Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 stars5 Years Later: Sigma Art is Highest Rated Auto Focus 50mm Lens (DXOMARK) & Excellent Value
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2019
Frankly, I was never a big fan of normal lenses. This lens completely changed my mind. I have used this 50mm 1.4 Art lens extensively for 5+ years and it is on my camera most of the time. It was the first small format lens for my Nikon that offered me the kind of resolution I was used to as a long time large format or view camera photographer. It is also remarkably sharp. Check out the benchmark tests for the very top lenses at DXOMARK. I use mine on an aging D800e like in the ratings. That is also the same coupling used for my Sigma 85mm 1.4 Art lens which still stands at the time of this writing as that site's #1 rated lens overall. This is not just puffery. I mention this because I was initially very skeptical of Sigma's dramatic transformation into the league of the highest performance lens manufacturers. I was a reluctant convert. Nothing in SIgma’s history made me anticipate that, which I suppose makes its success all the more noteworthy. Some reviewers have not been able to drop their historical bias against the brand. But the evidence is overwhelming for Art Series lenses. It is also an easily testable proposition.
Every lens manufacturer's glass color is different and today we have many choices in third party well as Nikon lenses. Nikon lenses tend to be relatively neutral so Sigma Art lenses are close cousins. I need neutral in my workflow. Other people prefer the warmth of other brands’ color. In post production this issue is easily managed either way. Every lens has its own individual look in rendering the world whether that is inside your studio or in the field, sometimes literally in the field. I happen to need high resolution and optical sharpness. My living is based on getting my work reproduced in books and as an artist I make very large prints for galleries and museum exhibitions. Other photographers might not need those characteristics in order to print large but will use them to make high quality prints from cropped images that still hold up very well. This lens performs very well for all those demands and excels when coupled with high resolution sensors and careful use. As you know any lens will appear better or worse depending on the performance capabilities of specific digital cameras and sensors. If you want to see this lens’ full potential you will need to invest in a high resolution camera. That is now all about the coupling of optics and electronics.
[And I add with emphasis, the more you know about pragmatic issues like focussing your camera, manually and with auto focus, the more you will ensure that you are getting the most from what this sophisticated gear has to offer. Skills and knowledge still count and will transform your images as you acquire more. Moreover, courses offering higher levels of decision making can help refine your ideas and compositions. Subjects like art history, design, and aesthetics are some of the things that help take you to the next levels and are good investments when you want to get to the next levels regardless of your gear. You will get more out of your equipment applying what you learn across the board.]
It is a fast lens. This one is literally as good as they can get today. You may not need a lens that is sharp at f1.4 very often but when you do you will be very happy. Too many fast lenses are not useable until you stop them down including Nikon’s 50mm 1.4G, but not this one. I can recommend the image quality of the recent, refined but much more expensive Nikon 58mm 1.4G lens, which I consider a specialty lens compared to the "good for everything" Sigma 50 mm Art lens. Fast lenses are effective for separation of an object from a background as well as for low light situations when using a flash fill is not appropriate or will not provide what you want. The Sigma's bokeh is everything I need. It is such a subjective matter that I can’t predict your response but many folks tend to have very strong opinions about this subject making for many contentious debates. But I have not noticed much consensus over the decades. That is not a criticism, just an observation. I don’t use terms like dreamy or creamy. They are limited in what I can convey to you using them and there can be a number of nuanced aesthetic phenomena going on simultaneously in any specific bokeh that deserves a more substantial treatment. Examples include shapes change by lens, distance and f stop. What happens in the highlights, midtowns and shadows also vary from lens to lens. Tonal and color transitions can widely vary and just can’t be adequately reduced to words like blur. There are obviously no metrics for dreamy. Of course, there are many other aspects of optical rendering that are challenging and next to impossible to comprehensively describe using words or describe their effect on viewers. Every lens has its own characteristics for better and worse. But everyone seems to know what they want after they see it so please try out the lens first to see if it gives you what you are looking for. In my lens f4.5 and on both sides of it offer the very best range for sharpness but frankly this lens outperforms the competition at virtually every f stop. Few lenses can make me this happy at so many different apertures. Most lenses are much more clearly optimized and less flexible. Don’t worry if you need more depth of field. All lenses are NOT created equal at lower f stops any more than they are at other settings. Once again, this is a clearly demonstrable and testable matter. Find out all of your lenses’ strengths. Remember there are also lens to lens variations even within the same model. Get specific. It can be well worth the time in the long run for some folks. You will know who you are.
As a cautionary tale, be wary of some astonishingly foolish reviews online. You know that already but some are not simply worse in degree but cross over into kind—utter nonsense. I was surprised, shocked and amused by some ridiculous sham reviews. Try and find what actual shooters, not bloggers, have to say first. One wannabe pro claimed we should avoid the sharpest lenses because they are only intended for amateurs, not professionals. This person is not a professional, let alone an expert but unfortunately pretends to be. That is one kind of deception, an appeal to authority. Be skeptical. Be discriminating and let common sense prevail. There is a lot of your money at stake.
All 50mm lenses are part of the "normal" focal length range that proves to be very flexible in a variety of uses. They prove easiest when composing since what you see in the viewfinder will be what you get in terms of scale and perspective. Also the unusual lack of flaws and weaknesses in this Sigma Art lens include its corner to corner sharpness that is especially appropriate when making panoramas. There is also reliable uniformity in each file's color, contrast, tonal distribution, lack of distortion and unbeatable clarity. You will have few problems to clean up in post production after stitching.
IMO, the world looks very different through great glass. Once you experience that, relatively ordinary lenses will likely disappoint you thereafter. I was hooked decades ago and my discriminating clients appreciated the difference.
There are caveats. First, the auto focus strains in many low light situations although that can be as much about the camera as the lens. Low light severely reduces contrast upon which most auto focus relies. It is not a huge issue in my particular case because in those situations I prefer to use a tripod and manual focus anyway. I probably use manual focus more than the majority of people in all situations but I can usually rely on the auto focus when there is enough contrast. Since it is about reverse engineering Nikon's proprietary technology, Sigma offers an inexpensive tool to assist you in fine tuning auto focus if you need it, their dock. It works with all Sigma Art Series lenses and some other Sigma lenses. Focus speed is very good but I do not make big demands on it by often shooting high speed moving objects. I have lenses that are faster but most of the rest are slower. Possibly your biggest reservation is about size and weight. I understand although I gladly accept its weight, 1.8 pounds, in return for consistently outstanding performance, resolution and sharpness. I also have too kits, one for list weight travel. That too is about personal preferences and needs as well as budgets. There are always trade offs. In terms of subject matter, it is not my first choice for portraiture because of distortion from moving in closer than conventional portrait focal lengths require. But if you want distortion then it is the answer, not a problem. Similarly if you want to play with “normal” distribution of space and scale you will need to either go wider or into telephoto lenses to achieve results like intentional distortion and compression. But note that I am describing the trade offs of any normal focal length lens in general. For example, it you wanted the same image quality as this lens but in a focal length are appropriate for most portrait work, you might consider the Sigma 85mm 1.4 Art lens. It is even a bit sharper. It is close to be an astonishing lens in my estimation. But they are close in performance.
Lastly, this 50mm lens has no VR equivalent, image stabilization. That could be a deal breaker for some of us. It will matter most in low light situations or if hand holding has been a problem for you. Again, in what I do, a tripod offers one solution but it can’t always take the place of VR in every situation. You simply might not have that option in the kind of shooting you do.
Overall, I consider the $950 I paid to have been a steal and the best quality I had ever paid for such a reasonable amount of money although I must add the Sigma 85mm 1.4 Art is tied for value. It is being sold much cheaper today. I am conservative in my buying advice. Know your seller's credentials and policies ahead of time in case anything goes wrong. Amazon charges more but you are always completely protected. And yes, long ago I found that out the hard way. It was a lasting lesson.
In summary, this lens is pure pleasure to use, flexible in purpose, affordable and reliable. Test it out for yourself.
