Sigma 50 mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art

For a long time I was using the Canon 50mm nifty stock lens. It’s that one that costs around 100 – 130 Euros, you can buy this super little lens everywhere online. I like it, wouldn’t sell it just because I’ve now got myself the Sigma, 50mm, Art Lens – which has totally blown my socks off as far as, well, everything you could think about a 50 mm lens.

It does the job above par. It challenges the photographer to take better photos because you just get it after the first use, it can nail a photo to the level of your competence. So up your game, and the Sigma 50mm Art Lens will help you achieve a better all round photograph.

The Sigma 50 mm Art Lens has the ability to focus so sharply, it’s scary. You need time after you first buy it, to get used to its powerful abilities.

Sigma built this lens to compete with other manufacturers, but to set itself apart. Sigma achieved their goal of creating the sharpest focussing lens on the market. It’s simply a top level lens. The price is sweet at around 750 Euros in Europe, or 780 Dollars in the USA. Those are approximate prices. A second hand deal will help you save a few pennies and still end up with a good quality Sigma lens that serves you well.

I shoot with Canon cameras. I still use my Canon Rebel Crop Frame – it’s a great camera. Light and easy to handle. The functions are perfect for me because I just get that feeling that it’s a well thought out array of buttons. I’m one of these people who complain about too many little black buttons bunched up together.

I also use as my main Camera the Canon 5D which has something special about it, too. The Sigma lens fits both, but was definitely designed for a full frame camera.

Just make sure that when you purchase a Sigma 5o mm Art Lens, you have to check the boxes and make sure you’ll get a compatible lens for the brand of camera you use.

When something is so good as the Sigma 50 mm Art lens, it’s hard to explain everything in a short time. You could sit and talk about how it has changed the way you take photos all day.

I love portrait photography, and street photography. Each one of those offers a broad range of possibilities to express an image differently and to challenge myself to come up with a few new ideas.

The Sigma 50 mm DG HSM Art Lens is great for street photography. It’s a little on heavy side when compared to the easy to carry snub nosed 40mm Canon lens, or the 28 mm Canon lens, but like I said, I complain about black buttons bunched up together on a black surface, not the weight of the equipment that allows me to get the best results.

I also use a Canon 28 mm – 105 mm, a great lens for the street too. But I prefer the super sharp grabbing power of the Sigma 50 m Art to the ability to zoom in and out with the Canon 28mm -105 mm.

It’s widest F Stop is at F16, which is fine by me. It has such great focus, and at F16 it produces great results in sharpness.

Wind up to F 1.4 and the clarity is amazing, I took some photos in natural light. A vase of flowers in the morning light, and the results at a distance of 1.5 metres was amazing.

Street photography with a 50 mm lens is always a nice medium point. I get most everything I want into the frame, and still be close enough to grab at details.

I took my Sigma 50 mm Art lens out for a walk a while back. I wanted to see how it handled in the underground stations of Berlin.

Photographing at night, or inside a neon lit, tight spaced tunnel can be a bit of problem when you don’t want to wind up the ISO too much. But the ISO has a good function, so we do.

The above photo was a snap decision. I saw the woman heading to the steps, so I went for it, got into position and waited until she had passed me. It came out as expected, pretty good. I had to set ISO at around 2000 to ensure the light would be okay. That’s a high ISO number for me, and it shows in the slight noise. But alas, that’s low light photography for you.

A couple more shots of commuters on the trains. I shot through the glass – which is covered in tiny engravings of Brandenburg Gate, these days.

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A walk around town, and you encounter all types of scenes and opportunities to test the strength of your Sigma 50 mm Art. Below is a window scene, at night.

This one, below, is across the River Spree. Quite a distance for a 50 mm, but it does a good job of capturing the jogger being silhouetted by the bright lights in the building.

Below.

It was turning dark, winter, and I saw this bench next to the river. It jumped out at me, something that can happen when the light is just right for the moment. So, I started taking shots with my Sigma 50 mm, and ended up with this fine shot. I like empty benches for some reason, they have stories in them.

The Sigma 50 mm is metal cased, many lenses these days are plastic cased. Photographers complain about the flimsy feel and the obvious low quality in plastic builds. It’s a hefty, tough build, but easy to grip in one hand. The weight of 850 grams doesn’t bother you when you’re actually taking shots, the complainers are the photographers who would rather have their equipment weigh no more than a mobile phone.

For street photography, I’ve given up taking an extra lens with me because I would hardly do a change – if I did it was just to try out an idea, then I wanted the original 50 mm lens back on the camera.

Purchase the Sigma 50 mm Art Lens and you will begin a new experience in photography. I know I’ll be buying the 35 mm at some point soon, I’m that convinced of the build, glass quality, and the general all round performance of Sigma Camera lenses.

German links to Sigma 50 mm Art F 1,4

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