I saw you
and now I saw something else
it's a Sigma 50mm f1.4!!!A friend of mine suppose to loan me his Nikon 50mm 1.4d to evaluate and test before I make any purchase to upgrade my Nikon 50mm 1.8d but he was too busy making $$$ and family man. And after a few weeks everyday of R and D here and here, calling of suppliers (YL camera and Keat camera) most of them ask me I should save up for Sigma 50mm 1.4 DG HSM. So finally I bought my first Sigma lens at Key Color - Mid Valley.
The season of buying from Vivian, the lady boss of Key Color is the price. She quoted me RM20xx and if compare to other suppliers Key color is offering me the best deal. I was also quote RM18xx local warranty for 1 year, Meaning direct import.
Out from the box there are two warranty card. 1 is local warranty and the other card is international warranty. It comes with lens hood and a soft casing.
Now my reasons of choosing Sigma 50mm f1.4 over Nikon 50mm 1.4D are the lens hood and the casing. If im going to get the Nikon I will still need to get the hood for about RM50. Why? The lens hood helps to present flare and ghosted images caused by bright illumination from outside the pictures area.
The other reason is I need a soft casing to carry my prime lens around to protect. I actually wanted to get the Lowepro Lens Case 1S for about RM70, now the Sigma 50mm comes with it so I can safe RM70!!! :p
If you look at the comparison above you will notice Sigma has the disavantages or the cons, which is the lens diameter - 77mm. That doesnt matter to me. I paid RM200 just for Hoya Pro 1 UV 77mm. Top up another RM100 I can get a Hoya UV HD filters.
And if you look again the weight compare to other 50mm, Sigma is the heavest, that doesn't matter to me too and these two points never come across my mind of making the decision of purchasing this lens. Wouldn't mind carry extra 275g for such a quality image from the lens.
What I expected and wanted from this lens is the round, sharp "bokeh" from the 9 blades iris, high speed - f1.4 and HSM (Hyper-Sonic Motor). This lens uses a motor driven by ultrasonic waves to provide a quiet, highspeed AF. The result of auto focusing with HSM is amazing fast compare to Nikon 50mm f1.8d. Its silent operation too - doesn't really matter to me anyway. And what I don't like about this lens at this moment is the price.
I also did some posting questions at some photography forums asking is changing from Nikon 50mm f1.8d to f1.4 consider an upgrade, here are some of their respond:-
1) you are driving a Honda Civic 1.8 now and wanna upgrade to 2.0. Old Perdana and wanna upgrade to V6.
2) is upgarding to 1.4 enough for you? Will I upgrade again? why not get another kind of lenses?!
My best friend, Alvin Yap, been eyeing on my Nikon 50mm for quite sometimes. So I sold to him for RM380 with Hoya Pro 1 filter, boxes, warranty card and manuals.
Actually I have no idea of how fantastic about this Sigma lens. When Im in Hong Kong I also tought of upgrading my 50mm lens, which is my intention is to upgrade to f1.4. After thinking for 5 days at Hong Kong I told myself why not get another lens instead of upgrading it. So I bought the 35mm f2 on the last day of my trip.
And finally if you see the girl inside the bus holding a camera(photo above), thats makes me go deep into research about this lens after im back from my Hong Kong trip editing my photos.
side by side size compare!
Nikon 50mm f1.8 on Nikon
Sigma 50mm f1.4 on NikonAlright enough of all the gadget talks and why why why and buy buy buy. The rest of my posts here is more to potrait from now, I hope, after all I invested into a prime lens - potrait. Happy shooting everyone!
My other consideration of 50mm - but doesn't suit DLSR but need an adapter to use on m4/3
