Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Sony A

This high-specification Sigma prime comes with a price-tag to match, but does image quality meausure up? Read the WDC Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM review to find out

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  Imposing presence

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  Distinctly heavy

When Sigma first announced the 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM in March, our story headline (courtesy of our news editor and punmeister-in-chief) was 'A new standard?', and this has turned out to be remarkably prescient.

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  Class-leading image quality, Relatively low vignetting even at wide apertures on full frame, Reasonably fast and positive autofocus, with full-time manual override, Very good build quality

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  Large and heavy for a 50mm F1.4, Expensive

It is hard not to be drawn to a fast prime - the short, fat, solid-feeling lens with very low-light capability is very attractive. So, I don't find it surprising that the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens has received a lot of attention in the early days of its availability.

Gary Wolstenholme takes a look Sigma's first f/1.4 aperture standard lens, which sports a silent HSM focusing motor.

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  Excellent sharpness in the centre at most apertures, Low vignetting, 77mm filter size is the same as most professional level zooms

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  Maybe a little softer than I'd hoped at f/1.4, Heavier than any other 50mm f1.4 lens, Bigger than any other 50mm f/1.4 lens

This is an in-depth review of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM prime lens that was announced on March 18, 2008 for Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony mounts. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM is a professional-grade lens for enthusiasts and pros that need a high quality lens for portraiture and...

The Sigma 50mm Æ’/1.4 is an interesting lens, offering excellent resistance to chromatic aberration and low distortion. Corner shading isn't an issue when used on a sub-frame body, but on a full-frame body it's significant, and distinctive in that it never really goes away.

Similar in size, features, and price (though not format) to Sigma's 30mm f/1.4 high-speed "normal" prime for DSLRs with APS-C sensors, this 50mm full-framer ($500, street) also belongs to Sigma's EX family of pro-quality glass.

Gary Wolstenholme takes a look at this fast f/1.4 aperture standard lens suitable for full frame and crop sensor DSLRs.

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  Excellent sharpness in the centre at most apertures, Low vignetting, 77mm

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  Maybe a little softer than I'd hoped at f/1.4, Heavier than any other 50mm f1.4 lens, Bigger than any other 50mm f/1.4 lens

The Sigma AF 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM struggles to deliver convincing performance on full format cameras. The center quality of the lens is certainly fine and even great from f/2 onwards. Unfortunately the border & corner performance is rather disappointing.

The new Sigma AF 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM showed pretty impressive results in our APS-C review. However, it's not quite as convincing on full format cameras. The center quality of the lens is certainly fine and even great from f/2 onwards.

This is not a lens I would have considered except that I was offered it at such a bargain price that I could not refuse. I have been nicely surprised. I find that having more flexibility in aperture makes a prime lens like this more useful than a mid-range zoom such as the 24-70 f/4 that it has...

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  Wide aperture Fast focussing Solid build Excellent IQ overall Versatile Pleasant to use

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  Corners are not so sharp as some alternatives Quite big and heavy compared to alternatives No Image Stabilisation Not weather sealed

BUY IT NOW, save yourself from the Canon 50mm lineup and get even somewhat better quality than the prestigious 50mm "L" lens... Canon's is good/great, but after some review this one has the upper hand in 50mm (only this range, "L" is preferred on all others for me)... can't wait for the 5D MK2...

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  Inexpensive, sharp at 1.4, and great background blur, blows away my former Tam** SP F2.8 lens, ultra fast focusing on my 50D, a great pair for portraits, made my photo shoot go easy the other day and it made it hard to pick which photos to use, THE WERE ALL GREAT!!!

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  its not a 1.2, ummm

One of the best 50mm. Beats even the 50mm from Sony, Canon and Nikon. I use it on the Sony A700

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  Super sharp and great colour

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  Bulky

great value for money in my experience with two samples on Canon and Nikon full frame bodies, have used on Df and D810, and also on Canon 6D (Canon mount), overall love this lens and consider a real sleeper on the used and old new stock market, for the price its a winner, 90pct of the goodness of...

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  beautiful bokeh, solid build, decent AF (in my samples), excellent sharpness especially when stopped down, overall superior to Canikon equivalents in the same price range and focal length // Fstop range, tried the new 50 f1.4 Sigma ART for samples and comparison and the new ART version is sharper in...

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  Large filer size, large lens overall for 1.4 max aperture, ok sharpness at corners not that great at 1.4 but fine by my book by 2.8