Let’s talk about the best lenses you can use on your mirrorless cameras. On the video on top (minute 18:25) Zeiss confirms they will release a new 85mm f/1.4 Otus as next. But there is also another good news. If you want a Otus quality for a fourth of the price watch these tests at SLRgear:
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 review (Click here)
Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus review (Click here)
The Zeiss beats the Sigma ART only by a very small margin! Cannot wait Sigma to make more fast ART lenses with proper design for mirrorless cameras!
4 Responses
It is clear after all the various reviews that Sigma Art lenses are fantastic, matching the extremely expensive Zeiss lenses and outperforming Canon and Nikon lenses. We (customers) can be grateful that it is Sigma who make these lenses; if such marvelous pieces of glass were made by Canon, Nikon, Olympus…, they would cost much much more (can you imagine the 18-35/1,8 lens being introduced first by Canon? Do you think the price would be 700 eur like is is now? I guess it would be at least double the price). For me the only problem is that Sigma does not produce 18-35mm with Pentax mount (it was promised, but they obviously cannod feed the demand from Canon and Nikon users, so K-mount must wait).
Dear mirrorless rumors,
In the SLRgear review, the Otus does not beat the Sigma. They are actually on par. Otus is better for CA control, Sigma is better for vignettng and distortion control. Sharpness is on par. Sigma is better for weight control and microcontrast.
I cite:
“Despite the dramatic difference in price, the Sigma competes handily with the $4,000 Zeiss 55mm Otus lens… 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.”
Dear Ale,
These are not the conclusions, only the first part of the Sharpness section! The Sharpness section says that it is practically on par, but Otus slightly superior in the corners at f1.4, and when stopped down Sigma slightly sharper (“Looking at our graphs, you may think the Sigma appears slightly sharper, but the difference is so slight, it’s essentially negligible”). Sigma is also better in the Vignetting and Distortion sections, Otus better for CA control, Sigma better for microcontrast. The conclusions of SLRGear are as follows:
Conclusion
The Sigma 50mm ƒ/1.4 Art is the most exciting lens we’re likely to review this year. All competing lenses from Canon and Nikon fell short when compared to the resolving power of the 50mm Art. Compared to the mighty Zeiss 55mm ƒ/1.4 Otus, the Sigma holds its own, displaying nearly identical results! Our expectation for pricing on this lens is for something at least a bit less than Canon’s 50mm ƒ/1.2 L, which goes for $1,700; despite a variety of rumors and no official price for the Sigma yet, we’re expecting it’ll be less than that. Even if the price is ‘merely’ even with the best of Canon and Nikon, this lens is easy to recommend. Put simply: it trounces any similar model available for less than $4,000. If it comes in significantly cheaper than the best of Canon and Nikon, Sigma will have made a friend of every full-frame shooter in the land.
In other words, SLRGear says the two lenses are on par (but Sigma has autofocus, weight less and costs 1/4).
Thanks for the wonderful and very useful website, by the way. I do not work for Sigma, and I use Contax, Fuji and Leica (in alphabetical order!).