2 thoughts on “Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras”

1. 138 of 149 people found the following review helpful

   
   SIGMA 50MM F/1.4 FOCUS ISSUES, January 19, 2011

   By 

   Danny (California) –

   Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

   Prior to ordering this lens, I probably spent more time reading owner reviews than I have for any other lens I own. At the time of my order, I think Amazon listed some 85 customer reviews of this lens. It was hard to arrive at a conclusion. Image quality was generally not a point to be disputed. In fact the majority of owners had nothing but good to say about this lens. But, some complained of issues related to a failure to auto-focus when shooting at or near wide open aperture settings especially shooting close-ups in subdued light. I wondered why so many were pleased while others had focus problems. And, while what I have to say should not be construed to be conclusive (perhaps there are some bad copies that slipped through the QC department at Sigma)I wanted to share with others my experience with this lens and what I did to fix my focus problem. Obviously, I purchased one…..

   A lens like this is generally purchased with one or both of the following in mind. Either for portrait work or for low light shots. Therefore, it is near essential that the auto-focus be spot on. No auto-focus lens is perfect in that it is impossible to be on the dot 100% of the time, but if the majority of your shots are not keepers, there is a problem to be reckoned with. You could rely on manual focus (I do sometimes where a shot is critical, I won’t trust auto-focus alone)but you paid for auto-focus and you obviously laid out the cash for a reason.

   When my lens arrived, I went to work shooting test shots to see how auto-focus worked at these wide open settings. Sure enough, many shots were blurred. I tried manual focus, no problem, most of the shots were sharp. I sat down and thought about it for a while and it occurred to me that the camera was set to use multiple point auto-focus. I thought some more and realized that I had not really paid attention to what point/points were locking in. I reset the camera to a single (the center) focus point. At wide open (f/1.4) I shot close-ups of my wife (close enough that her face filled the frame) placing the single center point on her forehead. Wahlah…….perfect focus. Multiple test shots produced like results.

   I am wondering if others have made the same oversight as I did. With focus being so critical at these settings and distances, it is imperative that as much margin for error as possible be removed. I knew that when shooting with apertures wider that f/2.8, a single focus point should be used. I am wondering if others may have made this same oversight??? I can’t recall reading any remarks concerning this. In any event, if you have a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and you have had focus problems, give it a try if you haven’t tried it already.

   I must say that I am pleased with this lens now that I have resolved the focus problem. It is sharp as a tack and is quickly becoming one of my favorites. It is a great value when compared to it’s competitors besides being a beautiful lens to look at with all that big glass…….

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2. 114 of 125 people found the following review helpful

   
   Amazing value for the money, November 23, 2008

   By 

   Andres Hirmas Adauy –
   
     

   Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

   I’m a primary Canon user. I owned before the canon 50 mm 1.4, a trully excellent lens for the money too. But not to sharp wide open. You have to stop down at least to f2 in order to get good contrast and saturation. Also, the focusing ring was bad in my opinion.
   In the other hand, the 50L 1.2 was a big dissapointment to me.I expected the same image quality as the 35L or the 85L for that price.
   When I received the Sigma lens I really love it at once. The construction was amazing, solid as a tank, and the ring is very smooth.
   What have really impressed me was the performance wide open. Images are clear as crystal with good color and rendition.
   Fully recomended.

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