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50mm Primes

Nov 22 2005: Sigma 50mm f2.8 EX DG Macro v. Canon 50mm f1.4 USM v. Canon 50mm f1.8 MKII. Brief overall comments:

I. The EX wide open (f2.8) is quite impressive. The MKII is 1-1/3 stops down by f2.8 while the USM is a whole 2 stops down, so keep this in mind.
II. The main area of weakness for the EX is in harsh lighting; contrast suffers and the "DG" coatings "seem" insignificant.
III. The EX is simply untouchable in edge performance; it renders remarkable results.
IV. In pure center sharpness, the USM slightly outresolves the EX at f2.8. In contrast and overall "pop" the USM is a bit better.
3primes
3primes		 TestBooks
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TestBox		 TestSignCenter
TestSignCenter
TestSignEdge
TestSignEdge		 TestYellow
TestYellow

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CountryBoy 23-Aug-2008 14:04
I'm a little suprised at your results on the Sigma. I really don't find problems with it in harsh lighting and I don't have any problems with ca's with my Sigma.Are these test with the hood attached ? In the case of CA's, it is much better than my 50mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8. As for sharpness, at 2.8 , my 50m 1.8 and Sigma are close but I give the edge to the Sigma, and at 3.2 the Sigma jumps ahead of the canon.But at no point does the "Nifty" match the Sigma in color and contrast for that "Pop".
As for AF, yes it is slow. But it is a macro, and if one uses the limit switch. it's not all that bad. Still more accurate and reliable then the Nifty. It's also not as loud as my Fifty or Tamron 17-50mm.
Just my thoughts ! CountryBoy
Pet-Kal 11-Sep-2006 19:54
I think I understand why one would compare different lenses at same aperture values. However, in testing the EF 50 f/1.4 against an f/2.8 lens, an important piece of info gets lost which is that many EF 50 f/1.4 lens copies have been reported to exibit poor resolution/contrast in the aperture range f/1.4 to typically f/2.2. Mine certainly did. As a result, if anyone would chose the 50 f/1.4 over Sigma for those two extra aperture stops, they might get disappointed.
Hopefully the EF 50 f/1.2 will be an optically superior performer at large apertures .
I suspect that sooner or letter the Lightrules man will add the 50 f/1.2 to his testing schedule. Cheerio.
Peter
ran 29-Dec-2005 21:07
Great tests. I think the Sigma 50/2.8 is more appropriate for studio conditions. I have the non-DG version and in your harsh lighting test, it would show some serious CA when shot wide open. If you could do a test showing the out of focus areas, that would be very cool.
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