[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here to Give you the comparison I can make at The moment while I still have the sigma 50mm f1.2 DN art lens here if you missed My full review of that you can check That out here I will try to do an f1.2 GM comparison down the road when I can Get that lens in but I'm going to make An immediate comparison to the 50mm f1.4 G master I happen to own that lens and Thus I have it on hand so that's the Most logical reason to do this Comparison first but also the fact that These are actually the more similar of The two lenses in price and I think that They will get cross shopped a bit and so Today this video is about trying to help You make a determination which lens Makes more sense for you and we'll dive Into those reasons I'll give you some Pros and cons some similarities and then For those of you that want a deep dive Into the optical Optical comparison Between the two we'll do that at the end Of the video first however a word from Our sponsor today's episode is brought To you by the Phantom duffel a new Unique convertible duffel bag that Starts as a compact packable case that Easily fits into your luggage or Carry-on bag but then converts into a 35 L duffel the exterior is made of 1680d Ballistic nylon which is tough and
Weatherproof the interior has a high VIs Ibility reflective finish that allows You to easily see what's inside even in A dim hotel room a large foam pouch on The side has a cable pass through to Allow for charging and the removable Straps use a fidlock system to easily And securely connect them I've been Using it for the gym and it has room for My water bottle a change of clothes a Basketball my massive shoes a towel and A charger for my cell phone visit store. Fanom wallet.com to check it out and use Code dustin2 for 20% off when you're Ready to check out So before we break down the differences Let's talk about what is similar here Both of these lenses actually have an Identical magnification level of 0.16 Times now they achieve it in slightly Different ways the sigma focuses a Centimeter closer than what the Sony Does but the Sony is a little bit longer In its focal length it actually frames a Little bit tighter than what the sigma Does both of them have dual high-speed Focus Motors and so a lot of focus speed And you can see here that both of them Are extremely Snappy going from close to Distant and back in terms of autofocus Speed both of them have enough Focus Speed that you'll never have to worry About that as being an issue both of Them also have a fully featured approach
To aperture you do have a manual apertur Ring on both lenses identically with Onethird stop clicks but also the option To dclick it and to use an iris lock or An aperture ring lock to where where you Can lock it either in or out of the Manual aperture ring depending on what Your preference is both of them have Thorough weather ceiling that goes from A gasket at the lens mount internal Seals throughout and a special coating On the front to protect from Fingerprints and water both of them have A focus hold button and an an AF MF Switch on them both of them come with Cases for transport and they are Optically very similar though we're Going to try to dive into the new es Where they diverge just a little bit Today and so that that can help you in Making a more informed decision so just So you know I have used a Sony a7r Mark 5 for all of these comparisons it's the Highest resolution point so that allows Us to get as close as possible and Magnify the various little little Details where they differentiate between Each other so let me start by giving you Some reasons to choose the Sony lens the First of those ironically is price Because we're comparing the f1.4 to the F 1.2 on the sigma side the Sony is Actually the cheaper of the two lenses No not by a large margin it retails for
$1,299 compared to 1399 us for the Sig now obviously There'll probably be a little bit more Play either up or down depending on your Market so that Advantage may or may not Be an advantage when it comes to your Home Market but it also more Indisputably is a more compact lens We're talking about 80.6 mm in diameter And 96 mm in length and weighing in at 512 G versus 81 mm in diameter so just a Little bit wider but more importantly Quite a bit longer 110.84832201 longer the sigma and it is 44% heavier which is obviously the more Significant of those two now the Sony Also has a a minor advantage and by the Way most of these advantages from here On out are going to be very very minor But it does have a second custom or Focus hold button and so if you're Shooting in the vertical position it's Accessible there so it has one more Feature than what the sigma does now as We'll find in our Optical breakdown it Does have a sharper Center and rule of Thirds performance at wide apertures We'll see that as we break it down so in The places where you're probably most Going to look for sharpness it has just A tiny bit more tiny bit more contrast There uh one advantage that we have here On Sony is the fact that the native Sony Lens while both of them Focus extremely
Fast the Sony lens can achieve the Full Burst rate on a camera say like my alpha 1 or an A9 series camera rather than Being constrained to 15 frames per Second as you will be on the sigma the Sony can get all the way way up to 30 or Even higher in the case of the A9 Mark III and so um if you happen to be one of Those rare people that is shooting you Know something like sports or action Photography with a 50 50 mm lens the Sony might be a little bit better choice For you because it's going to unlock the Ultimate burst rate that your camera is Capable of now in some of my Optical Breakdowns I found that the Sony has Slightly less vignette and that shows up In real world images as well where it's Just a little less obvious I did that The geometry was very slightly rounder With the Sony lens it rains a little bit More circular shape and that's more wide Open um near the edges of the frame than What the sigma does I also found in my My breakdown kind of just uh pixel Peeping with Boke images I found that There's just a little bit less outlining On the Sony as well and I also found That the there's a little bit difference In color the Sony or is a little bit More neutral in its color addition than What the sigma is is again these are Very very minor differences but you'll See it in that Optical breakdown I also
Found that it had very slightly better Contrast in real world situations we'll See that later and also on the video Side of things this is compatible with Sony's Focus breathing compensation in Their cameras and so if that's an issue For you the Sony's going to be Compatible with that whereas at the Moment the sigma is not so let's talk About reasons to choose the sigma well The elephant in the room obviously is You get f1.2 versus f1.4 along with Everything that goes along with that That does give you more light Gathering Potential a larger maximum apture means That in low light uh situations you're Going to be able to get more light and Thus a faster shutter speed less chance Of motion blur with the Sigma lens the Other aspects that come with an f1.2 Aperture is that you're going to find That the bouquet is just a little bit More soft in some situations and the Simple reason that there is a larger Maximum apture means that specular Highlights are going to be a little bit Bigger there's going to be slightly more Subject isolation because the depth of Field is going to be just a little bit Smaller and so there's a lot of Advantages that come inherent with f1.2 Which is why people pay the big bucks to Get that kind of Maximum aperture the Sigma also has a few more aperture
Blades it has 13 Blades versus 11 Advantage there being is that more Blades means that it's typically easier To keep a circular uh aperture Iris Shape when the lens is stopped down Something that the sigma does Exceptionally well I did find on a Practical level that I preferred the Feel of the manual focus ring on the Sigma it is a little bit heavier damped But it has more feel and weight to it so You feel like you're able to do a little Bit more precise whereas the manual Focus ring on the Sony has very very Little feel it's extremely light I don't Love it and I'll also note uh as far as The tactile sense of it the Sigma lens Has a much wider manual focus ring that You can kind of lay hold of and It just Fits into the fingers a little bit Better better the the Sony obviously is Trying to fit as much stuff as what the Sigma has in a smaller case here and so It does feel a little bit tighter in Some of those areas and I would prefer The sigma and the performance of that And so outside of that I would say most Of the advantages have to do with the F1.2 apture itself and so in just a Moment we'll do an actual breakdown in The rendering if you want to stay tuned For that but my conclusion is by the Sigma if you're looking for f1.2 and you Don't want to spend the money an
Additional $600 to get the Sony 50mm F1.2 this is the lightest and it is also The cheapest autofocusing f1.2 apture Available on this platform right now and So that makes it a really really Appealing lens if your hardest set on F1.2 bu the Sony 50mm F1.4 if you can live without f1.2 I do And continue to think this is the best F1.4 Package on the market I really really Love this lens and I've been using it Very steadily for a year it's utterly Reliable it does a great job for me and I think that it is the Confluence of a Lot of great engineering things into one Package and so you can save $100 and get An amazing amazing lens if you can live With f1.4 versus F1.2 My ultimate conclusion here is once Again we are incredibly spoiled for Choice on particularly on the Sony Platform there are more autofocus Focusing 50mm lenses than I think have Existed on any platform previously and So if you are looking for a 50mm lens The good news is is you've got tons of Options the bad news you've got a lot of Options and now you have to decide what You're going to put your money down for If you want a little bit more Information stay with me right now as we Dive into the optical comparison maybe That'll
[Music] Help So throughout this comparison we're Going to keep the Sony GM on the left And the sigma DN on the right so first Of all taking a look at vignette and Distortion you can see that really these Two lenses as it's going to be a common Theme here they look much more similar Than they do different both with a very Mild amount of pin cushion Distortion And slightly differing degrees of Vignette in the corner to manually Correct this on the Sony I used a minus5 For the Distortion a plus 58 for the Vignette on the DN lens a minus 4 just a Like 1% less Distortion correction and a Little bit more vignette correction plus 65 now I will show you both f1.4 and Then f1.2 on the sigma so we can get to An Apples to Apples comparison but it's Also instructive to look at them both Wide open so wide open f1.4 on the GM F1.2 on the sigma you can see in the Center of the frame both of them are Impressively Sharp very high contrast You can see particularly in this area on The ship's Hull however that there's More detail that's being rendered there There's a little bit of a moir pattern That is emerging that is just due to Having such high resolution and contrast If we pop over here towards the Mid-frame look it's the same kind of
Thing both of them actually look really Really fantastic but take for a look for Example inside this number five here so You can see all of the texture that's Showing up there whereas it's just not Rendered quite as much on the sigma now If we go down to the corners it is a Little bit of a reversal and that you Can see if you look here and you look Here it's the sigma that's delivering a Little bit more detail we pop over to The other side of the frame look at Winston Church Hill's face you can see We're still in that rule of thirds Definitely more contrast for the Sony But if we move all all the way over here And we look at Queen Elizabeth now in This case the Sony remains a little bit Sharper on this side of the frame Looking up in this Zone it's a very Obvious win for the Sony up into the Corner itself I would say that there's Still a win for Sony but if we pop over To this side we can see it Sigma that Looks a little bit better so point being Is that for a good part of the frame the Sony is sharper but there's some give And take okay so what if we stop down to F1.4 on the sigma does that equalize Things out well you can see that there Is a very minor amount of boost there But I'm still going to give the win to The Sony for the overall center of the Frame performance and contrast in the
Mid-frame zone we can see that there's a Little bit of that texture showing up Here but the the Sony still has more of It and also if you look at the lips for Example there's more detail and contrast There than what we see here now that Also means that the advantage for the Sigma in the corner of the frame has Only gotten more significant so you can See just all the textures look crisper There's more detail that's there we'll Take a look at both of them at f2.8 and Then at f5.6 to see if the calculus Changes it all so at f2.8 I would say The center result stays the same Obviously both of them have gotten a bit Sharper the Sony is kind of off the Charts for Center Performance you can See that the sensor is actually having a Hard time there just so much detail There that that Mar is increasing all The more in this mid-frame area you can Definitely now see more of that texture That is there but you can just see once Again that the contrast is kind of Popping off the page when it comes to The Sony's performance and over on this Side both of them are looking really Really impressive you can see again that Some of that Mar pattern is actually Beginning on the eyebrow here and all of Like the little tiny bits of writing you Can see that they just really pop up Very crisp look at this uh right
Underneath the the flag there you can See how much more contrast there is Versus the sigma so that's Advantage Kind of remains there though as we pop Around in different spots I mean both of Them are brilliant on this side I would Say that the sigma obviously still has The advantage and that's true if we look Up into this corner as well now f5.6 is Typically the most consistent Performance across the frame and Typically any area that was a little bit Weaker has sharpened up by that point so Looking here I mean both of them look Really really fabulous I mean there's so Much detail there you can see this kind Of checkerboard pattern that is a part Of the actual fiber of the bill that is Starting to show up maybe a little bit More on the Sony but a lot on the sigma As well now we can see that these Corners the the Sony looks better but The sigma still looks better still look At that text right there definitely Crisper looking on the sigma if we pop Back up where we were looking here Before you can see that it's still a Little bit better in terms of the Contrast for the Sony so again there's Some give and take depending on where You're looking now we've already looked At this particular image as far as the Color tone and you can see that the Sigma looks a little bit warmer whereas
The Sony is just a little bit more Neutral now this is obviously a taste Thing you may actually prefer that I Would say that I kind of lean towards Liking a little bit warmer but I mean I Can always add a little bit of color Temperature I do prefer accuracy where Possible but let's look at something Else here at 100% magnification both of These obviously look really fantastic as Far as the detail that's there depth of Field is very very slightly different as Far as the focus there but very very Close but what we're looking at here is The advantage that the f1.2 lens is Going to have in this kind of situation So if you look at the amount of softness Of some of these edges the sigma is Going to take a win here that larger F1.2 aperture there's a reason why People pay for it and that it does Just Produce softer backgrounds and a little Bit more subject isolation here's a Second shot that kind of shows that off And so you can see number one I mean There's a pretty significant difference Look comes a little more obvious when You get up and to these faster shutter Speeds cuz the numbers look bigger but Point being is you are going to get a Little bit more exposure out of that F1.2 aperture you can see also here that The wall back here it's just a little Bit softer on the sigma these trees back
Here and then you can see I mean thing Is is that I look at this image and and I know that there's a difference there But even if I go into 100% magnification Frankly it is it's somewhat hard to see So I would say these lenses are more Similar than different but the f1.2 is Going to give you a little bit of Advantage in those areas now this shot Here is interesting allows us to really Kind of dive in close at some shiny Reflective surfaces and see if there's Any kind of difference so first of all Both these look fabulous obviously in The center of the frame great great Detail if I look along the top of this I Mean both of them are really controlling The fringing that could be present there You see this very shiny reflective Surface both of them have a little tin Of tiny bit of fringing they're very Very minimal and frankly probably not Enough to really be noticeable now if we Look towards the defocused area here Again I I I try to look for a difference Between the two and frankly maybe you'll See it or maybe you won't I don't see Frankly a lot of difference in this I Would say that it's very slightly softer Here and so that pattern kind of the Weave of the blanket is a little more Obvious on the G Master lens but frankly There's not a lot of difference to see And once again there is a very very
Minor difference in the color rendering That you can see and again your your Mileage may vary as far as your taste I Thought this would be an interesting Torture test to try to find some Chromatic aberration you can see that Again there is a little bit of Difference in the color temperature from These two lenses and again whatever you Prefer that's that's great that's the Right answer for you I really looked Long and hard to try to find Fringing here to find a difference Between the two lenses I could say aha This one is better than the other and Frankly I just I don't really see it I Looked at different areas I mean here You could say oh there's a little bit More fringing there but then as I look Here I don't know there's just both of Them are extremely good and you could Also try to find a a difference in the Bouquet rendering here and again I you Know if you see a difference then great That's the right answer for you I don't Really see much of a difference we've Got two other images to look at here and So there's a couple of things I do want To point out from this and so first of All this was another shot that I set up Most to try to Aha catch them in some Fringing these kind of imprinted letters Are really really notorious for showing Up fringing and yeah you could say
There's a a little bit there but frankly It's not hardly enough that is worth Seeing and so I and as I look at the Shiny surfaces on these cameras or this Camera here on each one of the images I Just don't see a whole lot for me to Point at and say ah here's a flaw there Just not much there in terms of flaws And if you look at this light here this Is another area where you could see some Fringing around it if these lenses were Worse than what they are but the results Just look really fantastic here in the Weave and the fiber of the strap you can Just see great great detail there now I Will point out something that I did see As a bit of a difference and so you can See in this case there's just a little Bit of fr before the plane of focus that I don't necessarily see in the G master And then as I look out here the G Master Shows just a little bit of fringing on The bokeh in the background so I mean One shows a little bit more in the Foreground one a little bit more in the Background neither show much I also Noted in this Zone here that I do note a Little bit of an inside Edge inner edge Of the bast circles on the the Sigma Lens that is more neutral on the the Sony so I would say I would take the Son's uh work there the other thing that I noted here is if we look at the Overall shape here and this is as you
Can see this is not far off center we Can see that even here there is a little Bit better job wide open from the Sony Of a rounder shape whereas there's a Little bit of that geometric deformation For the sigma you can see in this one Just a little bit rounder and then as we You kind of move towards these others Get close the edges you can see that Both of them are deforming but the Deforms just a little bit more now one Final shot and that is I wanted to see How they both handled the flare of the Light coming through the window here in My Barrel sauna and I would say that Both of them are very similar very Possibly the sigma is ever so slightly Better but again the difference is Extremely close I also thought we might See some fringing here but once again These lenses do such a great job there's Not much friending to see so the only Other conclusion I would point to is and This I alluded to earlier I feel like The real World contrast is just ever so Slightly better kind of that micro Contrast on the textures and the Contrast like in this crack here just a Little bit better defined on the GM Versus the Sigma lens again the Difference is so minuscule you wouldn't See it if you didn't have them side by Side like this but the whole point of This exercise is to try to nitpick so
There are a few knits for you to pick Along with me so you've stuck around to The very end and as always that means You're one of my favorite people thanks For watching have a great day and let The light [Music] In
