Sigma 50-100/1.8 Art

Snowcat

New member
Hello everyone!

I've just bought this lens... I am currently in China and I have visited a photographic equipment market, where I found this beauty as a mint second hand lens. The only thing it lacks is a hood, no idea why. It's price practically MADE me to buy it.

I just made a few tests, nothing more, but I can already tell that it is a fantastic lens. Unbelievably sharp wide opened, seems to have nice bokeh, silent and fast AF in poor artificial light of an hotel room and in the shop. AF is also very accurate everythere throughout the zoom range.

Lens is built like a tank, or course there is a price in it's wight, but still it seems to be very usable with D5500.

I hope I'll make some pictures soon and will share them with you.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
The fiance is wanting one of these really, really badly. I wish it had OS and I wish it was a bit longer on the long end, but... Those are nit-picks, really. Image quality is very, very good. It's a big ol' fat lens, too, taking 82mm filters but handles well on her smaller D5300 body.
 

Snowcat

New member
What I am wondering now, before I go to use it, is it safe to hold the camera grip alone with an 1.4kg lens mounter on camera? Or I should always hold the lens also? Of course, when shooting, Ill be holding the lens also, but when I am not shooting how should I hold the camera?
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
What I am wondering now, before I go to use it, is it safe to hold the camera grip alone with an 1.4kg lens mounter on camera? Or I should always hold the lens also? Of course, when shooting, Ill be holding the lens also, but when I am not shooting how should I hold the camera?
I carry my D750 with an equally heavy (1490 grams vs 1485 grams) Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 by the camera grip without issue.
 

TKC_D500

Senior Member
I passed on one of these due to the lack of IS with my shaky hands, and almost instantly regretted it. Extremely sharp lens on my D500! Enjoy it and do post some shots when you get a chance to try it out!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Snowcat

New member
Ok, some stupid samples for now...

DSC_4695_Small.jpgDSC_4720_Small.jpgDSC_4702_Small.jpgDSC_4696_Small.jpgDSC_4721_Small.jpgDSC_4707_Small.jpgDSC_4699_Small.jpgDSC_4722_Small.jpgDSC_4715_Small.jpgDSC_4701_Small.jpg

EXIF is there. The plane is 100% crop, others are not cropped at all, just resized to 3000x2000.
First impressions: The lens is surprisingly comfortable. I used Sony A7II with Sigma 50-500 and that was a nightmare. VERY hard. This sigma with D5500 is rather comfortable. The lens is designed cleverly - the zoom ring is exactly where it should be. The weight of the lens lies on second finger of left hand and 1st and 3rd fingers operate zoom. It is comfortable and tripod mount does not interfere with the process.

Sharpness is there from corner to corner, from 50 to 100, right from f1.8. Wow! You don't NEED to stop down this lens, you can do what you want. IQ will be there.

Looks like the lens is really enjoyable.

With this lens I noticed that real AF points of D5500 are lower then they are shown. Is it really so or it was my imagination?
 
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Snowcat

New member
Ummm... Sorry... Seems like instead of opening the large pics, site engine just shown the preview in a separate layer... Ummm... What should I do to correct this?

UPD: Uploaded to the forum directly but they became 1024px sized... How cab I use linking to a photo host to give you larger pictures to view? Standard bbcode seems to be overridden by the forum...
 
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Snowcat

New member
Ok, my brief review if Sigma 50-100.

The lens is built like a tank. Much metal, some plastic parts that look like metal. When it's new it looks tremendous. BUT some part of the lens are have some cover that is easily damaged. It's like a fog on the plastic surfaces, This "fog" is very easily can be damaged by your fingers from regular use or by anything else. The used lens will STILL look like a tank but like a tank that survived in several battles.

Ergonomics is extremely well thought out. At the beginning I was disappointed by the fact that I cannot remove the tripod collar. But that's not a problem. When you shoot with this heavy lens, you hold it with your left hand (I am talking about hand holding it or course). The weight of the lens is being held by your second finger of your left hand, the tripod collar is resting in the middle of your palm, letting it's muscles to be relaxed! Your first and third fingers of your left hand are naturally placed on the zoom ring and it can be turned from 50 to 100 smoothly and naturally! Really, I was surprised to see THAT cool ergonomics. I've spend two full days with a camera and this lens constantly in my hands, and that was not a torture, it was a pleasure.

Now, the picture.

Sharpness. It is SHARP. Sharp at the middle of the frame, at it's borders and in it's corners. EVERYWHERE. And on any f stop. Perhaps it is the shapest lens I have ever used and I used quite a lot of lenses... Including primes. For example Canon 200/1.8 is not even nearly as sharp even in the center of the frame at 1.8 as this Sigma.

While being extremely sharp, it;s picture is not... umm... harsh. It is... gentle (sorry, but I have to find English words for something that is not easily explained even in my native language :) ). Example - Tamron 17-50 is quite sharp AND it gives too harsh picture... This Sigma sharpness is pleasant to see.

Bokeh is beautiful. Simply beautiful, one of the best bokeh if we talking about neutral bokeh lenses (I mean not like Trioplan's bubble bokeh). It is silky soft, with some aqua colors feeling. Not much but just right amount of it.

AF. Yep I've heard some stories, quite scary, about AF problems of this lens. My lens behaved perfect. In all zoom range in different light conditions, it was spot on every time. I am not saying the stories are not true. So if you can, check the lens before you buy it with your own body.

Ok I guess this is it. For me this is THE perfect lens. A zoom with speed of a prime and with IQ better then most primes give. I definitely recommend this lens to everybody who uses crop bodies.

Here is an album with photos shot with this lens (except the first 2 and the last 4) - China / Beijing, Daguanyuan, Badachu by Sigma 50-100 Art | Alphatraveller photo gallery
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
...

At the beginning I was disappointed by the fact that I cannot remove the tripod collar. But that's not a problem. When you shoot with this heavy lens, you hold it with your left hand (I am talking about hand holding it or course).
Just something to try... You might prefer the handling if you rotate the tripod collar 90 degrees, or even 180 degrees, so you can rest the barrel of the lens in the palm of your hand. I rotate the tripod collar on my Tamron 70-200mm for this reason. Doing so has the added benefit of protecting the switches (there are three on my lens) from being switched on/off without my knowing. Nothing like having your focus limiter enabled, or auto-focus disable itself unexpectedly in the middle of a shoot.
 

Snowcat

New member
Paul, this lens has a very small collar (the smallest of all I've seen) and it really feels right in it's primary condition (0 degrees). In all other conditions is is getting on the way of turning the zoom ring and your palm loses it's support which really helps actually.

BTW I see you have removed LP filter from your D750... How you did it? I thought LPF basically is the part of the sensor and it cannot be removed without damaging the sensor...
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
BTW I see you have removed LP filter from your D750... How you did it? I thought LPF basically is the part of the sensor and it cannot be removed without damaging the sensor...
I removed the OLPF the old fashioned way: with a cold chisel. And by "cold chisel" I mean I had it dome professionally by the folks at Life Pixel. They specialize in doing things like IR camera conversions, sensor repair and will happily remove the OLPF from your camera.
 
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