Equipment & Techniques > Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear

Sigma 85/1.4 - stellar

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nemophoto:
I had the opportunity to rent the new Sigma 85 a couple weeks ago from Lensrentals.com for a week-long catalog shoot I did in Miami. I have to admit, I was blown away by the results. Over the years, I've owned three copies of the venerable Canon 85/1.8 and for the past four years I've owned the Canon 85/1.2. Of the later, while I've had very good results, I have had some reservations at times. I rarely shoot with the lens wider than f4 or f3.5, it has fairly strong chromatic aberrations wide open, and it could be slow focusing in low light.

With the Sigma, I routinely shot at 2.8 with exceptionally sharp results. (I used both my 1Dx and my 5Ds.) I found no issues with focus speed, focus lock or tracking in servo. Though I had been hopeful about the lens, I was a little wary mainly because, though my Sigma Art 50 is sharp, I have issues with the lens being about a 1/2 stop darker at any given aperture compared to my Canon lenses. (I have sent it in only to have them say there's nothing wrong and it's within specs.)  I had no such issue with the Sigma 85 when switching between that and my Canon 70-200/2.8 or my 135/2.

I hope to sell my 85/1.2 in the near future and buy the Sigma 85. I actually tried buying the copy I had from lensrentals.com, but they wanted list price for it (though previously rented a few times -- not a biggie for me), but the real deal breaker was that it would only have a 90-day warranty versus Sigma's 4-year warranty. That was one sharp lens. I hated to return it, but can only hope any copy I buy is as stellar.

D76:
DxO raved about the Sigma.  A thread in Nikon Rumours touts it as actually sharper than the Zeiss Otus (which is hard to believe).

nemophoto:
Maybe not so hard to believe. It certainly looked incredibly -- very noticeably -- sharp to me. But then, I've never used that Zeiss lens, preferring to stick with AF.

kers:

--- Quote from: nemophoto on February 05, 2017, 12:18:55 pm ---Maybe not so hard to believe. It certainly looked incredibly -- very noticeably -- sharp to me. But then, I've never used that Zeiss lens, preferring to stick with AF.

--- End quote ---

Lenscore clearly shows that the Otus is sharper. They use a dedicated 200MP sensor to test i believe...
But i think the next ten years you will not see much difference in sharpness in real life.

nemophoto:
Well, to use LenScore's own words:

"The word impressive doesn't do justice to Sigma's latest portrait prime. Easily the best 85mm f/1.4 AF lens currently available..."

To a degree, I question the use of a 200MP sensor -- far from anything available in the real world. But I guess if you are pixel peeping the the Nth degree, I guess you might as well all the way.

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