Sigma is known for producing high quality affordable lenses. This is the new reason Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN . Lens is a lens you should consider.
overview
As a portrait photographer, the 50mm lens is one of my most used focal lengths. I’ve owned several Sigma lenses in the past and have always been impressed, especially for the price. I like the matte black and silver “A” on the body of the Art series lenses. Art lenses are the more advanced line, there are also other lines that are Sports and Contemporary, which are generally not as sharp as Art lenses. The lens features 14 glass elements in 11 groups and 11 aperture blades that feature a circular diaphragm for smooth bokeh. Minimum aperture is f/16.
I recently had the opportunity to use it in two separate portrait shoots to test its capabilities. Overall, I find this a great lens. Here are the tests I did and what I concluded.
Sigma’s new HLA autofocus mechanism
This is currently Sigma’s second lens to feature an HLA (High-response Linear Actuator) autofocus mechanism. It eliminates focusing noise and allows you to focus quickly. To test the difference, I used my G Master 50mm f/1.2 lens. I focus on something near and then I focus on something far away. When I hold it in my hand, I can hear the engine and I can feel the vibrations of the moving parts in my hand. When I swapped lenses and put on the Sigma and did the same test, there was no noise and vibration.
The focusing system of the lens is important not only for focusing accurately, but also for focusing accurately quickly enough so that you don’t miss shots. The worst lens I’ve ever bought is the Sony 85 f/1.4 G Master. Not only does it have noisy focusing problems, but it also loses focus a lot. It’s constantly searching back and forth, trying to lock onto something. By the time it’s locked, the moment is gone. I had a lot of missed shots with that lens. Sigma doesn’t have that problem. I had no problems focusing quickly in low-light situations or when the subject was moving when I was recording video.
Lens focus noise is only really an issue if you’re shooting video in the gallery. The real question is how this HLA system can focus so quickly and give you sharp images. I tested this lens at both wide and narrower apertures with strobe lights, LEDs, and in extremely low light lit by candles alone. It can handle any situation. Here are some unedited images taken of the full body, but cropped only the face so you can see the focus on the eyes and face.
Here are the images taken with the strobe light and f/5.6 through f/11:
Here are the images shot wide open at f/1.4:
Here are the images taken extended with just candlelight:
Another experiment I decided to do was with fast-moving objects in front of the subject’s eyes. When I shoot in a rainy room in my studio, when raindrops fall in front of the subject’s eyes, it can affect autofocus. So I wanted to test the focus system by having someone throw a confetti in front of them. The eyes stay in focus the whole time, and the lens doesn’t have to search for focus.
Form factor
The Sigma 50 f/1.4 has a solid build quality. It is weather sealed for protection from splashes and rain. The body has an aperture ring, a switch for switching from manual focus to autofocus, and an AFL button. There’s also a slide that locks the aperture ring so you don’t accidentally change the aperture while shooting.
It measures 3.1 x 4.3 inches and weighs 23.6 oz. Since I usually shoot with the Sony 50mm f/1.2, I immediately noticed that it was much lighter and a bit narrower, making it easier to balance when shooting handheld video.
What I like and what can be improved with this lens
My shooting style is to shoot fast and capture a lot of motion. I usually shoot continuously and capture movements like running my hands through my hair or walking for more natural looking photos. That also makes it harder to focus each time. Compared to my Sony 50mm f/1.2 lens, this lens had a slightly higher number of out-of-focus shots, but it always managed to stay in focus every time I made more static poses on seamless paper. Out of about 1,200 shots, about 15 were out of focus, whereas, with my Sony lens, it averaged about 10 shots when I was capturing fast motion. Overall, that’s not a big deal, especially since Sony lenses are almost twice as expensive,
All in all, I like how it can focus so quickly, especially in low light. I mainly shoot full body portraits and I use the Sony a7R IV, which is a 61 megapixel camera and gives me the ability to crop my face when I’m taking a full body shot and still have enough resolution for a photo that can be taken. use to be. For these tests, I shot tighter portraits, focusing only on the face, as well as full-body shots. In both cases, the eye focus was excellent, and I couldn’t tell which was my more expensive Sony lens.
General opinion
This is a really nice lens, especially for the price. It has excellent autofocus overall, especially when tested in low-light and motion situations, where it performs almost as well as a lens that costs more than twice as much. It is aesthetically pleasing and has solid build quality and weather resistance. Images appear extremely sharp with no distortion or chromatic aberration.
For more details and some behind-the-scenes footage, check out the video above. You can buy yours here: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN . Lens.
