Any thoughts, likes, dislikes for the Sigma 45mm 2.8 ?!

[TOPSHELFJR]

Don't know too much about it.. Have heard it can soft.. Have heard it produces great images.. Heard it's not too heavy.. Pretty small.. Autofocus works on Panasonic also but..

Other than the basics, I guess I was looking for some added intel, or things people may have personally enjoyed about the lens, or what they don't enjoy.

Also, which camera body are people shooting with it on ?!

Looking forward to hear.

 

[bing041]

Don't know too much about it.. Have heard it can soft.. Have heard it produces great images.. Heard it's not too heavy.. Pretty small.. Autofocus works on Panasonic also but..

Other than the basics, I guess I was looking for some added intel, or things people may have personally enjoyed about the lens, or what they don't enjoy.

Also, which camera body are people shooting with it on ?!

Looking forward to hear.

It is the perfect fit for the S9. The aperture ring makes it easier to change aperture than using the upper dial. Af is just as good as on any Lumix lens.

 

[Serhan2]

Here is a review and samples on Sony:

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www.fredmiranda.com

Here is on FP:

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www.dpreview.com

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www.flickr.com

I shot on FP and CL:

 

[Richard_Wong]

I bought one to use with the S9 as I found myself using the S9 all the time instead of all my other cameras (like to use it more than my A7CR or S5II). so want to have a small autofocus lens and the sigma 45 is the smallest one right now and I like the focal length.

I haven't really done any technical test of the lens and just using it to take personal photos. Is it soft closeup? Maybe I actually don't know, believe it or not I don't usually pixel-peep my personal photos. But I do really like how close I can focus when compared to my other Lumix 1.8 lenses.

And yes it's really compact.

Some photos I shot just last weekend. All are unedited JPGs straight from the camera. The close-up shooting capability makes it great as an everyday lens.



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View attachment cd8e9cf8ca304ecf920633b6dd1a6f32.jpg

 

[Off The Mark]

When are you going to do a review of this lens, Richard???

 

[Off The Mark]

I remember reading an article with the head guy at Sigma and he was saying something like the 45mm f/2.8 was his favorite lens. I guess it is less-controlled for spherical aberrations, which can lead to a "glow" or "halo" effect at close distances, but that is supposed to benefit the bokeh, and helps them make the lens smaller.

 

[David Kieltyka]

The Sigma 45mm is my standard non-zoom L mount lens. I use it on a Leica SL2. It can be glowy wide open at close range, but note that close range can be 24cm (1/4 lifesize magnification). Stop down to ~f/4 and the glow clears up. At distance it's crisp from wide open.

Here are three closeup examples plus a more standard landscape-y composition.















-Dave-

 

[Off The Mark]

Lovely shots, Dave.

Do you have a smaple photo where a shot with a lens OTHER than the 45mm would have rendered a busier bokey, but the 45mm showed smooth boekh?

I am not saying you need an exact comparisson shot of same subject / same place, but just a shot where you were pleasantly surprised how the 45mm handled what would NORMALLY be a busy background.

Thanks in advance. I have too many 50mm lenses (having just got the Panasonic 50mm f/1.8 in a bundle deal with the S5 IIX), but it might be worth selling one or two of them to get the Sigma 45mm instead.

 

[rashid7]

it is plenty sharp at all normal distances!

 

[Sam Bennett]

I bought one to use with the S9 as I found myself using the S9 all the time instead of all my other cameras (like to use it more than my A7CR or S5II). so want to have a small autofocus lens and the sigma 45 is the smallest one right now and I like the focal length.

So much for it not appealing to photographers! How are you liking the back LCD in daylight?

 

[Johan Borg]

it is plenty sharp at all normal distances!

Not only that, it's tack sharp at minimum focus distance too, unless you insist on shooting macro wide open.

It's a lovely lens for a deliberate photographer, but you may prefer something else if your camera is on Auto/P/S a lot. The reason being that the rendering of the lens changes quite a bit between f/2.8 and f/4, so you don't want to leave that artistic choice to chance.

 

[bs1946]

The Sigma 45mm f2.8 is one of the smallest Sigma primes and is also the kit lens for the fp and fp L. My first L-Mount camera was the Leica CL which came with an 18-55mm zoom. I have always used mostly primes and the Sigma 45mm f2.8 DG DN was one of my first for the CL. Later I added the 17mm f4 DG DN, the 24mm f3.5 DG DN, and the 90mm f2.8 DG DN. All four are part of Sigma's Contempory lens series and the 17mm, 24mm, and 45mm are the smallest.

The CL is gone and I have both a Sigma fp and fp L. Tried the Sigma 65mm f2 on the fp but didn't like it, mostly because of the size. Now I have the Sigma 50mm f2 DG DN, plus the 24mm, 45mm and 90mm. I've always used mostly 50s but find I prefer the 45mm on the fp or fp L, probably because of its smaller size. I don't pixel peep and have been very happy with all of my Sigma primes, except maybe the 65mm, and they are all built like little tanks...

 

[rashid7]

the 65 is the sharpest of the lot, but my fav is 35f2

 

[Richard_Wong]

When are you going to do a review of this lens, Richard???

Haha honestly i don't know.

When I bought some camera gear with the full intention of doing a long-term review, 99% of the time I ended up not being able to finish my review.

The main reason is there is no time pressure for me to complete the review, and I don't have good enough discipline to wrap up the review by a certain date.

And there are always some other new product reviews that take priority. Like right now for the L-mount, the next two reviews should be the Meike AF 50 1.8 and Meike AF 85 1.4

I have a folder of test results for my Fuji XH2, Sony A7CR, this sigma lens and a few other lenses I bought over the last two years, but I have a feeling none of them will turn into proper review :-|

 

[Richard_Wong]

I bought one to use with the S9 as I found myself using the S9 all the time instead of all my other cameras (like to use it more than my A7CR or S5II). so want to have a small autofocus lens and the sigma 45 is the smallest one right now and I like the focal length.

So much for it not appealing to photographers! How are you liking the back LCD in daylight?

It's pretty much the same as the S5II. So if you ok with it, you will be ok with the S9. But if you can't shoot with S5II's LCD screen under bright daylight, then it would be the same.

To me I think the LCD is "ok". But I am pretty adaptive to limitations like this. I can always use my hand to block the sunlight or tilt/flip the screen a bit to make the screen a lot more usable.

I also turn the screen brightness to +3 as I found the image looks better this way even when shooting indoor.

But even with it's limitations, I just found the S9 more fun to shoot with. otherwise I would have bought the Sigma for my Sony instead.

 

[jalywol]

I had it briefly when I got my S5.

For me, I found it rendered unpleasantly when wide open, and I genuinely did not care for its bokeh, even stopped down from there. So, for my particular type shooting, it was not the best option.

I think you should try one, though, as it might work well for what you shoot, which is very different than what I work with.

-J

 

[Sam Bennett]

I bought one to use with the S9 as I found myself using the S9 all the time instead of all my other cameras (like to use it more than my A7CR or S5II). so want to have a small autofocus lens and the sigma 45 is the smallest one right now and I like the focal length.

So much for it not appealing to photographers! How are you liking the back LCD in daylight?

It's pretty much the same as the S5II. So if you ok with it, you will be ok with the S9. But if you can't shoot with S5II's LCD screen under bright daylight, then it would be the same.

To me I think the LCD is "ok". But I am pretty adaptive to limitations like this. I can always use my hand to block the sunlight or tilt/flip the screen a bit to make the screen a lot more usable.

For me it's just my old eyes that also make it challenging. Even wearing transitions (bifocal) lenses it can be hard to get the camera at the right distance to really be able to see the screen. It works in a pinch if I'm just trying to frame the right composition, and with the AF being as good as it is now judging critical focus isn't as important as it once was, but it's just not a great experience.

I also turn the screen brightness to +3 as I found the image looks better this way even when shooting indoor.

I had mine at +1, but I'll give +3 a shot!

But even with it's limitations, I just found the S9 more fun to shoot with. otherwise I would have bought the Sigma for my Sony instead.

That's great. I imagine I'll pick one up once they hit the used market after a while.

 

[Sam Bennett]

When are you going to do a review of this lens, Richard???

Haha honestly i don't know.

When I bought some camera gear with the full intention of doing a long-term review, 99% of the time I ended up not being able to finish my review.

The main reason is there is no time pressure for me to complete the review, and I don't have good enough discipline to wrap up the review by a certain date.

You have two weeks to finish the review, or I Unsubscribe!

 

[Johan Borg]

For me, I found it rendered unpleasantly when wide open, and I genuinely did not care for its bokeh, even stopped down from there.

I bought the 50mm F2 DG DN because I also tend to prefer a different rendering than the super smooth focus transition you get from the Sigma 45mm wide open.

Unfortunately for me, I still prefer the bokeh of the 45 at any aperture - and even my own wife prefers the wide open look of the 45mm. Not an easy choice between the two:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4766592

 

[jalywol]

For me, I found it rendered unpleasantly when wide open, and I genuinely did not care for its bokeh, even stopped down from there.

I bought the 50mm F2 DG DN because I also tend to prefer a different rendering than the super smooth focus transition you get from the Sigma 45mm wide open.

Unfortunately for me, I still prefer the bokeh of the 45 at any aperture - and even my own wife prefers the wide open look of the 45mm. Not an easy choice between the two:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4766592

As I said, it's one of those things that comes down to personal preference. I do a lot of flower work, and prefer lenses with smoother out of focus transitions. The 45mm has a lot of interesting character to its bokeh, so I understand why you like it, it's just not my cup of tea, as it were.

-J