[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today To give you a review of what is the Third autofocusing fullframe 50 mm lens From Sigma in the last year alone we Have seen them release small medium and Large if you want to call it that Options in an F2 f1.4 and now f1.2 Version though fortunately here large is Relative in that frankly this lens isn't Really any bigger than what the 50mm F1.4 was and that is a huge relief Considering how huge sigma's excellent But very large 35mm f1.2 lens was the First f1.2 lens on Sony E Mount and I Believe on like L Mount as well and of Course this lens is released for both of Those mounts as well the lens really Does give a pretty nice advantage to Those platforms in that all of the first Party 50mm f1.2 lenses from Sony Canon And Nikon are all both larger and much Much more expensive than what this lens Is giving us a nice advantage on Sony E-mount or L Mount you can get this lens For $1,399 right under $1,400 so here on Sony that is a good $600 cheaper than What the G G Master f1.2 lens is so is This a lens outside of the excellent Price is this a lens that you should Consider if you're looking for a premium 50mm f1.2 lens well we're going to dive In together and find out right after a
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Lens really moderate in size so it is 81 Mm in diameter so that is less than 3 mm Wider than what the 50mm f1.4 is that's 3.2 in it also retains the same 72mm Front filter thread as what we saw on The uh the 50mm f1.4 lens from Sigma the Lens is right under 111 mm in length or 4.4 in which ironically is actually 1 mm Shorter than what the 50mm f1.4 is now Because the glass elements inside are Larger and heavier the lens is a little Bit heavier than the f1. vers 4 version But it weighs in at only 740 G or 26 o And so that is it's less than 80 uh gram Heavier than what the f1.4 version is And more importantly when you compare to The Sony G master that is 40 G less and Already the Sony G master was easily the Lightest of the competing lenses from Canon the RF 50mm f1.2 or the Nikon 50mm F1.2 s lens and in the case of the Nikon That lens weighs almost 1100 G and so Much much larger it's 150 mm in length So 40 mm longer and of course you know Close to 400 G heavier so obviously we Have a pretty significant Advantage when It comes to the size and the weight of This lens now despite being moderate in Size this is getting sigma's very best When it comes to build quality we have a Thorough weather ceiling that starts at The the lens mount there are internal Seals there's a special coating on the Front element to help with fingerprints
And moisture there we also get their Full feature set so when it comes to the Aperture ring you have the ability to Have uh Clicks in the aperture you have The ability to declick the aperture and So you can do Smooth video apt racking As you see in this shot here you also Have the ability to use their aperture Lock which allows you to either lock This into only the manual focus ring and So you don't inadvertently go into the Automatic mode or if you're not a manual Focus ring or manual aperture ring I Should say person at all you can lock it Into the automatic mode where you Control it from within the camera just Like you would a a lens without an Aperture ring so lots of controls there We do have the AF MF switch on the side Along with a custom button or you know Focus hold type button I will note in That case that's the only place where This lens Falls at all behind the G Master lenses in that they have a dual Focus hold buttons or custom buttons and So you can have them in multiple Positions but I mean I think that most People can probably live without that Additional button for $600 inside we actually have a really Really high aperture blade count there Are 1 Blades in this apture Iris so that does A couple of things first of all as you
Can see it retains a really circular Shape even stopped down to about f5.6 Here you can see how circular that uh Aperture iris is but then on top of that It does make for a unique if somewhat Busy 26 bladed uh Sunstar and so uh Anyway it's obviously the goal here is More about retaining a circular shape so You have nice circular specular Highlights bokh highlights uh with the Lens itself now the manual focus ring Here is heavier damp than what the GM Lenses is are but I prefer that actually Because there's more feel to it it feels More like direct manual focus emulation Than what I typically see on the G Master lenses that are a little bit Light both of the 50mm lenses are a Little light for my taste thus have a Little less fuel to them so I actually Prefer the slightly heavier damping here Of the sigma it also comes as is typical With Sigma lenses it comes with the lens Hood which is A Cut Above it's very Sturdy very nicely made has some Different texture variations on there And it it feels very very substantial It's plastic but it's very high quality Plastics and it also comes with a padded Nylon case for uh portability and so That is obviously very welcome as well Also improved here is that you have a Shorter minimum Focus distance rather Than 45 cm on the 50mm f1.4 we can focus
As closely as 40 cm here that bumps up The maximum magnification from 0.15 up To 0.16 and for comparison the 50mm f1.2 G Master can get you as high as 0.17 times So definitely within the same ballpark Overall here we have a really nicely Executed package very nice materials it Feels like a premium lens it's got a Premium feature set but fortunately it Is not massive so that is a great Formula Sigma keep hitting that one now They've also thrown out all the stops When it comes to the autofocus Performance here so this is the first Lens that I have seen where it doesn't They haven't really marketed it but when I dug into the specifications I found That there's actually dual uh HLA which Is their High their high-speed linear Actuator or high response linear Actuator so it's highspeed linear Focus Motor so this is the first time that I've seen that they actually have two There's two different focusing groups Here so there's one motor attached to Each one of the focus groups so that is Increasing obviously the overall power Needed for autofocus meaning that even With these large uh you know elements That are glass elements that are part of An f1.2 lens autofocus is super fast uh It's near instant performance from you Know close to Infinity so normal Focus
Changes are definitely Instantaneous it's very smooth and quiet And operation I have zero complaints on That front there uh all as well also I Found that eye stickiness when it came To Portrait work was uh fantastic I Found that I was basically all of my Focus results were were perfect and I Was shooting through different objects Um you know things in the foreground Different Focus distances now obviously At F1 point to your your plane of feel Is going to be very very narrow in many Situations so it's not unusual for Example to have your the eye that is Focused on if the you know the subject's Face is not flat the eye that's focused On is going to be in Focus while the Other eye will be out of focus that's a Depth of field issue though and what What's more important is that always Autofocus the focus results were Accurate on the subject's eye also found In shooting for example shots of Nala That I was able to get the same kind of Perfect focus on the actual Iris not on The eyelash or brow but on the iris Itself just the place where you want Focus to be also found on the the video Front that I was able to get smooth Focus Transitions and the focus pools They're quick they're confident there's No settling or pulsing hesitation just Does exactly what you want there
Likewise good results with my hand test And uh and so that the transitions from The eye to the hand and vice versa were All nice and quick and you'll also Notice in these series of tests that Focus breathing is nicely controlled It's not extreme a little bit less in Fact than what we saw on the 50mm F1.4 now the only thing I would say for Sony shooters that are looking for the Absolute optimal autofocus performance Is simply this the uh 50mm f1.2 G Master It actually has quad uh XD linear Focus Motors and more importantly if you're Using one of the sport bodies it also Has the ability to you know Focus up to 30 frames per second if you're shooting On an alpha 1 or even higher on the new A9 Mark III whereas we're going to be Capped at 15 frames per second for the Sigma lens for most people that's really A non-issue and frankly I don't know how Many people are using a 50mm lens for Sports use anyway but if you happen to Fall into that small Niche where you Need absolute performance you want to Shoot 50 mm focal length you want to Shoot Sports you want to shoot really Highs speeded burst the GM lens is going Still going to be a little bit better Because it has even more Focus power Available to it and more importantly it Is not artificially constrained by Sony In the way that the sigma is that's not
Sigma's problem that's a Sony thing but It is important to put that out there Outside of that autofocus is perfect Though I don't think you're going to Have any issues with it for either photo Or video work now let's take a look at The image quality side of things and Very interestingly sh Sigma shared with Me this this graph that shows if you Look at the MTF charts from the 50mm F1.2 and then the 50mm f1.4 you'll see That the f1.2 lens is certainly capable Of achieving uh improved sharpness in Both the center and the mid-frame Essentially the rule of thirds is going To be sharper on the f1.2 lens with the F1.4 lens doing a little bit better in The corners though it's by a very very Small margin and so as I actually begin To exam examine that and by the way if You would prefer the detailed breakdown Stay tuned till the end and we'll do our Detailed image quality breakdown at that Point but what I found is that there's Actually better Distortion and vignette Control on the f1.2 lens versus the f1.4 The vignette thing actually surprised me When you consider that the diameter is Not hardly any different and the front Filter thread size is the same with the F1.4 and f1.2 you would think that the Math would actually favor the f1.4 lens But in fact I found that the f1.2 lens Actually did a better job of controlling
Vignette in the corners and also there Is a there's about half of the amount of Distortion there so definitely improved In those two metrics I also found that In real world use now in chart testing Both the f1.4 and the f1.2 lenses from Sigma they chart really well when it Comes to the control of like Longitudinal chromatic aberration Fringing before and after the plane of Focus but what I found is that in real World situations I saw a little bit more Fringing on the f1.4 than I expected Whereas the f1.2 lens behaved more Similar to what I would expect and that Those aberration are better controlled So I'd say real real world aberration Control better on the f1.2 lens I also Found when I begin to actually break Down image quality shooting on a 61 Megapixel a7r Mark 5 and looking even at 200% magnification I found that there's A really even even sharpness profile all Across the frame obviously the center is Sharper than what the corner is but the The corner is still already at a very High level from early on and so as I did Kind of direct comparisons back across The major 50mm players on Sony I found That when it C comes to the f1.2 G Master I found that the sigma is very Slightly sharper in the center of the Frame and the g Master is a little bit Sharper in the corner of the frame that
Is the same kind of scenario when it Comes to the f1.4 Sigma lens and that This lens is definitely sharper in the Center of the frame whereas I did find That and of course mid-frame also favors This as we saw from the MTF chart with The corners very slightly favoring the Sigma f1.4 now actually the sharpest Lens in the center of the frame is Sony's 50mm f1.4 G Master which Definitely hits the highest levels that I think I've probably ever seen on a 50mm lens in the center of the frame Likewise in the mid-frame the G Master Is a little bit sharper but in the Corners definitely the sigma is a little Bit better Point is is that this lens competes with The very best lenses that I could Compare it to and it comes out looking Really really great it's at a similar or Better level than most of those lenses With some give and take here and there I Found that it sharpened up more Particularly by f1.8 then by f2.8 you're Basically Flawless all across the frame Extremely sharp corners and that remains True through F5.6 F by f8 there is a tiny regression Due to defraction that defraction Becomes more obvious on a high Resolution body at f11 and of course Even more obvious at F16 which is the Minimum aperture when it comes to the
Bass side of things here's where I was More intrigued to see how Sigma did Because my experience with Sigma lenses Is that they tend to be really really Well corrected so that means that they Do really great in chart test and Sharpness test sometimes the overall Rendering from the lens isn't quite as Magical I would say that's true here Though I think that Sigma has done a Pretty good job overall I found that Specular highlights were nice and clean There isn't any kind of concentric Circles in them so that part is fine I Found that there is a little bit more Edging than what I would like right now It's you know it's late March it's not a Pretty season outside there's a lot of Bare things and so those bare branches That are harder edges they're not quite As as smoothly damped is what I would Like not quite as good I think as the 50mm f1. 2G Master lens but overall I Found that the Boke you know it's it's Nice it's just not it's not I wouldn't Call it magical in the way that I felt The 50mm f1.2 GM or even the Canon RF 50mm f1.2 I say I would prefer the Bouquet quality from both of those Lenses at the same time I found that Sigma's colors look good images have a Nice crisp look to them nice delineation That stands out flare resistance is also An area of of relative strength I would
Say that this lens does quite well even Pointed into the Sun and so that's not Something that all large aperture lenses Do well so in conclusion there is really Very very very few flaws other than what I would call a subjective observation That you the Boke CET quality is Probably a little bit better on some of The top competing first party lenses so In conclusion all of the first party 50mm lenses they are bigger they are Heavier in some cases much heavier and They are all much more expensive the G Master is actually the cheapest of those F1.2 competitors at about $2,000 you'll Find that the the Nikon is about $2,200 And the Canon $2,300 so when you're getting into that Range you're talking about $600 $800 and $900 respectively more that you would Have to pay relative to the Sigma lens Which obviously is a pretty compelling Argument for the Sigma lens it is hard To argue against the value here when Really the lens does everything well and Something that's not always the case for Sigma they've really done a great job of Keeping the size and the weight down While still achieving all of the optical High marks and so I think that this is a Really really strong offering from Sigma You'll have to make a determination Whether or not you know you are willing To move to a third party lens but what
This lens does do is it gives you I Think a really nice alternative if You're interested in the idea of an f1.2 Aperture versus a lens say like the Sony 50mm f1.5 4G Master which is only $100 Cheaper but obviously you're getting an F1.2 versus an f1.4 lens that creates a Whole other interesting set of of buying Considerations but we are so fortunate To live in a market on Sony e-mount then Also on L Mount where there are just so Many great lens options available at This point this is yet another one if You want more information you can either Look in the description and check out my Written review look out the image Gallery there are some buying links There though of course this lens is Brand new as of today and so it'll take A little bit for some of those to Populate now if you want an even deeper Dive into the performance of the lens Stay tuned right now we'll do our Optical Deep dive [Music] Together so we'll start off by taking a Look at the vignette and Distortion and As I alluded to earlier you can see that There is really not extreme amounts of Either you can see there's just a a Little bit of a pincushion Distortion That little bit of uh kind of inward Bulge that's taking place there and then Obviously towards the corners a little
Bit more concentrated vignette now the Easiest way to deal with that will be Via the correction profile which will be Available no problem but for me to give You a manual correction allows me to Show what's actually going on in this Case I used a minus four to correct for That you can see it's not a Flawless Correction and that's where uh Correction profile will do a better job Vignetting is plus 65 and so that's a Little little over two stops again not Bad for an f1.2 lens and for perspective You can see that there's much more Pincushion distortion on the f1.4 lens And also even the vignette itself is Heavier I had to use a minus8 compared To aus4 and then a plus 84 to correct For the vignette so significantly more Telling me that sigma's done a good job Of managing both of those things on this F1.2 lens now when I look side by side For my chart testing frankly both looked Pretty similar when it comes to the Amount of longitudinal chromatic Aberration with just a little bit less Showing for the f1.2 lens shown here but In real world shots which is what Matters most to me I found that the f1.2 Lens it performed better I just didn't See some of the surprise fringing I saw On the f1.4 so we can see here in this Transition it's quite neutral there's no Outlining around these bouqu highlights
So that's nice and clean likewise here Where there's a lot of refle Ive things On a narrow plane of focus you can see That once again there's not any fringing And so that allows our real world kind Of micro contrast to be very strong this Shot in particular stands out because Basically I've intentionally used the Front of our stove which has these very Shiny Chrome knobs so it is a breeding Ground for chromatic aberration you can See it's really well controlled here and So just not an issue really at all Likewise with the lateral type of Chromatic aberration you can see that There are very few of them and here in The edge of the frame there's just Really nothing to see even before Correction so all of that has positive Consequences when it comes to the Overall sharpness and contrast so here 61 megapixels of resolution 200% Magnification in the center of the frame Things look really nice and crisp no Problems there the midf frame is looking Good and as we scroll down here you can See that it's holding on good even Towards the outer part of the rule of Thirds and down into the edges again There's lots of detail that's there now Quick comparison to a few of the other Lenses I will give the quick caveat that I tested the 50mm f1.2 uh G master and Then the sigma 50mm f1.4 on the Sony
Alpha 1 so it's 50 megapixels versus 61 Megapixels nonetheless if we compare the Two side by side we can see that in the Center of the frame both of them really Look excellent there's not really much Give or take there but I would say that Sigma is possibly Just a Little Bit Stronger in the mid-frame I would say That the G Master is has just a tiny Edge but it is very minuscule as we Scroll down here we can see that Contrast is looking good across both of These I would say that the G Master is Just a little bit better in terms of the Contrast and the the fine detail in this Zone right here and as we get down to The very Corner we can see that the G Master has just the tiniest of edges but You can see across the frame both lenses Are really close close comparing to the F1.4 sigma we can see that center of the Frame I would favor the f1.2 lens you Can see there's better contrast and just More detail and some of the textures There on the bill in the mid-frame I the Same is true though I would say that the F1.4g master recovers pretty well there And so it is probably every bit as good In that zone looking down in this area Here I would favor the f1.4 lens and its Strength kind of Rises as you get Towards the edge where I would say here At the edge it is very slightly better But for most of the rule of third zones
I would say that I would take the f1.2 Lens though it's not by much then Finally versus the f1.4 g Master now Both of these are going to be on the A7 R5 you can see in the middle of the Frame the G Master is just off the Charts good you can see this Mo pattern That's beginning cuz there's just so Much detail and contrast that is there Looking at the mid-frame you can see That the f1.4 G Master is it's Flawless Basically in the mid-frame rule of third Zones it is very very strong so in this Zone I I'm actually surprised the Difference is not all that significant I Would say that the GM is ever so Slightly better but it's not by much and Then as we get towards the corner here's Where the uh Sigma has a bit of an edge I would say both the contrast and then The detail you can see here in this Writing it's just better than what it is In the G Master lens but to give you Real world context on what that looks Like here at f1.2 taking a look at Nala Face you can see that that precision and Detail uh the contrast delineating all These little tiny textures it just does A fabulous job I mean that's a lot of Line pairs right there that are Beautifully rendered so stopping down to F1.4 really doesn't make much of a Difference here you can see as we pop Around that not much of a difference
Even in the corner but there is more of An improvement from f1.4 to f1.8 and by F1.8 I would say we're getting close to What we saw on the 50mm f1.4 G Master Terms of that really brilliant Center Performance you can see in the mid-frame Too that now we're getting to excellent Levels from F2 to f2.8 there's a little Bit more of a bump you're going to Mostly see it here in the corners where Now the detail is just fabulous from Corner to corner F4 and f5.6 obviously Continue to look fantastic itic and That's true anywhere that we look we can Pop around and look at different spots In the frame and you'll just see just a Consistently strong Performance there's a tiny regression at F8 that you probably won't hardly notice Due to defraction but at f11 becomes a Little bit more noticeable and then by F-16 minimum apture even though this is Still good compared to what this lens is Capable of defraction has robbed us of Some contrast and detail this lens also Does well not just in terms of the Amount of Mag magnification which is Very slightly better than average but it Also does a pretty good job up close and You can see that depth of field it's not A completely flat plane of focus but you Can see where we have depth of field Very very nice detail even at f1.2 and Yes that will drop a little bit towards
The edge but you can see it still looks Quite good so that means that close Focus distance shots are going to have Very nice detail and of course it allows With that f1.2 aperture allows Backgrounds to be strongly blurred but You can see they're still good contrast On the narrow depth of field I thought This shot really stood out to me cuz I Was shooting at a really really fine you Know just kind of the edge of this Rolled piece of bark you can see that Detail and contrast is great fringing is Well controlled and then the bouquet Quality is nice and soft in this shot Here's another shot that overall I Really like the look of and so again It's narrow depth of field but good Contrast and detail there the Boke is Nice although as noted earlier in my Summation there's a little bit more Outlining than what I would like but It's kind of picking at straws there it Really looks quite good this shot is a Little busier than what I would like but It's also a really busy background and So maybe I'm expecting too much for that To be beautifully resolved but I mean You can see that the detail is fabulous Just a bit more of the hard edges on This admittedly very very complicated Scene now this combines for portrait Work here I've put a lot of stuff in the Foreground to produce a natural framing
You can see the foreground looks good And then the amount of detail on the Subject is beautiful now going towards This background here as we'll see in Just a moment I think that the GM I Think bests this a bit but overall I Mean it's a it's a beautiful portrait Result same kind of things here I mean As far as the detail on the subject Really really great uh in this I would Like this to be creamier than what it is And again maybe that's expecting too Much the lighting this particular day Was was fairly and so that doesn't help Here's another more full length shot and The great thing about a 50mm f1.2 is That you can shoot and even at f1.2 you Know the all of the subject is in Focus But that's about as deep as depth the Field is so right after the subject Things start to shift to out of focus Which allows you to have that kind of Cutout effect of your subject now while This is the exact same spot it's not the Same season nor is it the same lighting And so I don't want to read too much Into this but you can see this shot that Was taken on the 50mm f1.2 GM that it Does have just a little bit more Pleasing a look in the out of focus Areas they're just a little bit softer As you can see and I feel like they've Just blurred away a little bit more now Again you need to True Apples to Apples
Comparison before you draw too many Conclusions but I'm also basing this on My overall feel this shot for example The bouqu is just really really creamy From it and so I I really love the 50mm F1.2 G Master as a portrait lens and I Just didn't see any images where I felt Like the sigma was quite that lovely Finally as noted flare resistance is Really strong particularly at large Apertures here at f1.2 that's pretty Much Flawless you stop down to f11 way Down you get this tiny bit of a ghosting Pattern but nothing significant and Again as we pan back and forth you can See wide open basically Flawless and Then as we stop it down again to 11 There's that little bit of ghosting Pattern but it is so well controlled for A massive aperture lens like this Overall obviously this is a great image Quality performance from top to bottom So you are one of the die hards that is Stuck to the very end you're one of my Favorites thanks for watching have a Great day and let the light [Music] In
