If you guys aren't excited about a new 50 millimeter Prime for your full frame Sony mirrorless camera then I don't know what's wrong with you all Kidding aside this is the third 50 Millimeter fast Prime that has been Released in 2023 for full frame Sony Mirrorless cameras and it just goes to Show how popular the 50 millimeter focal Length is they're dropping variants of This lens like iPhone iOS updates after A new iOS is released it wasn't that Long ago that I was reviewing the Sigma 50 millimeter F 1.4 art that was like Three or four weeks ago and now today we Have the 50 millimeter F2 this is the Dgdn it's an i series lens which means All metal build uh really nice design so Let's check this thing out the Lens Comes in a larger than expected white Box inside there are manuals the lens With plastic lens caps a metal lens hood And a magnetic lens cap in addition to The plastic one now because this is an i Series it's all metal and build and it Feels solid I think these are the best Lenses that Sigma makes in terms of Build even over their art lineup which Is more premium at least in price this 50 millimeter is compact it's 70 Millimeter by 70 millimeter or 2.8 Inches by 2.8 inches very very close to The size of the sigma 20 millimeter F2 And it weighs 345 grams which is a nice
Weight for a metal lens starting at the Rear there is a metal mount with Electronic connections a rubber gasket Here at the mount for dust and splash Resistance But the lens is not otherwise Weather sealed lens specs at the bottom Contemporary C logo autofocus manual Focus switch 023 for a 2023 release and A sigma logo aperture ring is nice and Clicky and moves from F2 to F22 and then A longer click into Auto a it feels Great as it does on every I series lens This lens is made in Japan and minimum Focus distance is 0.45 meters in front There is an nice and smooth Focus ring Which is very well damped and spins in Either direction to Infinity because it Is 100 percent electronic finally around The front there is a small concave front Lens element with no writing or specs Here very clean design overall inside There are 11 elements in 9 groups and a 9 rounded blade diaphragm it looks great On the camera it's a great size that is Noticeably more compact than the F 1.4 Art from Sigma that I recently reviewed According to Sigma this lens is 37 Percent shorter and 48 percent less Heavy than that newly released art Although with the lens hood on you'll Gain quite a bit of overall length so Let's take a look at some portraits Taken with this new 50 millimeter and my Sony a7c and my wife all of these are
Straight out of the camera no editing no Corrections Ready Set Go [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign [Music] Okay so this is a brilliant lens really Breathtakingly sharp excellent colors And contrast you really cannot ask for Much more than this in a portrait lens Distortion is well controlled vignetting Is well controlled flare resistance is Pretty good even that pesky chromatic Aberration that you see on every lens is Pretty well controlled here it shows a Little bit more green fringing than Purple at times but overall the Performance is excellent then you move Into bouquet and it's up there with the Best of the best it's very smooth not Distracting or busy it almost looks Swirly at times the edges and Corners do Turn into cat eye or footballs but There's no onion ringing or outlining The nine circular aperture blades are Doing their job in terms of autofocus I Thought that this lens was going to Suffer because of the older style Stepper motor but it didn't it was more Than fast enough although I will admit It's not as Lightning quick as as the
New linear motor on the 50 millimeter F 1.4 art but optically I didn't have any Complaints about this lens from a build Quality standpoint there is nothing Wrong with this lens and for the price Of 639 dollars US it's an absolute Bargain for what you are getting for Performance now I was going to talk About this in another video but I think That it is fitting for what I'm talking About in this video so I'm going to Discuss it here and this is my opinion But I've discussed this with a Professional videographer friend of mine And he agrees with me so I think that We're on to something okay I've drawn a Little graph here and here's what it Looks like in the very beginning you Start out probably shooting up here at Something like f 5.6 F 6.3 because Well that's the gear that you have you Don't really have fast lenses so you Shoot with the kit lens you're zooming In at 50 millimeters with the kit lens It's at F 5.6 you don't really care or You've not mastered your settings on Your camera which could be an issue or You just don't know what you're doing You're shooting an auto so you're Shooting with a pretty closed pretty Dark aperture and a lot of the stuff is In Focus like a lot of your frame is in Focus so that's the very beginning That's where you start as you
Progressively get more and more Experience you notice the effects and Really the Brilliance of shooting wide Or open and so you get down here where You're shooting lenses at F 0.95 because Now you've purchased them you have the Money for them you like the look Everything's blurry I mean the only Thing that's in focus is the pupil of Your model's eye the nose is blurry the Ears are blurry hair is blurry Everything in the background in the Foreground is blurry and it's really Cool But I think that after a little while You start to notice that this is not Really ideal this F 0.95 really even F 1.4 or 1.2 is not really ideal for every Single situation and you start to dial It back a little bit and you start to Stop down your shots a little bit so I've been finding myself and I'm not Saying that I'm maturing in photography I'm not saying anything but I'm finding Myself even for client work or for my Own family portraits I'm stopping the Lenses down just a little bit just to Get at least the front of the face all In focus So this is very important I think for You guys to understand because Yes it's very cool to shoot at F 0.95 or To spend two grand and shoot at F 1.2 But
Do you really need to uh probably not And I will say this this is my opinion And this really only applies to Full-frame Sony mirrorless cameras Because if you're shooting on aps-c you Need as fast a lens as you can get Because low light performance is not as Good on aps-c as it is on full frame so For APC stuff F 1.4 all the way and if You really didn't get anything from that Drawing and that chart and you felt like You were back in Calculus class well I'm Sorry but the moral of the story is uh F2 is great for professional work you Don't need F 1.4 or F 1.2 or F 0.95 on Your full frame camera if you're doing Portrait work again that's my opinion Some people like to shoot at 135 and F 0.95 so I'm not going to stop them Another reason I'm saying this is Because if you look at a two thousand Dollar Sony 50 millimeter F 1.2 G Master Versus this 50 millimeter F2 for an Impressively low 639 dollars U.S it's a Crazy thing there is a lot of value here And I would argue that the build is Better with this Sigma the size is Definitely smaller it's much much Lighter and again more of your subject's Actual face will be in Focus so I don't Know those are all selling points at Least for me if you are looking at this Sigma I series 50 and the new Sigma art 50 that's a tough choice again the
Autofocus performance of the art is Noticeably better especially if you do Video it is lightning fast this one is More than adequate but a little bit Slower but on the flip side the art lens Is bigger and heavier this F2 lens is Better Built it's all metal and it's 200 Or so cheaper so it's up to you if you Are looking at those two lenses Specifically I would consider two things Are you going to be using these 50 Millimeter lenses in low light Situations at night trying to do Nighttime portraits if you are in that F 1.4 is definitely going to make a Difference so I'd go for the art lens And number two is are you really wanting Weather sealing because this lens is Whether sealed just at the mount whereas The art lens is fully weather sealed They don't call it weather sealing they Call it full dust and moisture Resistance but if you're out in the Elements the art lens is going to be Less of a liability than this lens However if you're just using a portrait Lens outside in the sunshine on a normal Day that's not super rainy or snowy then The performance difference between this F2 and that F 1.4 G Master really And many eyes is going to be negligible This really is a great little 50 Millimeter F2 lens it's the nifty 50 That Sony never made so that is going to
Be it for my review of this new lens let Me know your thoughts down in the Comment section below are you excited About this 50 millimeter are you Completely tired of me reviewing 50 Millimeter full frame lenses let me know What's your favorite out of the three That launched this year uh always Curious to read your guys's comments I'm Excited for all the new stuff that's Coming out so stay tuned for war have a Great day see you guys soon bye-bye
