50 Vs. 50

I headed to sydney on wednesday to get a new camera and see the moran prize exhibition. I happened to run into a good friend of mine who was a finalist in the moran prize photographic open portraiture section. Some amazing photos in there by the likes of stephen Dupont among others. Anyway, we headed to paxtons in the city to check out some gear and stumbled upon the Sigma 50mm 1.4 HSM AF lens.

Now, i no its kind of hard to compare a 50mm vs. 50mm when we compared it to the nikon 50mm 1.4 and not getting the canon 50mm 1.4 a run in. So its a round 1 event of the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Vs. the Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-S D lenses. We compared these lenses on a Nikon D700 full frame camera body.

Background and a status check before we ring the bell. Sigma is solely a third party lens manufacture from japan. in the past most have been a little turned away from the fact that it isnt a "canon" or "nikon" made lens. But in recent times they have lifted their game and come out with some amazing lenses. Nikon have been around for years, lets face it, in 35mm format its really only canon and nikon at the moment, with a few other brands trying trying to pop up and become noticed but its taken a while for them. Nikon have just re-released a new 50mm. in the past the 1.4 wasnt AF-S, which is equivalent to canon's USM motor drives in the lenses.(although they are powered and fully controlled by the camera bodies them selves). It was the AF 50mm 14.D. now its the AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1.4G.

So the Sigma. How did it perform? Well, lets start with fact that its a 50mm. fast? yes, its a 1.4 wide open amazingly it is super sharp right through to about f/11. And what grabbed me straight away was how bright it was looking through the view finder. stunning. Now i will say something about the fact that when the guy behind the counter pulled the lens out of the box, the front element was HUGE. and i mean HUGE. The glass is right up to the front of the lens barrel. it takes a 77mm filter for that matter, same as most 70-200mm 2.8's or 24-70's. Having an element this big can only mean one thing, weight. Yes it is heavy, half a kilo. But it is very well weighted and combinded with any camera with a grip it makes it feel perfect. design of it is solid, Metal body. You cant say no to that. Very quiet focusing too. Performace wise it is super fast. Perfect if you shoot action or anything fast moving. It tracks very well and responds immediately. It seems that it is dictated by your eye movements. A very smooth bokeh too might i add.

Now introducing in the red corner Nikon. Again, 50mm. But it is a remake of the older version of the 50mm 1.4. Wide open it isnt that sharp and seems to become sharp from f/2 to f8 or so. I was rather disappointed about that. It didn't seem to have the burst of life in colour that the sigma kicks out. Weight wise it is half the weight of the sigma and the front element is 58mm. Unlike the sigma, the front element in tucked back into the barrel. This i think is what lets it down. The AF isnt as fast as what i was hoping for. It tracks just as good as the sigma but it is slower when you go to focus on something. for an AF-S quality lens it should be fast as hell. The body of it is part metal part plastic which i dont like. one or the other. i prefer metal.
The bokeh is very smooth in this lens and alot smaller than the sigma.

The conclusion: Personally i think the sigma has won this round. solid build, huge elements, pin sharp corner to corner. Sigma have really put alot of work into this lens and come through with the goods. But, if you dont like heavy lenses and would rather have a lens that you wouldnt be shooting fast moving objects with, the nikon is for you. Realistically, go into your local camera store and compare your canon 1.4 or nikon 1.4 to the sigma and see how you go.

ben.