Friday, May 21, 2010

50mm 1.4 finally!

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

click to view. Source from dpreview.com

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 Nikon

Alright 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
Zeiss Planar ZM T* 50mm f/2. Read about the lens review here


Sunday, May 16, 2010

My Recent Nite Shot Outing with Phototribe

Date: 15th May
Time: 7pm till 8pm only

11mm, 20sec, f16, ISO200. 7.33pm. Timing is this case is very crucial for me.

11mm, 8sec, f16, ISO200. Notice the sun setting on the left side. 7.35pm. Just 2 mins and its turning darker.

My next few shots the skies already turn into dark blue and black. I only straighten this photos and no leveling and curving.


and this is my last shot at 7.42pm.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Pasanonic 20mm f1.7 put on test at KLDW2010 and DCIM 2010

Location 1: Petronas Gallery KLCC
Date: 12th May 2010

Location 2: Mid Valley Convention Centre MVCC
Date: 14th May 2010

All photos here are shot with camera RAW file and no editing or whatsoever to the photos. Just reduce the size and save as JPG max. quality.







below two photos was shoot with ISO500, f1.7, 1/80




What's next after Panasonic 20mm!!!


Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f2 - and hunting for it.

You can also read more reveal about this lens here and here.

Friday, May 7, 2010

My HK Trip 29th April till 4th May.

arrived at HK about 5pm and its raining for at least 4 hours non-stop










they dont sell coke in can but bottle

Mido cafe






at Hong Kong Island morning 10am





i spotted her ... no the lens first - Sigma 50mm f1.4 - can tapao Nikon 50mm f1.4d



the main temple of WongTai Sin



Nanling Garden - www.nanlingarden.org



St. Paul Church


st. paul church at Hong Kong

The Peak - about 7.30pm - 3rd May

Mongkok at night about 10pm

stinky toufu

Mongkok on the 3rd May for dinner and supper


Main purpose of this trip is to relax, makan and finally only photography. Only took 4 lenses with me - 50mm, 80-200mm and Tokina 11-16mm and 18-70mm.