Sigma 50mm 1.4 art..worth the £££

[minnnt]

I used something at the bottom of the garden from the front of my house. Camera was on a tripod. I would guess at it being between 15 and 20 meters.

 

[HoppyUK]

I've only had the time to do distance 1-2-3 but not infinty yet... and all were front focusing a lot. So at the moment i'm super impressed with the sharpness up to 2 meters but after this it's rubbish! Because my calibration is like +10, +12,+15, 0 but that likely going to be somewhere between +15 and +20!

Next job to the calibration for infinity! Did you guy use something really far (like the horizon, a hill,...) or moderately far (like 5-10m)?

The distance to infinity varies. It's a depth of field effect so depends on the same factors, ie focal length, aperture, sensor format, and distance. With something like a super-wide f/4 zoom, it could be as close as 10m, with a fast telephoto, maybe a couple of hundred meters. With a 50/1.4 on full-frame, infinity starts at about 60m.

But for AF micro adjustment, you don't need to be exactly at infinity, just somewhere there abouts. So long as the lens shows a position near the infinity mark on the barrel, that'll be fine.

 

[Moey]

I'm assuming having the dock makes this calibration process a whole lot easier?

 

[Lemaildetom]

I'm assuming having the dock makes this calibration process a whole lot easier?

You need the dock, you cannot do it without. Or else you just do the in camera fine tune but the dock write the change in the lens firmware not in the camera body.

 

[Lemaildetom]

Just manage to find 15 minutes (baby nap in the buggy!) to finish the calibration of my lens, I still needed to do the infinity setting.
I used the cock on top of a cathedral which is maybe 150m away and double checked on a wall at 5m distance. Each time comparing a manual focus shot using liveview zoomed in at 100% and autofocus. It needed +18 for infinity, so before calibration it look real bad and after pretty pretty sharp at f/1.4! I tried +20 and it was clearly passed the infinity much softer so i'm glad it didn't max out the scale.

Overall i'm very happy to have calibrated the 50mm the three closer distance where easy to do in the kitchen table. The infinity in the garden. I really want to buy a 150-600 next but i think the calibration is going to be much harder with the distance that you need to reach my garden must be only 7-8m long!

 

[minnnt]

I love a good cock on top of a cathedral.

 

[Lemaildetom]

 

[StuartH]

I love a good cock on top of a cathedral.

 

[Moey]

I knew someone was going to beat me to the cock....

 

[T_J_G]

I knew someone was going to beat me to the cock....

 

[Moey]

Erm, yeah, that doesn't quite read right... I meant beat me into making a gaffe about the cock.... actually, i'll shut up... :-(

 

[SsSsSsSsSnake]

I love a good cock on top of a cathedral.

That's right bring the tone of the place down,you DF lot I don't know

 

[keenan]

Erm, yeah, that doesn't quite read right... I meant beat me into making a gaffe about the cock.... actually, i'll shut up... :-(

Always better to make jokes about the cock.. Rather than take photos of 'em [emoji15]

 

[Lemaildetom]

Gosh i cock up didn't I?

Got confused between coq and cockerel and ...

I might need to upload a picture now!

 

[Lemaildetom]

So...

Coq manual focus whole picture

Coq manual focus crop

Same crop no adjustement

Same crop +18 looks just perfect!

Same crop +20 gone too far!

So really without adjustement it is unusable, but once tuned it pretty good! Same experience at all focal distance!

 

[keenan]

+18 definitely looks like the sweet spot!

It's a shame that Sigma lenses need focus adjustment in the first place as better QC would have ensured a much larger user base and market share!

 

[minnnt]

Having changed camera bodies, I am just re calibrating my 50. Altered 0.4 and 0.7, just 1.5 and infinity left to do but will do that tomorrow as it's a bit of a faff.

On the other hand, I'm not sure the ART lenses are really suited to the Df. They're very heavy and the grip isn't exactly generous. Shame really as i think they're the best lenses optically bar the Otus.

 

[Lemaildetom]

Having changed camera bodies, I am just re calibrating my 50. Altered 0.4 and 0.7, just 1.5 and infinity left to do but will do that tomorrow as it's a bit of a faff.

On the other hand, I'm not sure the ART lenses are really suited to the Df. They're very heavy and the grip isn't exactly generous. Shame really as i think they're the best lenses optically bar the Otus.

I hope you have a good coq nearby it makes the job easier!

 

[minnnt]

My coq isn't up to much TBH.

 

[Lemaildetom]

Here's picture of the little one shot a f/1.8 and 100% crop

I've applied sharpness to the whole image with masking to not sharpen the background. Very happy with that!

 

[minnnt]

Shooting at 1.8 can easily get you banned from this thread.

It's 1.4 or GTFO.

 

[Lemaildetom]

I'm too scared! Never add a f/1.4 before :-/

 

[LASTOLITE]

I'm too scared! Never add a f/1.4 before :-/

If you are scared you probably cant handle it.

Its nothing to be ashamed of!

 

[StuartH]

I almost feel guilty not having to do any focus tuning on mine!

 

[Lemaildetom]

Anyone find the lens cap pretty annoying to use? I find it hard to clip and not comfortable to pinch. As anyone swapped it for something else?

 

[StuartH]

Yeah its pretty stiff on mine and awkward to put on with hood in place.

 

[minnnt]

Yeah its pretty stiff on mine and awkward to put on with hood in place.

This. Without the hood on it's fine, with it it's a pig.

 

[Moey]

This. Without the hood on it's fine, with it it's a pig.

Are we still talking about the coq here?

 

[Moey]

Yeah its pretty stiff on mine and awkward to put on with hood in place.

This. Without the hood on it's fine, with it it's a pig.

I'll try again, I cocked up on the last comment.. ..

Are we still talking about the coq here ???? Oh, forget it .. .. .. ..

 

[Lemaildetom]

i was using the hood yes, and it a pain to use i will try the lens cap of my nikon 20mm i think it's the same diameter

 

[StuartH]

Sorry no Coqs just some refreshments@ f1.4 naturally!

untitled-2-8 by Stuart Howe, on Flickr

untitled-0007-2 by Stuart Howe, on Flickr

untitled-2-12 by Stuart Howe, on Flickr

 

[Moey]

You may be lucky and get a pearler like Stuart's but both my 24 and 50 needed tuning. Being able to tune at 4 focus distances is brilliant imo. You can also update firmware should it need it.

I got a pearler like @StuartH 's lens .. .. .. .. in fact, it was Stuarts lens..! I used it on Saturday at a wedding and I'm chuffed to bits with it, especially as it's a great copy

 

[StuartH]

Really pleased your happy with the lens mate its a belter for sure!!

 

[Lemaildetom]

A bit underwhelmed,
Recently i calibrated my lens and got +10,+12,+15,+18, used it a fair bit and really like it!

Last week i used it and past 2-3m i got a lot of slightly out of focus at 3m i get the eye further away instead of the nearest. At 5-7 i get a fair bit of focus 20-30cm further back. So today i recalibrated it and i get quiet different result as before +10, +12,+14,+15 not so different but why would it have changed within 2 weeks?

 

[The Greek]

I almost feel guilty not having to do any focus tuning on mine!

Same here, spot on out of the box.

 

[Lemaildetom]

A few recent with the d750 and nikon 50mm ART

Lovely lens when it performs well!
I hope it won't go out of calibration again!!!

 

[Sir SR]

Posted these up in the d750 thread.

Not used the 50 for a while but thought I'd take a pic of my tinkers just before bed

JPEGS to iPhone via the wireless app.

 

[Lemaildetom]

Anyone use there's with extention tube? I fancy trying some flower macro when the spring arrives.