One year after the announcement the really superb Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens is now in Stock in USA via Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and [shoplink 31857 ebay]CameraLand (Click here)[/shoplink].
The lens is an absolute bargain if you consider it’s a hari close to the Zeiss Outs which costs 4 times as much. Read the reviews at 3DKraft, Photozone, CameraLabs or DxOmark.
–
The A-mount lens can be preordered in Europe at WexUK (Click here) and WexDe (Click here). In Japan at Amazon Japan (2-3weeks shipment).
52 Responses
Don’t buy it, Sigma doesn’t deserve your business.
“Don’t buy it”??
Like most other things promoted on this site…..we can’t…we don’t live in the U$A.
It seems that $igma is now following $ony’s stupidity by thinking that the U$S deserves all the offers and attention. ……and by doing that, losing business, faith and credibility in their company throughout the rest of the world.
Sigma has lost faith and credibility all over the world including the US and doesn’t deserve your business. My point is not to support a company that couldn’t care less about its customers and particularly Sony users. Sigma can take their lenses and put them where the sun don’t shine for all I care. I will never purchase another lens from this miserable company.
You think that’s the way to go? Sigma makes amazing glass and if we show them that we matter just as much as Canikon users with our money than they might release things faster for us. Not buying their products doesn’t benefit anyone except their ego. The A-mount lineup is small enough compared to Canikon, many people are happy that 3rd party manufacturers are still making A-mount versions of their gear.
Including the only a-mount 35/1.4 worth owning…
My clients love the Mino 35/1.4 for dreamy bokeh portraits. I love it for smooth skin tones and nearly half the size and weight of Pigma 35.
Test chart perfection is for turds who want to look like every other turd.
I rented the Sigma to put against my Minolta 35/1.4, and it actually comes close in rendering similar bokeh and color — I was surprised. It’s also very slightly but noticeably sharper in the center wide open. That being said, I agree that the Mino has a certain quality that’s hard to define. People spend way too much time looking at test charts and not enough time taking photos, or they’d see the difference. Sometimes I think the only people commenting here collect lenses based on their scores just for bragging rights and never actually use them. It’s kind of pathetic.
True word. I also own the Minotla 35 1.4 G and although it lacks in different disciplines the color rendering, bokeh and that undefinable magic are awesome.
Nahhh! we don’t need SIGMA. I have the 50mm 1.5 Zeiss already anyway.
The costumer doesn’t have to win the company, it’s the other way around..
True, but we don’t all have enormous cash to burn either. Sony’s 50mm f/1.4 ZA, while nice, is way overpriced considering the 55mm f/1.8 FE ZA is much sharper, contrasty, and cheaper.
Reasons please.
what he said :
“My point is not to support a company that couldn’t care less about its customers and particularly Sony users”
For the Canadians that are on here, you can get US stuff shipped to a Kinek point in Plattsburgh, Seattle area or Buffalo… all driving distance from 3 major Canadian cities… and enjoy US prices. Make sure to bring your camera without a lens so you just pop the new one on and pretend you always had it….and fill up your car with cheaper fuel.
For others that are not close to the US….You are right, it sucks that the US get all the best deals! It’s also ridiculous that prices in Euros are more than prices in Dollars…in absolute numbers…as if there was no exchange rate at all.
You are right my friend. Why should the U$ get all the deals? Do $ony, $igma and other companies think we are richer than American$, if so, then they are well out of touch with world economies
The amount of times I’ve seen product prices at the same price (absolute numbers) in GB£ as it is in US$ is amazing. We get ripped off so badly that we hurt. When will companies get it in their heads that they are only damaging themselves and their reputations by doing this. They need to make friends, not enemies. Give Britain, Europe and other countries a fair deal as well.
You can… I live in Mexico and very often buy from amazon, BH Photo, Adorama, etc.
Now, I don’t like SIGMA because they are neglecting Sony users so I stopped buying from them. There are lots of better options out there.
We Can’t !!!
I can understand what you say but unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t have a border with the U$A like Mexico or Canada does so we are left out in the cold by narrow minded companies like $ony and $igma.
As Froog rightly says below…It Sucks!
CVP in UK might be a solution if you live in Europe…
What about SAR’s Amount present for christmas. Any rumors on the A99 mkII to combin with this lens? That would be nice!
Don’t need it- we already have the superior 50mm 1.4 Zeiss.
55/1.8
Both Sony lenses run circles around the Sigma. Canon and Nikon must have horrible lenses if they praise this Sigma so much…
It’s not the lenses being good or bad, it’s the ignorant statements of keyboard fauxtographers. Like yours, for example…
Lol’ “run circles”. What amazing exaggeration.
No A-mount version.
That costs half a grand more compared to the Sigma. The only things that are better with the Zeiss are contrast and bokeh. Which are very important, but it doesn’t justify the $500 difference when the Sigma excels in everything else.
Frequent sale at least 100 off. You can grab it from retailers on ebay online for like 1200 now. I saw it go auction for 930.00 barely used just a few days ago.
My ZA50/1.4 matches sharpness, color, and contrast of ZA85 and ZA135. Perfect set of bokehliscious primes that no competitor can touch… without focus shift and ZERO micro focus adjust on real Alpha.
Sigma color and crunchy bokeh are for CaNikon dopes.
Fully agreed. It’s kind of an overrated lens that great on test charts. However most real world results speak a different language. The contrast, color, rendering and bokeh are all miles away from the Sony Zeiss lenses.
It’s very sharp and has low ca, that’s about it. That wont make fix the faults in overall look though…
That’s simply your personal opinion. I like the look and result. Although I have the 135/1.8 which is outstanding, not all Sony Zeiss lenses are worlds best. “Miles away” is typical fanboy talk.
Some CaNikon “dopes” have superior lenses in their arsenals. Still, enjoy your old Planar, it’s not bad.
SIGMA makes it’s 120-300 and 150-600 Sport lenses for Canon, Nikon but not for Sony because SIGMA considers Sony user base an irrelevant market. But guess what? it does produce those same lenses for its own mount! What’s the rationale in that? If they don’t care about Sony users, then Sony users should not care about SIGMA.
And if you don’t care about Sigma…then be happy with your selection of 5 sony lenses lol
Thanks I have all the lenses I need for now in A mount which by the way, are more than 5 (50mm 1.4, 16-35 2.8, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8, 135mm 1.8, 70-400, 100mm macro), and some other very nice lenses I prefer having for E Mount. You can go buy your not yet available for Sony SIGMA stuff. By the way, I had the 150-500mm Sigma and sold it to my ex.. really sucks.. I mean the lens 🙂
That’s a lens that was designed before Sigma’s management changed. Thanks for bragging to us about you lenses. While we’d all like to have such a nice collection as yours, not everyone has that type of money. Sigma offers the extremely great value compared to Sony, where most of the time it’s hard to justify their prices, especially anything A-mount.
Agreed. Didn’t mean to brag. I really don’t think Sony is about to kill A-mount at all despite all the comments in this site. I believe SIGMA should show more support to their costumers as a long term business vision. I’m also sure more choices will come from Tamron for example. Maybe Sony lenses are expensive for now because os the smaller user base, but let’s take into consideration the savings on te bodies compared to other brands. Some of the lenses I’ve bought were already used, that helped me save some money and still get great IQ.
Joy to the world !
The most overrated lens of the year
It’s a great lens. Do you have it?
Wow new lens…oh, is not Sony…Ass-Mount is dead
Wow, all this hate against Sigma, for what? Releasing a lens late? While I, like everyone else, would like Sigma to release lenses at the same time as Canikon, I can relate with Sigma. With a mount that seems to be dying and the huge growth of E-mount, any company would be hesitant to release a lens that might sit on the shelves for a long time before it sells. When the EF and F mount versions got released, they sold out in an instant. The Sony is still in stock everywhere, of course they could have stocked up more Sony’s, but not likely. Sony could announce any day that they’ll stop supporting A-mount, which is a lot of people’s fear.
I guess you didn’t pick-up on the fact that 60% of their ILC revenue is DSLR. Cameras like the A77II are mopping up the competition, and the only thing Sony is going to drop is morons like you.
WOW! 60%! That means in 4 years the E-mount lineup has taken up 40% of their ILC revenue. As you can see the trend of A-mount or DSLRs in general, are dropping. With Sony reportedly only releasing high-end A-mount cameras and dropping the rest, that number will continually go down. With the rapid success of the E-mount, it’s disheartening, but we’re seeing A-mount take a back seat compared to E-mount. I own the a99, love using it, but I am worried about how long Sony will actually keep it alive.
Mirrorless ILCs are the future, obviously. On some level, ALL Sony cameras already are mirrorless, and Sony hasn’t made a new flipping mirror traditional DSLR in years. My point is, however, that Canon & Nikon traditional DSLR mounts are also in trouble, so jumping systems isn’t gong to save anyone.
However, the larger the aperture and longer the focal length, the larger the lens. If you ever shoot with the Sony 300mm F2.8 G II SSM it will be obvious why A-mount, and likely Canon EF mount, will continue as well, indefinitely.
Sony is building up an amazing system with more flexibility than Canon or Nikon because of the interchangeability between a compact system and a full-sized system. If you’re a photojournalist taking low key documentary photos, you could shoot with the compact A7II and 35mm F2.8 and 55mm F1.8, but for portrait session you may want to use the Zeiss 135mm F1.8, so out comes your adapter. For your next assignment, shooting major league soccer, you switch to A77II with 70-200mm F2.8 G II and A99 with 300mm F2.8 G II because larger bodies balance better with long lenses.
A-mount will continue indefinitely because there is still a great need for a full sized system, and it makes perfect sense for Sony to drop everything but high end bodies optimized for high speed sports photography.
Honestly, I’d like to add that it amazes me anyone still has any question about the A-mount future while Sony is dropping clues left and right.
Just look the recent A-mount history.
First Sony releases the substantially faster 300mm F2.8 G II followed by a 500mm F4, a new faster 70-400mm G II and 70-200mm F2.8 G II. Then comes A77II with AF that can compete with the likes of Canon’s flagship 1Dx sports camera and boasts 12 FPS with full time AF.
Next Sony announces Zeiss 24-70mm II and Zeiss 16-35mm II with the new faster SSM an weather sealing, and it’s obvious we’ll see a new Zeiss 85 and 135 as well! Sony is upgrading all their best glass with weather sealing and new and improved SSM to radically improve AF speed.
Then Sony launches Alpha pro support worldwide.
Seriously, what more of an answer does anyone need?
Why would anyone even care. If you own an FF A Sony DSLR and using SIGMA lenses then you’re need to adjust you head space, and timings. The Sony Zeiss designed DSLR lenses are outstanding, and
And there is nothing really more that. I just came back from a camera store and the A77II is all the rage. 12fps 100% 7D MKII spanking awesomeness for under a grand.
Buying a 50mm f/1.4 for Sony’s DSLR is S#%t simple. If you want something light and compact you buy the standard model. Both provided outstanding performance. If you want to blow a big wad of cash you get the Zeiss, both are 100% compatible with Sony’s DSLR cameras unlike SIGMA.
It’s crazy to turn your noses up at Sigma right now as they’re currently producing some of the finest glass available. The Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art was designed to compete with Zeiss Otus, is extremely respected, and likely performs as good as, or potentially outperform the Sony Zeiss 50mm F1.4 ZA SSM (which I also own), in terms of sharpness and resolution.
This is coming from a longtime professional who owns every Sony Zeiss available for A-mount.
However, unlike the Sony Zeiss 50mm F1.4 ZA SSM, this Sigma 50mm is not weather sealed and doesn’t have quite the same level of build quality, but the Sigma is also $500 less!
Additionally, I also own the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM Art, and can say with confidence that optically, it’s one of the best lenses for Sony A-mount right now.
“Sony shows us, a-mount users, no love! No new lenses! Is a-mount dead?!”
Then Sigma makes a lens for a-mount.
“Screw Sigma! Sigma doesn’t love us! We already have our great Zeiss lenses!”
I love reading comments on a-mount stuff…
I kind of understand, but I think people are tired of waiting.
DXO tested the Sigma and Otus on a Canon. This is a bit like testing high performance tires on a Yugo. Little difference will be perceptible. Since they haven’t bothered to test these two lenses on a D800e or 810, one has no way of knowing how big the differences are. Last but not least, the Zony FE55 is a fine lens for those that can’t focus or afford an Otus.
It’s too bad the bokeh isn’t better. That’s a fail for a portrait lens.
“The only area where the Sigma Art shows inferior results is in its bokeh performance.” From: https://photographylife.com/sigma-50mm-f1-4-art-sharpness-and-bokeh-comparison