Sigma 311101 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon, Black
Sigma 311101 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon, Black
A true flagship of artistic expression
Floating system
This system adjusts the distance between lens groups during focusing, thereby reducing the amount of lens movement required. The result is less aberration at different shooting distances. Benefits are particularly great in macro lenses because they cover a wide range of shooting distances, and in wide-angle lenses, which employ asymmetric configurations of lens elements.
Compatible with full-frame Sony E-mount cameras
The version of this lens compatible with Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras contains the same optical system as for SLRs. SIGMA MOUNT CONVERTER MC-11 is not required, as the lens performs the same functions as the converter, including in-camera image stabilization and in-camera lens aberration correction. In addition, the lens is compatible with Sony’s Continuous AF, which is not addressed by MOUNT CONVERTER MC-11. SIGMA plans to offer over time Sony E-mount versions of every full-frame prime lens currently available in the Art line, from 14mm to 135mm.Note: This product is developed, manufactured and sold based on the specifications of E-mount which was disclosed by Sony Corporation under the license agreement with Sony
Supplied Accessories
Padded Case
LENS HOOD LH830-02
FRONT CAP LCF Ⅲ 77mm
REAR CAP LCR Ⅱ
*The lens hood cuts harmful rays that can negatively affect photographs while also minimizing reflectivity within the hood itself. The hood also features a rubber construction and a non-slip groove to make it easy to hold in a variety of shooting situations.
SIGMA WR CERAMIC PROTECTOR 77mm (OPTIONAL)
With many applications in aerospace and other industries, glass ceramic is an extremely tough type of crystallized glass that serves as the foundation for Clear Glass Ceramic. While featuring the high transmittance required of optical devices, this advanced new material combines greater hardness than chemically strengthened glass and greater flexibility than sapphire crystal glass. These qualities make Clear Glass Ceramic the ideal material for protective lens filters.
| Lens construction | 13 elements in 8 groups |
| Minimum aperture | F16 |
| Filter size | 77㎜ |
| Angle of view | 46.8° |
| Minimum focusing distance | 40cm / 15.7 in. |
| Number of diaphragm blades | 9 (Rounded diaphragm) |
| Maximum magnification ratio | 1：5.6 |
| Weight | 815g / 28.7 oz. |
| Weight: | 815 Grams |
| Dimensions: | 10 x 8.5 x 8.5 centimetres |
| Brand: | Sigma |
| Model: | 311954 |
| Part: | 311954 |
| Colour: | Black |
| Dimensions: | 10 x 8.5 x 8.5 centimetres |
I bought this to replace my Canon L 50mm f/1.2 as this will autofocus on my Sony FX6 yet still fit my Canon 5D mk III. This is very nearly as sharp, plenty sharp enough for my work, and of course around half the price.
If I had to chose between the lenses purely based on the images, I would choose the Canon. However, for work it’s alot about practicalities too, hence swapping the Canon for the Sigma.
Would definitely recommend.
I love this lens, great for portraits. It’s a bit of an all rounder. Macro isn’t as good, but I have a macro lens, and I’m used to it’s quality for insect pictures. Would definitely recommend, the detail in portraits is fantastic.
It weighs in heavy at 1.8lbs. For a prime that’s a lot. But aside from the weight, this is in a class of its own. I upgraded from a Canon 50mm STM and the results are spectacular. I am using a crop sensor body. There is no barrel distortion or pin cushion. The only pin with this lens is that its tack sharp! Highly recommended for portrait and everyday photography
Make no mistake, this is a great lens! It is well built, good looking and gives better than expected results. Its low-light performance is excellent, auto-focus quick, and image quality is worth twice the price. Images are very sharp at the centre and acceptably sharp at the edges, there is minimal chromatic aberration and distortion and the colour rendition is excellent. It is heavy and has occasionally missed focus at f1.4, but then it is very tricky to nail focus at this aperture. This is well worth the money. Buy one!
I don’t think I’ll want to use any other lens after this one. I’m so glad I went with 50mm. I also got the 20mm, but rarely need it.
Autofocus is sometimes a little off, but even then the daytime shots are still coming out beautiful. I bought the lens mainly for astrophotography, so I rarely need autofocus.
At F/1.4 there’s some distortion on my astro shots at the edges, but at F/4 it performs brilliantly.
Only been using the lens a few days and find it to be very sharp and with a fast focus using canon 6d center point. The lens is very heavy and the heaviest lens i now own, camera shake holding it by hand could be a problem in low light conditions but useing it mostly for portrait @f1.4 with good results, but if you are just starting out the canon nifty 50mm f1.8 is still one of the best lens for value = image quality
Great lens for the money, I have been using the Canon 1.4 50mm for years and decided it was time for an upgrade. Opted for the Sigma over the Canon 1.2 50mm because of the cost difference and haven’t been disappointed. I’ve had great results from this lens, the sharpness and focus accuracy is excellent would recommend, only cons would be the weight, for a 50mm it’s on the heavy side, roughly the same weight as the Canon 24-105. Will definitely look at the other lenses in Sigmas art range in the future.
Based on her recommendation, and after reading some reviews as she’d suggested, I decided the Sigma lens was worth trying and I’m glad I did. The image quality is superb and, though the lens is very heavy, image quality is what I wanted. I already had the Canon 100-400mm ISM III lens, which takes the same 77mm filters as the Sigma lens so I’m very happy now with my lenses and camera – an ideal combination for my interests in wildlife, scenery and portrait photography.
The Sigma lens autofocus is superb so I’ve not yet seen the need to update the firmware or calibrate the focus but if that becomes necessary in the future it’s good to know that Sigma can supply the USB kit to simplify doing the upgrade. In the meantime I’m very happy with my Sigma lens as is.
Excellent lens, autofocus isn t very fast but works well when posing. Bought the sigma dock to adjust the focus but i made things worse so i resetted everything in the end and adjusted from the camera micro adjustment tab and happy with the results. Now this is the lens i always have on my camera (my walkabout) against the 24-70 f2.8 first series which is now living in my bag. The f1.4 aperture is stunning! The weight of the lens is impressive but i don t mind it.
I have multiple canon lenses most with L rating. Depending on usage this sigma art lens blows them all away. A few months ago I took the photographs for my daughters wedding using only this lens on full frame camera. Excellent results. It stays on one of my cameras all the time now.
It’s heavy as others have said, but nothing out of the ordinary for anyone used to L series lenses.
The bottom line is I’ve owned six L series lenses and other than a 70-200 F2.8L IS, this is now my favourite lens.
It’s incredibly sharp, handles low-light with ease and has actually made me think about shots in a different light (if you’ll pardon the pun).
I love this lens! Build quality is excellent, sharpness and bokeh fall off is sublime! For both portrait and product photography especially. My “go-to” prime !!! IG: “emilwilkens” if you wanna see some photos i took with lens!
This is an excellent lens, with crisp and clear imaging. Made of solid materials, this thing feels nice in hand and on camera. I was a bit put off by the chunky lens cap, but I usually replace those anyway.
Other reviewers have written detailed reviews, so I won’t get into that here. Regretfully the lens didn’t serve my purposes so I returned it. But don’t let that turn you off of the ART series, as I returned it in order to pick up the 35mm one instead!
This lens is a massive step up in quality from Canon’s own 1.8 lens (aka niffty fifty) but inevitably is also much heavier and larger. Sigma has historically be plagued with both unreliable autofocus and quality control issues however in the last couple of years, since their Global Vision approach of banding lenses (Contemporary, Art and Sport) they seem to have gotten significantly better.
The version I have received is very sharp, good at autofocusing in at a good speed. I believe it can be further updated using their docking station (available separately) but I’ve only gone as far as fine tuning it with microadjustments which were less than all of my Canon L series lenses.
I’ve not owned the Canon 50L and so cannot make a direct comparison between the two, it is a little faster but also a lot more expensive. I know some semi-pro photographers are hoping Sigma will upgrade this lens to make it closer to the latest Art series lenses which are easily riveling Canon L but for me as a serious hobbyist this was the right balance of price -v- quality and I’d highly recommend it.
Pin sharp and half the price of the Zeiss equivalent. This is a fantastic lens and the build quality is spot on. The lens is fast, sharp and has auto focus if needed.
pcarverphotography.com
Awesome lens. Not much more I can add that other reviews havent already said. If you camera has microcalibration it’s worth doing as mine was a small bit off I noticed.
I will start saying that I am not a professional photographer but when it is time to choose a lens for my photography I can spend days and sometimes week to find the right compromise between quality and price.
I have a canon 6D and i have tried all kind of different lenses from m-42 lens mount like Carl Zeiss 50 1.4 same as Yashica mount, Canon 50.1.8 series I and II, Canon 50m 1.4, but nothing was delivering not even comparable image quality, sharpness and colors to the Sigma 50mm 1.4. something similar to this would be the Canon 40mm 2.8 pancake with superb sharpness and a bit wider.
The SIgma Lens performs perfectly under almost any condition, Chromatic Aberration and purple fringing are superbly well by the lens, I have no noticed flare in any of the image taken, the focus it is super accurate and precise even at low light conditions, one thing you need to know that many people are complaining about the missed focus which could be true but there are copies and copies of this lens, mine was perfect I even bought a
Sigma USB Dock Mount to avoid any non lens precision, the dock has never being used and seats in my drawer. it depends of the camera but the micro focus adjustment can be done in camera setting using a focus chart for example this one, (DSLRKIT Lens Focus Calibration Tool Alignment Ruler Folding Card (pack of 2) which has been printed with high contrast and perfect to perform fine adjustment.
One thing that it is a bit irritating for me is the weight of the actual lens (470g) if you mostly travel with the camera this could be quite a concern, but has 13 elements in 8 groups including aspherical elements and also SLD (special low dispersion) that helps in reducing chromatic aberration, and improve overall image sharpness and also that it is not water sealed, so you need to take extra care. View angle it is 46.8 degrees.
The bokeh could be harsh at times as someone says, i am extremely happy with the purchase:) .
In my opinion this glass is optically as good as my L lenses. Just a pity it’s not weather-sealed … knock off half a star at this price!
It’s damn heavy though; that was my biggest doubt before purchase. However for this quality I’m happy to put up with it. More of a hefty fifty than a nifty fifty 😉
High quality, no issues. Much better price and performance than canon 1.2 50mm. L.
Use it 5 times a week and love it. Very sharp. Maybe on the heavy side for travel photographers.
I will not go into the technicalities of this lens as if you are looking at it you will already know your stuff. Instead I will just look at my opinions and my experience for comparisons.
Instantly I am impressed with the results, seemingly gone is the AF issues of the old lens, instantly focusing on the desired subject in all but the dimmest of lighting with a dark subject, this sending the lens on a chase looking for its mark. I have used this so far for around about 500 exposures in a variety of settings and the majority of these shots were extremely sharp with a very pleasing bokeh. The ones not quite perfect were more often than not down to user error and therefore the lens cannot be blamed.
I use this lens paired with a Canon 5d mark iii and it does just what I want. It has been used so far mainly for portraits of my children and family gatherings and also at my sisters stables for capturing horses and dogs. Whilst at the stables I have used it in fast burst mode whilst my sister rides in the outdoor arena and had some fantastic results were the older version seemd to lack.
In short this lens is my go to prime and I have since sold the older version. The bokeh is soft and pleasing, the AF now seemingly fixed and images nice and sharp, the lens nice and quick. If you are looking for a extremely good prime I would suggest spending the extra for this and you will have no regrets. I have also used the Canon F/1.4 and also F/1.2 and in my opinion this leaves them behind in terms of results, especially now with the fixed AF system.
i’m torn with this lens, i loved my trusty canon 50mm f1.4 but i’ve been through 3 of them!!! doing gig photography, i’m not exactly gentle with them so the focus gears kept breaking on me and at 300 a go replacing them is not a cheap hobby! this lens an internal focus mechanism so there’s nothing to bump or damage it’s got a solid metal build and is chunky as hell. but that’s what i don’t like about it, it’s bulky as my 135mm f2 and weighs as much. the canon model is so lightweight but now with the sigma i have second thoughts about lugging it around all day.
other minor complaints, whilst it is sharp as hell i do find occasionally it will totally miss focus and give me a false confirmation. i don’t recall this happening with the canon model.
overall these are minor complaints, it is a very good lens and worth the price, but make sure it suits your needs.
I’m using this sigma lens for about month now. It ‘s performing very well so I’m happy with my choice. I was little worried about the bookeh before, when I was reading reviews, but there is nothing to worry – it looks very good with that lens. Build quality is superb, is heavy also. On my 5d mark iii with the grip attached it’s look awesome. I can easily recommend that Sigma lens!
I purchased the 22mm ART for use on canon 1D Series cameras and was so impressed with it I followed up with an order for the 50mm ART. I scored the 22mm ART 5/5 but was amazed how good the 50mm ART is and have nothing negative to say about it. It deserves a score of 6/5!
After being disappointed with a previous Sigma lens I was a bit wary about buying these but they really are superb and have a top notch build quality. The 22mm and 50mm ART lenses both tale 77mm filters which is an advantage out the field.
Sigma Art lenses are far better than the Sigma branding might make you believe, and Quality Control seems to be much improved. I own three fixed focal length Art lenses now, and each is a significant improvement over the Canon L range equivalent – I can’t recommend hem highly enough.
I have shot a bit of video footage with it and recently took it on its first stills mission which was a test shoot in London on a beautiful fall day. You can see the results of that shoot here including a few notes on exposure etc…
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.736828319706288.1073741847.333578280031296&type=1
Overall I’m very pleased with this lens. The build quality is excellent. It feels solid and precise. The autofocus is silent and very fast and when I could confirm that I’d grabbed the focus spot I was aiming for it was pin-sharp. When reviewing my photos it seems I missed my mark a few times, but this could be a fault of the 5D MKIII’s focus system and not always being able define a small enough area in a photo for focus (the focus boxes I use in the viewfinder often focus on a small branch, or something near the subject if they’re far away in the frame). The bokeh is superb. Really creamy out of focus highlights. The flare was hard to produce given the superb coatings Sigma have used to supress it, but when I was able to get flare with low sun it was a really nice effect which resolved beautifully in a reddish hue at the top of the frame (you will see this photo in the link provided above). If I moved the lens slightly I was able to get a more emerald hue. Lovely stuff for arty lifestyle, or editorial fashion photos.
The only reason I’m not giving the lens 5 stars is because I find the manual focus ring a tad too sensitive. I’d like a longer throw on it for the video work I do as when focusing manually, you only need to move the ring 0.5mm in order to throw everything out of focus at f/1.4. I know this was meant for stills photography, but would be nice to have a little more play in the manual focus even for stills.
One more thing… The lens came with a really well-constructed hood and a great, soft case.
Reviews talk about how sharp the lens is edge to edge compared with almost everything else on the market. That might be true but like a lot of people who buy these lenses I’m using them at a wide aperture more often than not. This is the only area where the Sigma 35mm Art has a slight advantage over its 50mm cousin. The out-of-focus areas on the 35mm are sublime to my eyes, while the 50mm is no slouch there is some visible harshness in the blur if the background is ‘messy’, complex. But I am being picky, it’s just not quite as nice as the 35mm but I prefer it to the Canon consumer primes I’ve owned in the past. For AF I had to make slight micro adjustments in-camera but once done focusing is fast and accurate, centre and outer AF points. I don’t own the USB dock but I might try it if new firmware comes out.
I managed to pick up both lenses new at low prices, the 50mm I bought here was 640 sold by Amazon, so it’s worth watching for fluctuations in Amazon’s price. At that price it’s amazing value for money.
Highly recommended, especially if you can get it for around 650.
As with all lenses you have to be in focus so whilst yes, there is a little variance on the Sigma 50 art it’s hardly anything to worry about in the version I have.
It’s gorgeous, the colour rendition is excellent and best of all I can confidently shoot this wide open when I couldn’t with the 50L.
I’m Chris Giles, a professional photographer and someone who wasn’t a fan of Sigma previously. Now I am.
This bodes well for the next iteration of the 50L and I would expect it to top the Sigma as there have been some huge jumps in the quality of lenses in the last few years.