Lateral chromatic aberration is even better controlled in the DN lens compared with its forebear, which was already very good. As such, there’s virtually no color fringing to be seen towards the edges and corners of the frame. Axial chromatic aberration is also minimal, so there’s very little fringing around high-contrast edges in scenes that fall just in front of or behind the plane of focus. Resistance to ghosting and flare is again impressive. Bokeh is lusciously soft and dreamy. We noticed some ‘onion ring’ effect with the DG lens in defocused lights and bright spots but this is much more minimal in the DN lens. Overall I feel that these two lenses are pretty similar, but if I had to give the edge to one lens, I would personally go with the Sigma. The Canon does have the advantage of being able to go to F/1.2, but in the real world, the difference between F/1.2 and F/1.4 in your shots will be negligible. Regarding build you have to weigh up (pun intended) the larger seize and heavier weight of the Sigma against its use of metal in the lens’s outer construction which gives it a feeling of very solid construction. But make no mistake: looks can be deceiving: the outer construction does not tell you anything about the quality and durability of the inner workings including the focus-drive. So the Sigma might or might not last longer than the Nikon. After all is said and compared I personally would prefer the new Sigma Art over the Nikon 58/1.4G even if the price was the same – so considering the Sigma Art is cheaper this is a strong recommendation.

Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art review | Digital Camera World Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art review | Digital Camera World

Again, hard to tell right off the bat from these small web sized images. So let’s punch in on the 100% crops and you will see a big difference. Just to head off you Canonites, these shots were focused in live view, on a tripod. So “perfect” focus was confirmed prior to taking the shots. can be content with “very good” rather than “extreme” sharpness at the fastest apertures or in the corners Whereas Sigma’s ‘Contemporary’ lenses are designed to be relatively compact and lightweight, the ‘Art’ lenses in the Global Vision line-up are less compromising. They aim to deliver the highest standards of image quality to suit the most demanding creative photographers. This 50mm prime has a particularly complex optical layout for a ‘nifty fifty’, based on no less than 14 elements in 11 groups. The layout include three aspherical elements and one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) element, with the overall aim of enhancing color rendition, contrast and edge-to-edge sharpness while minimizing aberrations that include sagittal coma, astigmatism and field curvature. Once you stop down to f/2.8, the results improve to the point that you can barely see any traces in images taken with the RF lens. The Sigma continues to display a small amount, whereas with the EF lens, it doesn’t disappear completely until f/5.6. regularly use the 50mm field of view and/or very fast apertures for your work (portraits, weddings, events, etc.) and feel you will get a significant return on the investmentThe 800 pound gorilla in the group of MF lenses is the Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4, and I wish it cost 800 pounds! At a price of 3200 EUR / 3600 USD and over 900g weight plus a completely different optical design than other “normal” lenses it set a new benchmark in 2013 on optical performance in this group. See my Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4 review where it earned a Highly Recommended. Zeiss also offers the manual focus Loxia 50mm f2 and the autofocus Batis 40mm f2. Focus accuracy and repeatability is critical to consistently produce sharp shots especially with large aperture lenses. Repeatability (the accuracy of focus on the same subject after repeated focus-acquisition) of the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art is good (measured 97.7% in Reikan FoCal) with no outliers over a series of 40 shots. There is only a very slight focus variation whether the lens focuses from a closer distance or from infinity. The focus rings of the Sigma and EF lens are somewhat stiffer than that of the RF lens but all three are pleasant and accurate to use. Because the Sigma and RF lens have wider focus rings, they are a little easier to turn than the thin ring of the EF lens. Ok, the first shot was the Canon and the second shot was the new Sigma. Web sized like the two images above are, it is hard to tell which is which right off the bat. My initial thoughts though are that the Canon’s bokeh is slightly more appealing, the Sigma’s seems to be a hair more “busy” but overall they are very similar. [REWIND: My Initial Thoughts & Unboxing Of The Sigma 50mm F/1.4 DG HSM Art]

50mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art | Lenses | SIGMA Corporation

There is really no comparison here. The Sigma is again better than the 50mm F/1.8. It is sharper, has less distortion, and less CA. There is literally not one thing about the Canon 50mm F/1.8 that I find to be superior to the Sigma. Compared Wide Open at F/1.4 and F/1.8 Whereas the Sigma and EF lenses are mechanical in nature, the RF lens employs focus-by-wire which uses a motor to drive the manual focus. Benefits of this mechanism include being able to vary the ring’s rotation speed/sensitivity and customise the direction of the ring. Canon offers the EF 50mm f1.4 USM at 300 EUR / 350 USD or the EF 50mm f1.2L USM at 1350 EUR/USD. See Gordon’s Canon EF 50mm f1.2L USM review. Full-frame Canon mirrorless owners can alternatively go for the native RF 50mm f1.2L at a considerable 2300 USD; see Gordon’s Canon RF 50mm f1.2L USM review. The pictures below illustrate the 50mm F1.4 Art's angle of view on full frame and APS-C, taken from our standard position. As is Sigma's way, the lens is just slightly 'wide' for a 50mm prime (its measured focal length is 48mm), bringing it closer to a classic 'normal' view on full frame. On APS-C cameras it behaves like a short telephoto lens. Some of you requested some portrait shots. The best I can do tonight is these shots of my very squirmy kids. Still, you can see the Sigma edge the Canon in sharpness and the Canon seems to have a creamier bokeh.So optically the Sigma is definitely superior, but obviously it’s also larger, heavier and roughly double the price. I’d say it’s worth it if you can afford it and don’t mind accommodating the heft – and if it helps you justify the price, remember another advantage of the Sigma is being able to pay to switch mounts should you swap camera systems in the future, thereby protecting your investment. Oh and it comes with a lens hood too.

Sigma 311101 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon, Black

Unfortunately the Sigma’s wide-open performance in the center drops towards the corners even of an APS-C sensor. But make no mistake: it’s performance is still good to very good there. In addition to corner resolution the Sigma Art falls behind the Zeiss Otus in three other aspects: field-curvature, loCA, flare/glare-resistance. So the old adage still holds true: you get what you pay for. So when I first found out that Sigma had plans to update its existing Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM, I got really excited, since I knew that the new Art-series lens would not disappoint. It has been too long since both Nikon and Canon updated their 50mm f/1.4 primes. In the case with Nikon, its newer 50mm f/1.8G yields better sharpness than the bigger and heavier 50mm f/1.4G. In short, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G is just not good enough for modern high-resolution sensors and its performance at maximum aperture is rather disappointing (and the Canon 50mm f/1.4 is quite similar in that regard). The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art announcement was very timely because it hits a sweet spot between the sub-par 50mm f/1.4 Nikon and Canon lenses, and the exotic manual focus Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4. Canon EOS 6D + 50mm @ 50mm, ISO 100, 1/800, f/1.6Lateral chromatic aberration is entirely negligible throughout the entire aperture range, even out at the edges and corners of the image frame. Axial chromatic aberration or ‘bokeh fringing’ is often problematic at very wide apertures with fast lenses, but it’s very minimal in this case. As a member of Sigma’s renown Art series the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art is expected to perform on a very high level. It is positioned roughly between standard 50mm f1.4 lenses and the top-end models from Canon, Nikon, and Sony in price. The big question then is how does it to compare to those below and above it in price? Does it offer a sufficient step-up from normal 50mm f1.4 lenses to justify the price, and does it give the pricier models a run for their money? To find out, Thomas and Gordon teamed-up to give the Sigma 50mm Art a real workout and compared it against a whole slew of other lenses including the Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4, Canon EF 50mm f1.2L USM, and Sony FE 50mm f1.4 ZA. We’ve completely updated our original review from 2014 with test-shots on the 46MP Nikon Z7 and the 42MP Sony A7R II. So if you’re interested in which high performance standard prime lens to choose for your camera system, you’ve come to the right place! The DN lens is noticeably shorter and lighter than the Sony E and Leica L mount versions of the older DG lens. (Image credit: Sigma Imaging)