Light dusting over Stockholm - Sigma 50/1.4 EX

[Lars]

We got about 5 cm of light snow overnight here. I took a luch break to capture some of it before the wind blew the snow off the branches.

Nikon D700 @ ISO 200 (raw), Sigma 50/1.4 EX mostly wide open. I wish I had an ND filter as my shutter times hovered around 1/8000s, some of these have blown highlights in the raw file (quite obvious in the first one, I tried to work with ACR to recover it but I can't say we agree all the time).

 

[Lars]

Second set:

 

[emmawest72]

Hej Lars,

I find the first one really magic. Very interesting light pattern and the dof is lovely. Great to see some photos of my hometown

 

[Lars]

Third set:
(Last one at f/4)

 

[Lars]

Hej Lars,

I find the first one really magic. Very interesting light pattern and the dof is lovely. Great to see some photos of my hometown

Thanks Långholmen obviously, I parked under Västerbron and went for a stroll around the island.

 

[Steen]

Beautiful snowscapes, Lars, and obviously a nice lens. Great three dimensionality especially in the first picture.
Btw. I prefer the bokeh background in the last f/4 shot over its wide open predecessor, I think it adds to the picture that the background has these more distinct and interesting (more dramatic) light fields. It adds an extra picture element.
Just my personal 0.02.

 

[Lars]

Yep for closeups f/1.4 is a bit wide, especially since this lens seems to have a wider softness than other lenses at the same aperture (if that's possible). Part of the purpose of my lunch break was to show how the Sigma performs wide open, but I realized in the last sequence that the two coffee mugs were an important element so I stopped down a bit.

BTW did anybody find the rabbit? In the second set, the third image. Just right of the rudder there is a live rabbit.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Your rabbit is slightly out f focus

The Sigma seems to be very good, and it makes me wonder if they will launch other focal lengths as well. 85 and 135mm would be interesting, and give Nikon some serious competition.

 

[Lars]

Jorgen, it is pretty good, with the exception of out-of-focus chromatic aberration. Not that it's any worse than similar Nikons, it's just that with f/1.4 and digital the CA becomes so much more visible, like with your 85/1.8D (or was it Bondo's?). Digilloyd's test with the Coastal Optics macro was quite revealing (shooting a sheet of text at an angle), none of my Nikons stand a chance in that test. I bet few 35mm lenses will, period.

 

[Lars]

Here you can see the Sigma compared to 50/1.8 AiS and 85/1.4D, and on my D700. Quite hefty for a 50.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Yes, it was me complaining about CA on the 85/1.8. Interesting size comparison. With that size of a 50, maybe we shouldn't hope for an 85 or 135 from Sigma unless they come with built in tripod and wheels

I've found a relatively simple way around CA that can't be corrected in ACR btw. I select the the general area where there's CA, and desaturate whatever colour the CA has. Since it's mostly a problem in high contrast areas, there are usually little other colour information being lost anyway.

Here are the menu choices in PS CS3:

Image
Adjustments
Hue/Saturation
Choose a colour
Desaturate as much as needed

It works best with green CA. Adobe's definition of green seems to hit that colour spot on, without affecting much else.

 

[Lars]

With that size of a 50, maybe we shouldn't hope for an 85 or 135 from Sigma unless they come with built in tripod and wheels

Yep it "balances well" as the spin goes. The D700 is pretty big by itself so the Sigma makes an already big package bigger. Not the ideal lens for your FM2 though.

The more I look at the first of the snow images the more i like it. Shooting wide open really allows for some three-dimensionality. The texture in the bark of the tree really helps too. Exposure was 1/8000 at f/1.6 in aperture priority, quite likely the meter indicated overexposure. I have to bring a 3-stop ND filter next time.

 

[Lars]

Size is of course relative. Here is the Sigma next to my Apo-Nikkor 610 mm f/9. Great lens if you shoot 11x14" - image circle is over 500 mm.

 

[viablex1]

do you ever shoot 11X14?

the boat shots are great, isn't the D700 the scat???

 

[Lars]

do you ever shoot 11X14?

the boat shots are great, isn't the D700 the scat???

No never bigger than 8x10. Jim Collum used to, I don't think he kept his 11x14 camera though.

The D700 is awesome but it's the lens that makes the image.

 

[viablex1]

I agree it is the lens for the most part, and the sensor kicks some serious ***!!