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Sigma 24mm f1.4
- Thread starter Rawfa
- Start date
Well it arrived. Not even mounted it on the camera yet, but it appears about the same size as the 50 with a slightly shorter hood. Hopefully tomorrow evening I'll have some basic images to post.
Update uno: Got it on the camera and had like 5 minutes to shoot a few frames and adjust AF fine tune. And it needed a bunch of AF tune, like +16, but now it's right on. Initial reactions to reviewing on rear LCD at 100%, at f1.4 it is very sharp central 2/3rds, showing pretty heavy light falloff and softening in the out 1/3rd corners -- the light falloff I will estimate at about 2 - 2-1/2 stops. The resolution falloff at f1.4 could be partly/mostly curvature, but did not specifically look for that, so need more testing to determine. Regardless, even by f2 it has both lightened up and sharpened up significantly in the outer 1/3rd of frame. My guess is at landscape apertures of 5.6-9 it should be pretty dang good across the frame. I shot some bricks and distortion seems very well controlled, but need to do a more specific test before I make any bold claims. AF is silent and instant, handling is as the 35 ART, and build is as the other ARTS, or IOW quite excellent. Hood does not have a very positive snap into home position, so I knock off points here. MF feel is a tad stiff and sticky, so another point off, but the throw is short so it pops in and out pretty quickly on my D810 focus screen and is actually quite usable. Plus this lens AF's so well on the D810 -- even in the dark underground parking garage I ran its first shots in -- I doubt I'll rarely need manual focus. Stay tuned for more as I get it...
Update uno: Got it on the camera and had like 5 minutes to shoot a few frames and adjust AF fine tune. And it needed a bunch of AF tune, like +16, but now it's right on. Initial reactions to reviewing on rear LCD at 100%, at f1.4 it is very sharp central 2/3rds, showing pretty heavy light falloff and softening in the out 1/3rd corners -- the light falloff I will estimate at about 2 - 2-1/2 stops. The resolution falloff at f1.4 could be partly/mostly curvature, but did not specifically look for that, so need more testing to determine. Regardless, even by f2 it has both lightened up and sharpened up significantly in the outer 1/3rd of frame. My guess is at landscape apertures of 5.6-9 it should be pretty dang good across the frame. I shot some bricks and distortion seems very well controlled, but need to do a more specific test before I make any bold claims. AF is silent and instant, handling is as the 35 ART, and build is as the other ARTS, or IOW quite excellent. Hood does not have a very positive snap into home position, so I knock off points here. MF feel is a tad stiff and sticky, so another point off, but the throw is short so it pops in and out pretty quickly on my D810 focus screen and is actually quite usable. Plus this lens AF's so well on the D810 -- even in the dark underground parking garage I ran its first shots in -- I doubt I'll rarely need manual focus. Stay tuned for more as I get it...
My AF fine-tune sequence is quite technical, so pay close attention 
:
I set lens to max aperture; I put a small subject with some detail like a small leaf on some clean pavement; I step back to about 6 feet distance so that I am pointing the camera at roughly 45 degrees to the subject (small leaf) and take a pic. I can immediately see if the true focus is in front of or behind the subject and adjust accordingly; repeat until subject is nailed focus. Now I stop down two stops and confirm, usually it's good; I then confirm at max aperture at roughly 1000x focal to confirm infinity is good. In all my contemporary AF lenses, the focus remains good through all distances and smaller apertures, probably due to increased DoF mitigating any minor focus shifts. Zooms, I start at longest aperture and confirm as above at both ends and a couple of mid-range points.
PS: This process works for the focus confirm dot with lenses like the PC-E's too.
:I set lens to max aperture; I put a small subject with some detail like a small leaf on some clean pavement; I step back to about 6 feet distance so that I am pointing the camera at roughly 45 degrees to the subject (small leaf) and take a pic. I can immediately see if the true focus is in front of or behind the subject and adjust accordingly; repeat until subject is nailed focus. Now I stop down two stops and confirm, usually it's good; I then confirm at max aperture at roughly 1000x focal to confirm infinity is good. In all my contemporary AF lenses, the focus remains good through all distances and smaller apertures, probably due to increased DoF mitigating any minor focus shifts. Zooms, I start at longest aperture and confirm as above at both ends and a couple of mid-range points.
PS: This process works for the focus confirm dot with lenses like the PC-E's too.
Well I have been tweaking my copy.
Setting two calibration points using the Sigma Optimization tool and a Lensalign target I found sharpest wide open at
8 feet (assumed infinity) +12
2 feet +14
1.2 feet +18
0.82 feet +12
Interesting that at least on this copy the mid-distances required different adjustments.
-bob
Setting two calibration points using the Sigma Optimization tool and a Lensalign target I found sharpest wide open at
8 feet (assumed infinity) +12
2 feet +14
1.2 feet +18
0.82 feet +12
Interesting that at least on this copy the mid-distances required different adjustments.
-bob
Well I took a shot to check my settings at what passes for infinity out my office balcony.
This the overview
Sigma 24 ART f/5.6 It is hard to shoot wide open in Arizona Sunlight
Some 100% crops
Center
Middle frame left
Middle frame right
Lower right corner
So far so good.
-bob
This the overview
Sigma 24 ART f/5.6 It is hard to shoot wide open in Arizona Sunlight
Some 100% crops
Center
Middle frame left
Middle frame right
Lower right corner
So far so good.
-bob
I did it on-cam for my D810.
No, that one was shot at f/5.6
I'll see if I can do one at 1.4 as the sun is going down.
-bob
Here are a couple examples, but don't read a lot into them yet -- they were shot handheld and processed on my MB Air, AND I forgot my CF reader for the raws, so these are the in-cam jpegs :facesmack: Fortunately I leave sharpening and NR set low. Oh, it's also fairly breezy today and the vegetation is moving...
Oh, a bit of background: The lens is sharp. The veiling effects of diffraction are readily visible across the frame at f8 on the D810.
First let's look at an f5.6 shot -- focus is on the buoy center frame:
Crops, center, upper right corner and then left edge:
Now a more typical type shot wide open to show its character:
Comments: Firstly, the lens is sharp, even centrally wide open which is in itself pretty remarkable. Obviously the outer 1/3 to 1/2 suffers, as does near infinity subject matter across the frame at f1.4, but then that's not a typical use. (If you are an astro photographer, more serious testing would be required for that application.) At f5.6 it carries the sharpness very well, but not perfectly into the extreme corners -- but it is one of the best 24's I've seen in this regard. Centrally at 5.6 it is sharper than both my 17-35 zoom and 24 PC-e, but frankly, I don't feel it's by a significant enough margin in the center 2/3 usability to justify its purchase over the others. The PC-E actually carries the extreme corner a little better due to its significantly larger IC, though not that far ahead of the Sigma; and of course, the 17-35 is outdone by either prime 24 at the outer 1/3 edges and corners.
The one thing that surprised me was the amount of aperture isolation rendered at the relatively moderate subject distance of the pine cluster shot at f1.4. That cluster was about 30 inches (75 cm) distant, and both fore and back falloff is visible with pleasant bokeh.
Is it a keeper? Yes, if you need/want a stellar performing fast 24, and can live with the bulk of a fast lens. For me, it's first a landscape lens, and I will use it for such. For travel, I like the effects I can get with f1.4, but overall size is not far off my 17-35, and the wide zoom is more flexible, so still a bit of a conundrum for me here and will need more time with it to determine.
Oh, a bit of background: The lens is sharp. The veiling effects of diffraction are readily visible across the frame at f8 on the D810.
First let's look at an f5.6 shot -- focus is on the buoy center frame:
Crops, center, upper right corner and then left edge:
Now a more typical type shot wide open to show its character:
Comments: Firstly, the lens is sharp, even centrally wide open which is in itself pretty remarkable. Obviously the outer 1/3 to 1/2 suffers, as does near infinity subject matter across the frame at f1.4, but then that's not a typical use. (If you are an astro photographer, more serious testing would be required for that application.) At f5.6 it carries the sharpness very well, but not perfectly into the extreme corners -- but it is one of the best 24's I've seen in this regard. Centrally at 5.6 it is sharper than both my 17-35 zoom and 24 PC-e, but frankly, I don't feel it's by a significant enough margin in the center 2/3 usability to justify its purchase over the others. The PC-E actually carries the extreme corner a little better due to its significantly larger IC, though not that far ahead of the Sigma; and of course, the 17-35 is outdone by either prime 24 at the outer 1/3 edges and corners.
The one thing that surprised me was the amount of aperture isolation rendered at the relatively moderate subject distance of the pine cluster shot at f1.4. That cluster was about 30 inches (75 cm) distant, and both fore and back falloff is visible with pleasant bokeh.
Is it a keeper? Yes, if you need/want a stellar performing fast 24, and can live with the bulk of a fast lens. For me, it's first a landscape lens, and I will use it for such. For travel, I like the effects I can get with f1.4, but overall size is not far off my 17-35, and the wide zoom is more flexible, so still a bit of a conundrum for me here and will need more time with it to determine.
and this is interesting: http://sigma-rumors.com
Dogs857
New member
I've been doing a lot of shooting with this lens over the last week and a bit deciding on whether to keep it or not.
At the end of the day it is another fantastic lens from Sigma. I had been looking for problems but could not really find any. It's sharp across the frame from 5.6 and is a great pairing with the D810 for landscapes. There is a bit of coma when shooting stars wide open but stopping down a bit seems to help with this. I don't do a lot of pixel peeping though, I tend to print out crops at my print size and check them out. I also don't judge anything until I have finished processing it as I just do not print unprocessed files. I'm sure you can find problems with any lens if you look hard enough, but for my work, for what I shoot, for how I process and for how big I print this lens is a real piece of work.
All in all I was trying to justify selling this to buy a Zeiss (because I really wanted one) but could not find anything that would make me want to give it up.
So the 24 Art will stay in the bag.
If you would like particular test shots let me know and I can post some up for you.
At the end of the day it is another fantastic lens from Sigma. I had been looking for problems but could not really find any. It's sharp across the frame from 5.6 and is a great pairing with the D810 for landscapes. There is a bit of coma when shooting stars wide open but stopping down a bit seems to help with this. I don't do a lot of pixel peeping though, I tend to print out crops at my print size and check them out. I also don't judge anything until I have finished processing it as I just do not print unprocessed files. I'm sure you can find problems with any lens if you look hard enough, but for my work, for what I shoot, for how I process and for how big I print this lens is a real piece of work.
All in all I was trying to justify selling this to buy a Zeiss (because I really wanted one) but could not find anything that would make me want to give it up.
So the 24 Art will stay in the bag.
If you would like particular test shots let me know and I can post some up for you.