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Image Gallery for the 50 mm F:1.4 Art Lens

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larryj

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Rick, Kendall and I have had an opportunity to shoot some test images with the new 50 mm Art lens on the SD1M. The gallery below contains images shot under different conditions in various locations, including Hawaii, San Francisco and Colorado.

My impressions: This is the best lens I have shot on the SD1M, bar none; including my old sharpness favorite the 70 mm macro. The images are crisp and clean. The autofocus is quick and accurate. The lens has very little CA and is very sharp all the way out to the edges.

I did most of my shooting at F:8.0 and F:5.6 where the lens is totally amazing. You have to look at these images full size to really appreciate the detail in these captures.

Kendall and Rick shot some images at F:1.4 to F:4.0. In all cases the lens produced sharp images. The bokeh at F:1.4 was very nice.

IMHO this is the best lens Sigma has produce so far ...

http://www.pbase.com/sigmadslr/50mm_f14_a

PS. Later this week I plan to shoot images comparing the DP3M and 50 mm Art lens on the SD1M of the same targets and under the same lighting conditions. Having never shot the DP3M, it is hard for me to believe it will be any sharper then the 50 mm Art lens. Look for the results in a post later this week.
 
Hi LarryJ:

Request the Password please..? :-) (To access the gallery)?

Thanks,

Have a nice day...

Ed~
 
Thanx to the three of you!

But why is the gallery password protected?
 
Thanks Larry!

:)
 
I don't have any trouble accessing the originals. I don't think it's password protected. Maybe that has been fixed before I looked.
 
Hi ED and Fdecker: The password protection has been removed.
 
SO sharp! These images look almost like they've been sharpened. Unreal . . . or maybe it's that 3D look people talk about coming from cameras with Foveon sensors. I can't wait to see what the 39 megapixel JPEG images from a Quattro will look like, using this lens. These images remind me of the photos I remember seeing from the SD14 and SD15 on Carl Rytterfalk's site (specifically the red commercial boat/ship). The jaggedness from the sensor is SO obvious in these images it's incredible. I think that shows how sharp a lens really is, with the Foveon sensors. It's most obvious in angled lines.

I look forward to the comparison shots from the DP3 Merrill.
 
At which f-stop did you shoot the Image showing the Ocean in the background which you also shot with the DP3M? The SD1 image does´t contain any information unfortunately.

If it is shot at f8, like the DP3M-shot, I´d say, the DP3M is even better.
 
larryj said:
Hi ED and Fdecker: The password protection has been removed.

--
Cheers,
larryj
If you can see the light, you can photograph it
Quote from Myron Woods
Click to expand...
Thank you Larry!

Quite amazing. If there was ever any doubt about Sigma being very serious about the quality of their Art line, it will end here.
 
Lin Evans said:
In every way...

Best regards,

Lin
Click to expand...
Very nice indeed.

Too bad no FF samples. I can offer to test this lens on 1Dx (if Sigma send me one in EF mount) unless you want to test it on your 1D :-)

Kind regards

Richard
 
First let me say that the 50A is without a doubt the best prime by Sigma to date. It has minimal CA and its colors really pop and is extremely sharp and has great bokeh. I did the comparison of the DP3M and the SD1/50A. The 50A was shot at f8. I think it was saved from TIF to JPEG via Fastone which seems to erase the EXIF or part of the EXIF data. Both images were shot on tripod. I did multiple 50 shots as I am still a little leery of SD1 AF based up having taken hundreds of shots like this off my deck. The SD1 does bluer skies than the DP3M and the DP3M renders better the greens of the vegetation here in the tropics. The DP3 appears to be a little sharper and that may be due to the sensor implementations more so than the lens. The corners of the 3M are legendary for their sharpness and the 50A holds up well in comparison. I would opt for the DP3M if I were not planning any wide-open shots where I needed faster stops than f2.8. I have the earlier model of the 1.4 and have always considered it my best 50 at f8. I did head-to-head comparisons of the two 50's from 1.4 up to f11 and the new 50 wind hand-down. It even seems to AF a little quicker and better.

The 2nd comparison I did was f1.4 and included the 50A, 50 f1.4 and 85 f1.4. I have considered my 85 the king of f1.4; my old 50 is adequate wide-open but over shadowed by the 85 and n ow by the 50A. All 3 shots were don with MF and focus bracketing. Look a the color rendition of the 50A. Also for examples of good pop (and good light), any of the close-ups and I would suggest:

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www.pbase.com

Definitely a big winner for Sigma.
 
This lens is really, really sharp.

I also shot a bunch of stuff using this lens for an indoor event (not shown) in really poor light, where this lens was very useful - it seemed at the time like I was not getting great results from the focus from the preview but when I went back to develop the RAW files in SPP most times the focus was fine - in same cases it was just that even at a good distance f/1.4 is quite narrow.

The lens is a fair amount larger than 50mm primes you are probably used to. I personally never had good luck with the older 50mm primes and so avoided them, but the new one is really solid and I was happy with the results pretty much all the time.

Even though the focus is HSM I found this lens hunting a little more than I was used to with other HSM lenses.

I'm not sure myself where it falls in relation to the DP3M, it's very close though. As Rick said the colors from it are great and images you get out of it have a nice pop.
 
I just posted my report (“Observations”) on the new Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG (OS) HIM lens and in my report I indicated I that the new 50 mm F:1.4 Art Lens would be better than Art zoom. I had no idea how much better. I do expect it will prove to be the best inter changeable lens Sigma has every produced.

What surprises me most is the report by Rick and Kendall that it may be almost as good as the DP3M. The DP series has the advantage that Sigma can “tune” the lens to the sensor. In theory it should produce the best image possible. For this new 50mm f1.4 to be even close to the DP3M is astonishing indeed.

For people who have problems with the weight of this new 50mm lens the DP3M becomes an interesting alternative, given similar prices. But the DP3M has limitations compared to this new 50mm f1.4 on the SD1M, starting withe f1.4.

Sigma is given us some really great new lens (and cameras) to use. Enjoy our goof fortunes!

Pete
 
rick decker said:
First let me say that the 50A is without a doubt the best prime by Sigma to date.
Click to expand...
PopPhoto seems to think the original 50mm f/1.4 from Sigma is better, for some reason.

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www.popphoto.com
 
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