one of the big reasons for buying this lens, that could end up being very disappointing.

One of these was made with the 50mm & the other with the 85mm, but both were under outdoor lighting conditions.
All of the pics are cropped, including the ones in my next post.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Now here are 2 pics taken under low light situations. The first is the 50mm, and the second is the 85mm.

You can see the difference. Looks like low light is the killer of good IQ with this lens, or at least my copy.

I will continue to evaluate and test, but looks like Sigma might get this one back for tweeking.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

I just did a couple of more tests. I will post some pics as soon as I have some available time. I compared the f/4 of the Sigma with my Canon 24-105. To my surprise, the Sigma focused better and images were sharper. Not by much but still noticeable. When I was trying to focus in on a single strand of weed (yes, I need to mow my backyard), the Canon had a very difficult time finding it. The Sigma locked on without any problems. I am quite surprised because before receiving my Sigma I thought that Canon L lenses were cream of the crop. I wanted a low light lens but didn't want to spend $1400 for the Canon 50 1.2L, so I was willing to sacrifice a bit of quality and focusing accuracy. Yes, I had to make a significant microadjust for the Sigma but after that all seems to be well. I have not noticed issues focusing on near or distant objects. I'm hesitant to send it back to Sigma for calibration because so far it works well with the correction. I do have a 40D that I would also like to use it on. I haven't tried it on that body yet.

yogibear wrote in post #7839002
I just did a couple of more tests. I will post some pics as soon as I have some available time. I compared the f/4 of the Sigma with my Canon 24-105. To my surprise, the Sigma focused better and images were sharper. Not by much but still noticeable. When I was trying to focus in on a single strand of weed (yes, I need to mow my backyard), the Canon had a very difficult time finding it. The Sigma locked on without any problems. I am quite surprised because before receiving my Sigma I thought that Canon L lenses were cream of the crop. I wanted a low light lens but didn't want to spend $1400 for the Canon 50 1.2L, so I was willing to sacrifice a bit of quality and focusing accuracy. Yes, I had to make a significant microadjust for the Sigma but after that all seems to be well. I have not noticed issues focusing on near or distant objects. I'm hesitant to send it back to Sigma for calibration because so far it works well with the correction. I do have a 40D that I would also like to use it on. I haven't tried it on that body yet.

The pictures I posted above are on a 40D.

Sooooo, you are one of those guys that would rather play with your camera than to mow the grass!!!!!!

Me too.

I just took several shots on my 40D. For some reason, the Sigma seems to focus accurately on my 40D. I'm not sure how to explain this. On my 5D2 I had to make a +5 adjustment on my 24-105 and a +13 on the Sigma. On the 40D without the microadjust feature it seems to do fine. I will take more shots to confirm my initial results. Strange.