Has the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S started to ship yet?

I'm getting tempted to can my AF-S order. I'd love to do a side-by-side with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 HSM still... but the Siggy will arrive tomorrow and I'm a huge fan off the 30mm f/1.4 on DX... hmmm!!!

Think I'll keep the order for a while - but I didn't really expect this lens to be hard to find tbh!
 
puddleduck said:
I'm getting tempted to can my AF-S order. I'd love to do a side-by-side with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 HSM still... but the Siggy will arrive tomorrow and I'm a huge fan off the 30mm f/1.4 on DX... hmmm!!!

Think I'll keep the order for a while - but I didn't really expect this lens to be hard to find tbh!
Click to expand...

Interested in your view on the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Andy. :thumbs:
 
sdb123 said:
Interested in your view on the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Andy. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thanks - I can only really evaluate the Sigma 50mm against the AF-S though, otherwise it's all a bit subjective. New toy syndome tends to kick in, so an evaluation needs an "anchor" really so you can objectively compare

I do very often buy a 1st party and 3rd party lens and like to try both!
 
Richard Peters said:
DOF at 1.4 will take a bit of getting used too!!

cat.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice! :D

Reminds me of the Sigma 30mm f1.4 DOF. :eek:
 
My Sigma 50mm arrived!


3113309724_4d32e15ccf_o.jpg

​

What a beautiful lens - just made a few test shots, and holy crap - its SHARP even wide open. Focus is absolutely spot on (on my D700).
 
icecavern said:
Whats the focus speed like Andy?
Click to expand...

Without a stop watch, hard to judge but here in poor artificial light going from MFD to infinity is about 0.5 second.

I'd say moderately quick, typical HSM.
 
puddleduck said:
Yes, a couple of days ago - not got mine yet.

I've just bought a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX so when my Nikkor arrives I'll see which one I prefer :)
Click to expand...

how are you finding the sigma lens?
 
It only arrived half an hour ago, earlier days, but looks good.

Tried it on my D60 and D700 - the D60 is sharper than the D700 and is more demanding on lenses. On both cameras, wide open is excellent.
 
Yes, but work colleagues. Oh and a nice pen!

I can probably put some crops up without incriminating anyone :)
 
puddleduck said:
It only arrived half an hour ago, earlier days, but looks good.

Tried it on my D60 and D700 - the D60 is sharper than the D700 and is more demanding on lenses. On both cameras, wide open is excellent.
Click to expand...

Initial impressions are favourable then. Is it of equal quality to the Sigma 30mm in your opinion?
 
I'll try to do a direct comparison, maybe chuck a 30mm on the D60, and the 50mm on the D700?

Its not as big as I was expecting either.

I need to use it for a few days to form a solid opinion - right now I can't see any obvious "gotchas" IE focus problem, or softness etc, on my D60 and D700 it focuses just where I aim it.
 
I'll show some 100% crops later, but I'm really more interested in bokeh.

I shot the same scene with a Sigma 50mm f1.4 and a Nikkor 85mm f/1.8, both lenses wide open. It was impossible to frame identically due to focal lenfth and MFD but its close enough:

Scene overview:

http://www.odysseus-software.co.uk/LensTests/Sigma50mm-bokeh1.jpg

100% bokeh crop:

http://www.odysseus-software.co.uk/LensTests/Sigma50mm-bokeh2.jpg

http://www.odysseus-software.co.uk/LensTests/Sigma50mm-bokeh3.jpg

From what I can see, the Sigma really renders lovely smooth OOF backgrounds, without any sort of double lining or "cats eyes"
 
The size is quite surprising for a 50mm.

Not to scale, but just to show the size of the front element:





Sigma 50mm f/1.4

DSC_2021-sigma.jpg



Voightland 40mm f/2

DSC_0729-fs.jpg


​

Its quite big! (but really just fine on the D700)


DSC_0284-d700.jpg

​
 
Still no sign of my 50mm f/1.4 AF-S - can't see Jessops shipping before Christmas...

Anyhow.. the Sigma 50mm is doing quite nicely, I've had a little wander around Cambridge doing a bit of night shooting and I'm very happy with the lens. Wide open is very usable and you can shoot at infinity and read a billboard 200 yards away, so its not just good for close-up shooting.

The lens handles point lights in the frame without flare. Corner sharpness seems good too, and doesn't appear to drop off at the corner much at all - vignetting is very well controlled, actually for some reason this lens + vignette control causes Capture NX to crash!

The lens definately feels like the spirtual sucessor to the Sigma 30mm f/1.4.

I like it :)
 
Grrr Flipping Jacobs :bang: I called them today asking where my lens was and all I got was "Oh, we haven't any stock"!! Apparently when the website said 'In Stock' it meant there was stock available for their stores, but ZERO available for the website! I cancelled the order.

Jessops tell me over the phone that these ARE available in stock for home delivery so I've ordered from them. Let's wait and see...
 
Strange, my Jessops order is still showing as "back ordered"

I only really want the lens to compare to the Sigma - but as I'm happy with the Sigma I might can the Jessops order, as I can't justify two primes @ f/1.4 really anyhow!
 
Picked mine up today, first impressions are great. I go away on holiday tomorrow so will give it a good test over the next 4 days.
 
puddleduck said:
Strange, my Jessops order is still showing as "back ordered"
Click to expand...
Hmmm, looking at my order the 50mm has "0 despatched" next to it and the Hoya filter I bought with it has "0 despatched, 1 on back order"... :thinking:
 
Mine just arrived from Jessops, now actually! (CityLink)

No dispatch info, and still showing as backordered, got a great price on this too :)
 
Chillimonster said:
:suspect: Starts watching 'For Sale' forum waiting for 50mm 1.4 to come up for sale :suspect:


:p
Click to expand...

Well I'm really chuffed with the Sigma 50mm.. but I want to try both of them together....

TBH from the comparisons I've seen online (and there are a few now) the Sigma is better for wide open sharpness and bokeh. Off course I need to try this myself and its going to take a week or so.

I've not evaluated the Sigma 50mm properly yet :)
 
Ah b****r, the Nikon 50mm is front focusing severely about 2cm!

:(

Focusing is slower than the Sigma, quite surprised (from MFD to Infinity)

When it does focus properly, its very nice!
 
puddleduck said:
Ah b****r, the Nikon 50mm is front focusing severely about 2cm!

:(

Focusing is slower than the Sigma, quite surprised (from MFD to Infinity)

When it does focus properly, its very nice!
Click to expand...

When it does focus properly, how does it compare to the Sigma?
 
psenior1 said:
what a nightmare, but how ironic, the Sigma focusing perfectly and the Nikon front focusing!
Click to expand...

Yep, its totally off! Taken a picture of the same guy I did on Tuesday with the Nikon and its just really OOF.

Not too bothered, its Jessops so won't have any problems!
 
Foggy said:
When it does focus properly, how does it compare to the Sigma?
Click to expand...

Wide open the Sigma is sharper, but not a lot. Bare in mind this is MF, and I'm crap at MF at f/1.4 (why I didn't keep my Voightlander 58mm, I couldn't do it justice wide open)

I'll do a Contrast Detect Liveview (spit :gag:) test which will eliminate AF errors so I can get a better feeling for it.
 
Just done a nice bokeh test... interesting :)

Will post 100% crops for bokeh freaks to ponder later :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top