Sigma wants to keep the momentum and they are “rumored” to launch a new high quality 24mm f/1.4 ART lens in September/October. It will be priced above the new 50mm ART lens (price $949 at Amazon or 999 Euro WexDE or 849 pounds at WexUK). This would be an exciting lens! As current alternative we have the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 E-mount and A-mount manual focusing lens. But the Sigma will be for sure much better and autofocus!
Note: The current (superb) 50mm f/1.4 ART lens for A-mount can be preordered in USA Amazon (Click here) at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here). and in Europe at WexUK (Click here) and WexDe (Click here).
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via Photorumors.
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0 Responses
That would definitely be better value than than the 24/2 zeiss – hopefully this won’t be a monster like the 50, as it’d be a great walkabout for apsc. Typically, I just picked up a Minolta 24/2.8 today…
One more missing to complete the 1.4 lineup 24.35.50….please one more 85 1.4 similiar competitive in comparison to the 85 zeiss otus 1.4 (as in the case of the 50 /55 zeiss otus!)
Why in need for an Amount 85/1.4
It is an almost perfect lens
The 24/2 Zeiss is also one of the best Amounts, the 50/1.4 Zeiss is a very good one. We do also have the superb 135/1.8 Zeiss (best Amount ever for my taste), a good standard zoom 2470Z, very good telezooms.
Besides its slow AF even the 100 Macro (that shall be replaced btw) is a good Amount lens.
The one and only missing, if one’s need for, is an ultra wide at let’s say 12 to 16mm.
i dont know your standards but for me the minolta lens was a big disappointment (on the A850 i used for several years). the zeiss lens plays in a different league.
Fine!
Next is a lens shorter than 20mm and faster than 2.8!
A 18/1.8 would be very welcome! 😉
5mm 1.4 art, now that would be the lens.
You are familiar that even an 8mm lens corresponds to 180 degree viewing angle, which is everything in front of the lens?
I’m familiar with that and perhaps dm is either, but what’s your point? Nikon had 220°-fisheyes for full frame and a 180° circular fisheye on APS requires less than 8mm. Sigma has 4,5mm, but its circle looks smaller than APS.
Now we are talking ;-). I am looking forward to a lens like this. But i am also looking forward to a 14 mm f.2,0
I bet the sony mount will not be available immediately like canon or nikon mount
You would be correct. I asked sigma regarding release of their 50mm because I have a Sony and canon. I want the 50 for my Sony but according to sigma, Canon has much more DSLR type camera in the marketplace than Nikon or Sony. Therefore, the canon mount will always be released first followed by Nikon. Once their demands are met sigma will begin release of the A-mount. According to sigma, Sony DSLR market share is very small in comparison to either Canon or Nikon. The rep from sigma thought the 50 for Sony would be maybe more near the end of summer but that could change. It usually does for the worst.
Pricing the Sigma 24mm Art lens above the 50mm means it’ll be at least approaching 1000 GBP. If you don’t need f/1.4 (and who really does on a wide-angle?), it’ll have to be very good compared to the Sony Zeiss 24/2.0. The Sony version is a VERY good lens, and is one of the best if not THE best 24mm out there.
That ZA 24/2 is definitely very good at close to mid distance, but it fails miserably as a landscape lens at infinity. I don’t mind tiny corner sharpness drop (like the ZE/ZF 25/2) but sharpness variation due to astigmatism in the mid frame drove me nuts. This can be seen on the MTF chart as well. The Samyang is better than the ZA in this respect with a very even field of sharpness, though with muted color and low contrast.
And creative environmental portrait does need large aperture. Sometimes, I do prefer the uncompressed look of a WA with a somewhat blurry background.
The ZA 24/2 is a turd. Sorry, I said it. I have purchased three of them in hopes of getting one that doesn’t stink at mid-range. It isn’t even a resolution problem, the lens just will not focus accurately – confirmed on several bodies. The latest one is actually going back to KEH today (who are great to work with) because not only does it exhibit the same focus issues but it also exhibits a bizarre slo motion hunting action on normal well lit scenes – so slow that you aren’t even sure the lens is attempting focus. Bleargh!
Bring me the Sigma!!!
Right… Any Signs of Sony releasing any A mount lens? And I dont mean a new kit lens or a refresh of some old lens… But something which we could get really excited about…
The pigs are getting ready to fly.
I am hopeful of at least one lens announcement. Fingers crossed !
“the new 5mm ART lens” sound exciting!
$949 is very decent for a 5mm full frame lens, given that we do not have many of them
I think that was a typo for the 50mm lens.
I also think it was a typo, but it would be a cool lens (even with slower aperture) 🙂
I agree, but I think they would be more likely to stick with more common lenses like they have in the past. I do have a Vivitar 7mm alpha mount manual lens now and that is pretty wide, but it’s not a full frame lens unfortunately!!!
Enormously deadpan humour or actually serious – I can’t decide.
I guess, it will be too heavy and large for my taste. As an APS-C a-mount shooter I would prefer something like Sonnar E24mm F1.8 ZA. May be I will just grab it later on with a cheep E mount body.
Sigma, y u no mek e-mount…
Sorry, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on Sigma making lenses for the e-mount. Too many marketing forces conspire against it, I’m afraid.
Do sigma lenses not work with the adaptor?
Yes, but you get crappy AF/loss of light (okay only 1/3EV but tho.), or both actually, even with LE-A4. Oh, and you also pay $300 more for that drawback.
That ‘drawback’ allows these lenses to actually, you know… like focus? Why do you think it needs the mirror in the first place?
Sir, your A7(r) is able to focus as long as you provide it an e-mount autofocus compatible lens. And guess what, it will be faster than with your la-e4 and it will not reduce the amount of light that goes to your sensor and it will not cost you an extra $300.
Well, they did before so why not now? Okay, those were dirt cheap lenses, but I love them (got the 30mm and 60mm, might get the 19mm as well).
I was hoping for an upgrade to an a-mount body with better high ISO so expensive, fast glass wasn’t so much of an issue (yeah, I know it’ll always be an issue ;^) ). But the most recent dribbling of rumors on the a77II being a rather minor refresh akin to the disappointing (for me) a6000 refresh makes me think maybe something like this is the way to go. I’ve always bought Minolta/Sony glass (with the exception of a somewhat disappointing Tamron 200-500mm) but I might have to give Sigma a try.
I have never understood the need for super fast wide angle lenses. I get by with my Sigma 12~24mm f/4.5-5.6 lens. Attached is a self portrait taken at night in my kitchen. Flashes were used. I’m sure there is a need for faster WA lenses that I don’t understand.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24969967@N06/3813732140/player/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24969967@N06/4866314646/lightbox/player/
It’s not that I have any illusions that this is a good photo, I just provide the photo as an example of what can be done indoors with that Sigma lens. It’s a good lens for a real estate agents. It makes houses and rooms look large.
This same lens was used to capture the house and part of the yard:
BTW, I now rent this place. It will be available for renting in June. It’s located in Virgina near Washington DC.
Dave, super fast WA has its place in environmental portrait. You can never get the same feel/perspective with a longer lens.
It’s a matter of preference. I would never think of using a wide angle lens in a portrait, because of the unflattering distortion WA lenses cause. They tend to make noses look big and bulbous. Mine is already that way and needs no enhancement. 😉
BTW, I used the above two photos in an ad I just placed on the Internet in hopes of quickly renting my house:
http://www.militarybyowner.com/homes/VA/Manassas/Wooded_Acres_Court/MBO301254.aspx
not all portraits are headshots.
Granted.
Just google environmental portrait (usually half to full body), bulbous nose would not be the concern. The mood is often more dramatic than the typical compressed, telephoto portrait shot.
Super fast WA is often used for night sky photos. A fast aperture is necessary to reduce ISO.
That makes sense to me. I take it you talking about photographing stars! Noise would be bad.
Name one super fast wide angle that can be used for WA astrophotography wide open. And I mean something in the 20s or lower.
I’m really sad that Sigma Art lenses won’t work with Sony cameras with full AF capabilities…
They have so many great value/money offerings, I could probably be using Sigma lenses exclusively.
A99 II must find a way to support all lenses (since Sony’s glass is overpriced and lacks SSM and WR).
Where does someone say it won’t have full AF capabilities on Sony?
Only a selected number of Sony lenses work with A99’s 102 AF points
Sigma doesn’t have a license from Sony so Sony has zero obligations to support their lenses.
My guess is Sony will continue to stimy support for third party lenses. However this is useful only for tracking focus which not everyone does.
Regular AF and IBIS works just fine with Sigma and other 3rd party lenses.
Isn’t Sigma supposed to also announce the much anticipated 24-70 F/2 at Photokina this year ?
hi admin look at this http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2014/04/22/holy-50mm-the-mitakon-50-f0-95-speedmaster-for-e-mount-arrives/
Stevehuffphoto is pretty awesome. Guys reviews are excellent.
Lol
Alright, maybe there not exactly technical but you have to admit- he’s pretty enthusiastic about each product he reviews.
So you were being serious…
Who else is good? Ken Rockwell? Lol
I wish it was a 20mm. This isn’t bad but I hope it’s not to big.
This is what I was waiting for! Oh yea! Hopefully at the 600-899 range please
To bad they don’t make a line like this for mirrorless… They’d have fans from sony, fuji as well as canon and samsung if they get their act together.
I think poor sales of their 19mm, 30mm and 60mm lenses are whats leading to them abandoning the mirrorless cameras for now. They will probably wait till the system becomes more mature.
f2.8 primes were never going to be great sellers
Yes but that was a small risk as they didn’t have to spend much developing these lenses since they were based on existing optical designs (for their DP series cameras).
They design for Canon and Nikon cameras as that is where the money is. Not mirror-less at present.
Do you shoot wider than 2.8? I usually find myself at f/4 just to get more depth-of-field. F/1.4 type lenses often require compromises to go that wide, usually in the form of soft corners or chroma problems which I can’t stand.
So you buy f4 prime lenses?
I would if they were good quality and at their sharpest wide-open, especially at longer focal lengths.
This is somewhat of a personal decision, but I would greatly prefer a f/2.8 lens that is sharp wide-open over an f/1.4 lens that never reaches the same sharpness stopped-down. That’s why I bought the Sigma 60mm 2.8 instead of the Sony 50mm 1.8.
I was curious how often you actually shoot wider than f/2.8?
I have the 19 & 30. I had the 50mm 1.8 and mine was sharp wide open and is a very good lens. You should try one.
I agree with what you say about choosing lenses. But are you certain that the Sony 50 1.8 OSS at f/2.8 is actually worse than the Sigma 60 2.8?
The fairest comparison I could find between them is here:
http://www.photozone.de/sony_nex/720-sony50f18nex?start=1
http://www.photozone.de/sony_nex/841-sigma60f28nex?start=1The MTF is higher, and the chromatic aberrations lower, at f/2.8 and narrower for the 60mm.
Take a look at the full size images here showing both lenses at f/5.6 on an nex-6:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51637667
Neither lens is bad here, but the 60mm certainly produces a visibly sharper image, particularly in the outer 1/3 of the frame.
Photozone’s methodology for testing sharpness off-center has been very flawed at least in the past. I don’t know if they have changed anything for the mirrorless bodies. I’ve had very different results with my own testing with dslr lenses.
But the visual results are quite indicative. .. the sigma does have less longitudinal CA at f/2.8, which matters a lot to me. Oh well now it’s a bit late for me to get one… hope they make such a lens for FE.
Thanks for the links.
No problem. Enjoy whichever lens you have.
I just moved up to APS-C, and it’ll be a while before I can afford FE.
That’s too bad if they didn’t sell well. I have the 30mm and 60mm, and especially the 60 is high quality and better optically than anything even 5x the price from Sony.
Are you sure because the 19 & 30 are very popular and they revised all 3 lenses changing the body & not the optics. I doubt they would do that with lenses that don’t sell.
Not completely positive but I read somewhere that they weren’t happy with the overall sales. Especially on m43 mount.
In any case Sony has been redesigning expensive lenses for A mount and making them even more expensive. 😛
No idea why companies do that at times !
In any case the point is Sigma lenses sell much much more with DSLR cameras so they will concentrate maximum budget for such lenses. Mirrorless sales are about 30% of DSLR sales in bodies only. I will wager lens sales are far far less than DSLR lens sales.
Also of that 30% almost 60 – 70% of that is m43 cameras where these APS-C FL lenses make less sense. So their actual target audience is a fraction of even the mirrorless market.
Can someone confirm that Sigma isn’t allowed to make these lenses for FE because Sony won’t allow third party AF to lenses brighter than f/2.8?
FE is such a new mount…where did you hear that Sony does not allow third party lenses to be brighter than 2.8?
If I don’t misunderstand, the 35mm 1.4 will be in A mount soon enough.
I imagine the 50 will follow suit.
What I believe holds Sigma to manufacture these lenses in A mount is the sheer quantity of EF and F (Canon and Nikon) cameras out there that make it a far more compelling reason to provide lenses for these mounts first before doing so with Sony’s A mount.
These are also SLR lenses. Perhaps a bit too big to make them native FE, don’t you think?
Last but not least, even in their APS-C mirrorless offerings…which lens did they have brighter than 2.8?
No, FE means lenses’ series but not mount. E-mount is not as old as other DSLR Mount or M-mount but it isn’t new. The only reason Sigma has no interesting in E-mount is the market is too small and even more, there is half chance to buy another lens by e-mount user comparing to DSLR user. How could a small company like Sigma would gamble in it? For me, how sad the truth is……
You are right. I confused FE as a series with E mount. The original post threw me off balance. Sigma did produce E mount lenses for APS-C and they did fare rather well. However, as priorities go, I would not expect to see FF covering E mount lenses from Sigma for a while maybe. They will come up with something, but I doubt they will do the Samyang thing and just change the housing of their current SLR lenses to fit E mount.
E mount is not a gamble. Sigma has specifically said that they’re slow in the mirrorless segment because they’re a small company and their resources are limited.
There’s no need for armchair speculation.
No nothing like that. Zeiss has AF lenses for E mount which are faster than f2.8. Too expensive though ! 🙁
The thing is, Sigma already made the 19mm f2.8 and 30mm f2.8 lenses for their DP cameras. So it was an existing optical design which came to E mount.
Zeiss is 1st party.
Err no, Sony Zeiss is first party (e.g. Sony Zeiss 24mm f1.8, Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f4). Contax Zeiss is 3rd party (e.g 32mm f1.8, 12mm f2.8, 50mm f2.8). Contax Zeiss makes those very same lenses even for Fuji while the Sony Zeiss lenses are ONLY for E mount. 🙂
Contax Zeiss licenses the name to Sony. There is no such thing as Sony Zeiss.
True. What I meant was Sony manufactured Zeiss lenses and Contax manufactured Zeiss lenses.
Contax manufactured Zeiss lenses are 3rd party while Sony manufactured Zeiss lenses are first party. Phew. I think that’s it. 😛
3rd party would imply that there is no technology exchange between the companies. Sony and Zeiss collaborate on lenses.
You wanted to tell Sony has Zeiss labeled AF lenses for E mount, right?
^^ Yes exactly.
Unfortunately there is Sony Zeiss and Contax Zeiss to muddy my statement. 😛
Contax Zeiss was the real zeiss. I mean, it was designed in germany by zeiss engineers. Sony Zeiss are all lenses designed by japanese and, frankly, neither of them is really uniq: there’s only two lenses which are above competiton: AF fast 135 (APO-Sonnar 135 is better performer, just no AF) and 70-400. Others are usually worse than canon and nikon counterpart while being usually more expensive.
70-400mm is a Sony G lens. Even the 85mm f1.4 Zeiss is pretty good. The bokeh is smoother than the Nikon 85mm f1.4 lenses.
The 24-70mm f2.8 CZ is also very good and is the closest focusing 24-70mm f2.8 by a small bit.
The only thing that can be confirmed is how gullible Taran and others are to unsubstantiated claims that have no basis in fact.
No, sony made the E mount lens specifics available to all lens manufacturers, google it.
Hoping for a 14mm f/1.4 next. The killer astrophotography lens.
Isn’t that very wide? I mean, 6 pictures and the whole sky is covered, right ? 😉
Yes, but to get nice photos of deep space, you need a lens that’s as wide and fast as possible. You need long enough exposure time to reveal more than the brightest stars, but you can’t expose so long that stars move and look like lines. The wider the lens, the longer you can expose before this happens.
Bjørn, that makes perfect sense 🙂 Just seen your Artist in Space page. Awesome !
Sony should be on fire for making more + new lenses. They would make more money. Its so simple to understand. Not all camera owners buy another new camera after another. Most camera owner WOULD buy a new lens and the next. Plus I’m sure it cost much less(BEFORE BRANDING material wise, its freaking glass not diamonds and jewels ) to make glass and metal barrels/rings and put them together. Rather then sensors and hardware + put together.
Just ask the poor people that put them together. Probably >$1 per lens work.
It like those T-shirts made in China… 35 cents paid to make it and then gets branded with 1cent of bulk priced ink v-e-r-s-a-c-e BAM! $1000+ (it better have solid gold buttons) that gets washed 10x, cracks and fades.
Nope you would be wrong. 90% of buyers stick with the kit lens. Its only 10% of buyers like you or me who buy more than the kit lens.
So Sony is trying to cater to the 90% who need shiny new models rather than ‘old’ obsolete models.
I can’t agree with you on 10% and 90% stick with 1 lens. I would say a least 2 lenses. What I saw from relatives, friends, others was that yes a lot of people have a kit lens and a telephoto lens. It is sad. People are missing a whole new world of sharpness, quality, bokeh, creativity, fun, and compactness.
I wonder is Sony will beat them to the punch with a Sonnar 24mm f1.8 for FE? Retire the existing lens and create an update that covers FF. The new 50mm looks great but only very marginally better than the FE 55mm while being much bigger and heavier.
Sony has to do nothing. This is not an E mount lens. Neither is the 50mm f1.4 ART. So you will need a bulky $400 adapter to use this lens on E mount. There goes the size and weight advantage of E mount. The FE 55mm f1.8 and 24mm f1.8 lenses are much smaller and lighter than their DSLR counterparts.
Sure, I was more speculating about what Sony will do on the wide end. I understand that the Sigma ART line are DSLR lens and won’t ever make it to the FE in their current form. I guess I was subtly pointing out that the FE/Zeiss primes are actually price/performance competitive with ART lenses while being more compact and native.
I’m throwing money at my screen but nothing is happening.
They better bloody make this in A mount or I’m borrowing a hovercraft and driving to Aizu to give them an earful of barely comprehensible Japanese in person.
I’ll share the costs !
Sigma please bring in new art lenses and stir the competition. I appreciate the quality….but on a selfish note I would like to see the prices of the new art lenses to be cheaper ..not like 50 1.4 being more than twice as expensive as Nikon and canon equivalents….and please don’t compare with Otus..which is stupid to pay that price in the first place