Hi I'm Gordon from camera labs and this Is my full review of the sigma 50mm F 1.4 dgd and art a standard prime lens Designed for full frame mirrorless Cameras and an ideal lens for general Purpose use at the time I made this Review it was available for Sony E and Leica L Mount the latter working on Panasonic Lumix s bodies fingers crossed Sigma can make Canon RF and Nikon said Versions sooner rather than later Announced in February 2023 and costing Around 850 or pounds it becomes the Fifth dedicated mirrorless lens in Sigma's high-end art series sandwiched Between the existing 20 24 35 and 85 Models all sharing the same fast f 1.4 Aperture in this review I'll show you Everything the new lens can do a quick Note on sigma's naming strategy dgdn Means that it's designed specifically For mirrorless cameras note that they Hold a 50mm 1.4 DG HSM art was designed For DSLR came out in 2014 and remains on Sale at a roughly similar price and it Can be successfully adapted to most Mirrorless cameras if desired but this Review is all about the newer dgdn Version designed for mirrorless cameras Only in terms of competition the Sony E-mount certainly isn't short of native Lenses in the 50mm focal length or Thereabouts available in a huge range From Sony's own budget F 1.8 costing
Around 250 bucks to their premium F 1.2 G Master at around 2 Grand sitting Roughly in the middle are a pair of f 1.4 models one from samyang at around 750 and the other are Sony Zeiss Collaboration from 2017 which still Sells for up to fifteen hundred dollars For which I'd expect will be updated at Some point and don't forget the Satisfyingly compact Zeiss 55 1.8 either Which helps launch the system and still Has many fans in the L Mount there's Panasonic slightly dimmer 51.8 costing Around 450 and the high-end F 1.4 pro Version at around 2000 Leica also has a 51.4 for l Mount but at around six Thousand five hundred dollars it's not Really a contender here so the sigma 51.4 art slots comfortably between Existing budget and premium options for Both mounts hopefully delivering a taste Of the high end without breaking the Bank let's find out if it lives up to Its promise not to mention that Excellent reputation of its older Sibling for dslrs starting with the Physical design the 50 F 1.4 are Measures 78 million diameter 110 mil Long and weighs 670 grams making it Smaller and lighter than the old 51.4 Lens for dslrs in your hands it feels Solid and well built with Sigma claiming Dust and splash resistance including a Water and oil repellent coating on the
Front element and a rubber seal at the Mountain it's styled like other recent Sigma lenses starting with the manual Apturing here from F 1.4 to F16 in third Stop increments with an a position for Body based control preferred alongside The aperture ring or a switch for manual Focus a customizable autofocus lock Button and a switch to de-click the Aperture ring for smooth and Silent Adjustment around the other side of the Barrel is another switch to lock the Aperture ring at the a position if Desired occupying roughly the outer half Of the barrel is the ribbed manual Focusing ring which like sigma's Previous dgdm models feels very smooth In operation and more damped compared to The looser style of Sony Zone lenses There's no right or wrong here just Personal preference at the end of the Barrel there's a 72mm filter thread and Sigma supplies a bayonet petal shaped Hood as well as a padded carrying case Let's now check out the autofocus and I've made all of my tests in this review Using the e-mount version of the lens Mounted on the Sony a74 body here in Single AFS mode you can see the Operation is pretty quick albeit with an Occasional wobble to confirm now this is Pretty much standard practice for Sigma Lenses in AFS mode on Sony bodies and if You switch to continuous AFC you'll
Enjoy a boost in confidence thanks to The phase detect system used by Sony in This mode Now by avoiding any Overshooting it's faster overall than Before here's the same test for video Again at F 1.4 and filming in 4k 25p Sony uses AFC for video so the focus Pulse here is smooth and accurate with No overshooting single autofocus pools Are easy though so here's the sigma and Sony combination with face and eye Detection using the full auto focusing Area and again with the lens fully open To F 1.4 here you can not only see how The body drives the lens to keep me Sharp at all times but also the Potential for blowing in the background When you're filming pieces to camera I'll have a Stills portrait test later In the video next for Focus breathing Where I'll manually focus the lens from Infinity to the closest distance and Back again as I focus the lens closer You'll see the effect of breathing where The image becomes more magnified almost As if I'm using a zoom lens here now This isn't a problem if you're shooting Stills but it can become distracting When you're filming video the effect Here is certainly pretty strong when Focusing between the extremes from Infinity to the very close system back Again and sadly Sony's compensation on Recent bodies won't apply to third-party
Lenses that said when performing more Modest focused pulls such as those in my Bottle racking or face tracking tests Earlier the effect is reduced and may Not actually be an issue for you only You can decide if it's going to be an Issue or not speaking of compensation The F 1.4 are like all the sigma's dgdn Lenses is designed to be used with lens Profiles to correct for geometric Distortion if using a Sony body you'll Want to set Distortion comp to Auto and You'll find that in the lens comp menu And that's what I've used for all of my Optical tests in this review but just Briefly for the optical enthusiasts out There I'll show you versions of Brighton Pier with Distortion comp toggling Between off and auto as always the auto Option will result in a crop in order to Apply the digital correction the degree Of which depends on the lensing question But here it's pretty mild and what You're left with in auto mode is only Fractionally less than other 50s that I've tested I certainly wouldn't worry About it okay so now let's angle that View so that details run into the Corners and once again all of my images Going forward have Distortion comp set To Auto as that's how the lens is Designed to be used here the sigma is Wide open at F 1.4 and as always in this Test I've focused on the middle of the
Image taking a closer look at the center Of the frame reveals the lens performing Well right out of the gate with crisp Details closing the aptitude to F2 and 2.8 brought a mild boost in contrast Here but I'd certainly be happy using The lens wide open when the subject is In the middle of the frame but what About the corners let's return to the F 1.4 image and head out to the extremes Where you'll notice some darkening due To vignetting now this isn't unusual for A large aperture lens and at least the Details are remaining pretty respectable Gradually closing the aperture lifts the Vignette and it's essentially gone by F 2.8 to 5.6 but I think the corner Sharpness remains just about the same And looks pretty good wide open overall Though for landscape views I'd be aiming To use the lens at around F4 to F 5.6 For the best overall results across the Entire image since I was focused in the Middle of the frame it also indicates The field is fairly flat obviously if Your main subject is in the corner Though you'd Focus there instead 50mm Lenses are also a popular choice for Close range portraits or smaller group Shots and while they lack the Compression and ultimate isolation of Longer focal lens some photographers Myself included actually prefer their More engaging perspective while the fast
F 1.4 aperture can still deliver Significant blurring in the background You've already seen the 51.4r in action For video earlier so here it is for a Stills portrait where it's clear the Degree of blurring you can achieve a f 1.4 even when the background is only a Few meters distant zooming in for closed Captioning not available Most large aperture lenses the blobs Become elongated rugby ball shapes Towards the corners but become more Circular as the aperture is closed here One stop at a time as I progressed Through the aperture range the impact of The 11 bladed diaphragm system can be Seen a little bit in the shape of the Blobs but I'd say it's fairly subtle Here with no obvious hard angles more Importantly as the aperture is closed And more of the fireplace becomes Visible I'd say the Sigma lens is Rendering The View very nicely certainly Up to f8 if you're looking for bokeh Blobs or more of a portrait distance the Sigma has you covered here's another Face tracking video but this time Indoors with the lights behind me Rendered into attractive blobs this is Going to be a really nice lens for Presenting pieces to camera from a Tripod as well as for traditional Portrait photography Sigma quotes the Closest focusing distance of 45
Centimeters for the lens but I always Check the performance at the minimum Distance by simply photographing a ruler As close as I can manually focus on it Here's the result of f 1.4 where I could Reproduce a subject up measuring 192 Millimeters across the width of the Frame taking a close look at the edges You'll see the image does become soft With the aperture wide open at least From this distance but closing it down To say f8 here has delivered a crisp Result across the frame just before Wrapping up I wanted to show a couple of Shots where I deliberately tried to Trigger lateral chromatic aberrations With high contrast subjects against a Strongly backlit sky and also which may Fall outside the depth of field I shot These at F 1.4 to show this effect at The maximum aperture if you look closely Enough you might see a hint of colored Fringing in the toughest areas but to be Honest it's hardly stood out here and I Really was looking for it of course your Mileage may vary in all the tests that I've made but certainly the 51.4 DG DNR Isn't a bad offender by any means even When focused as close as possible which Now means it's time for my final verdict During which I'll show you a bunch of Photos that I took with a 51.4 dgdn art On the Sony a74 and as always if you'd Like a closer look you can access some
Of the original images via my review Page for this lens at cameralabs.com in The market flooded with standard lenses The sigma 50mm 1.4 DG DNR makes a Compelling case for itself delivering Excellent quality across the frame Attractive rendering and fast focusing All in a solid weather sealed Barrel at A reasonable price owners of Sony and Panasonic mirrorless body should be very Happy crucially it also slots Comfortably between existing options Providing a taste of the high end Without breaking the bank sure Sony's 1.2 G master and Panasonic's 1.4 Pro May Slightly outperform it in some respects And in the case of the Sony boasts a Slightly brighter aperture 2 but sigmas Now made it much harder to justify Spending over double on either of these Lenses meanwhile if you're coming from The other end of the market the sigma Will deliver a step up in sharpness and Especially rendering over budget models Although it does feel almost chillish to Complain too much about lens is costing As little as two hundred dollars these Entry level models are also not only More affordable but smaller and lighter Too making them more attractive than Models either Sigma particularly when Paired with more compact bodies Sony Owners also still have the option of the Old size 55 1.8 which costs a tad more
And boasts excellent sharpness albeit at Least in my opinion not the most Attractive rendering in a surprisingly Compact Barrel as I said at the start There's certainly no shortage of options Around this focal length but I Personally now go for the sigma over the 55 size unless size was a critical Decider also do keep an eye on the Prices of the original 51.4 art for Dslrs as Bargains may be had especially In the used Market ultimately with most 50mm lenses either targeting budget or Premium buyers the sigma 51.4 DG DNR Becomes a welcome mid-range alternative At a price point with relatively few Direct Rivals we've waited a Surprisingly long time for the native Mirrorless successor to sigma's Classic For dslrs but it's finally here and it Doesn't disappoint so is this the lens You've been waiting for or does the Perfect 50 still elude you let me know In the comments and if you found any of My reviews useful please do consider Giving this video a like and my channel Will follow it really does help and if I've helped you make a decision on a Pricey bit of Kit don't forget you could Always treat me to a cup of coffee or Treat yourself to a camera Labs t-shirt Or perhaps a copy of my in-camera Photography book there's links to Everything including the latest pricing
For the lens in the description thanks For watching and I'll see you next time Bye bye
