Are you still on the fence for the awesome Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens? Do not, and grab this outstanding lens as soon as you can. Pre-orders can be made at  B&H Photo (click here) and Adorama (click here), stocks are limited. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 sells for ridiculous $949. The price is ridiculous if you consider that the auto-focusing Sigma can easily hold up to the $4,000, manual focusing Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4. Not bad, eh?

• Head2Head: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens vs. Canon 50mm f/1.2 – SLR Lounge
• Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens test – fstoppers
• Using the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 in a lifestyle shot – fstoppers
• Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art Review: Great Glass That Punches Above Its Price – Gizmodo
• Sigma 50mm f/1.4 sample images – lenstip

 

The Phoblographer reviewed Sigma’s latest full-frame lens, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens. The Sigma 50mm can be pre-ordered at B&H Photo (click here) and Adorama (click here).

This is the lens Sigma wants to compete with the manual focusing, $4,000 priced Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 sells for $949 (and has auto-focus). Btw, in the meantime we know that the Sigma easily holds up to the Zeiss.

About build quality:

The 50mm f1.4 Art lens looks as spectacular as the 35mm f1.4–plus it feels like Hasselblad would have made it […] Everything about the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens screams about its quality

About auto-focus:

autofocusing to be speedy and accurate for the most part providing that the focusing point is over a clear contrasting point. In low light situations, the focusing struggled a bit

About image quality:

When it comes to image quality of the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens, it truly is deserving of its Art moniker. This lens delivers some of the most beautiful image quality that we’ve seen and surely puts lots of the first party offerings to shame

About sharpness:

Sigma’s 50mm f1.4 is super sharp. We find it to be incredibly sharp when shot wide open and that is manages to reach its critical sharpness at f8

About colors:

As far as colors go, We don’t think that the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens is better than the 35mm f1.4 Art offering

Conclusion:

Sigma’s 50mm f1.4 Art DG HSM is an exceptional lens. Starting with the design, it very much is in line with the company’s 35mm f1.4 Art optic. The outside feels and looks like something that Hasselblad might make. It feels just so great in your hands that you’d never want to let it go. In fact, if you’re a big fan of the 50mm field of view you might never want to give it up.

Users also just won’t be able to complain about the image quality. The sharpness, bokeh, colors and look are top of the class despite some personal gripes. We feel like most users will be very satisfied. Once again, if you purchase the lens and are still looking at/talking about how the Zeiss performs better, then you should probably just go for the Zeiss. Again though, not everyone can afford it.

The Phoblographer’s review of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens comes with much more information, and a rich set of sample pictures. This is a killer lens at a killer price, there is no excuse not to buy it at this price :-)

Sample pictures shot with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (price & specs):

 

A few days after having published their review about the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens, the folks at SLRGear published their review of the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 lens, a manual focusing, optical gem that sells for $4,000.

The Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 is the lens Sigma claims they want to compete with their 50mm f/1.4 lens. There is still no official announcement about the Sigma’s price, but Photo Rumors says they got a rumor stating that the Sigma 50mm f/1.4’s price will be $1,030. Well, that´s a fourth of the Zeiss!

About sharpness of the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4:

Given the price tag and their history of high quality lenses, we were expecting the Zeiss 55mm ƒ/1.4 Otus to display truly impressive results, and we weren’t disappointed

and compared to the Sigma 50mm f/1.4:

The Sigma 50mm ƒ/1.4 Art is just as sharp right in the center, but the Zeiss shows significantly better sharpness over the rest of the frame, particularly in the corners.

Conclusion and how the Zeiss holds up to the Sigma:

Despite the dramatic difference in price, the Sigma competes handily with the $4,000 Zeiss 55mm Otus lens. […] With extremely sharp images, even wide open, the Sigma also has fantastic vignetting and CA control, and a phenomenally low level of distortion. While the Zeiss does show better performance in the corners at ƒ/1.4 on a full-frame camera, the other optical performance characteristics are pretty evenly matched.

What do you think about the fact that “optical performance characteristics are pretty evenly matched”? So, substantially the  Sigma 50mm f/1.4 matches the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 in as good as all tests SLRGear made. The Zeiss is sharper in the corners at f/1.4, and that’s all the Zeiss has to beat the Sigma. And the Sigma has auto-focus and could possibly cost a fourth of the Zeiss.

The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens is an exciting pieces of glass. Can’t wait to see more reviews of this lens.

 

[via SLRGear]

Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 specifications and description after the break.