The Phoblographer

Before I unhappily sent the Sigma 85mm f1.4 EX back to the company, I affixed it to Nathan Blaney’s Canon 1N and loaded up some Kodak Portra 400. Why? I wanted to see just how well the lens did when shooting film instead of digital. Though I loved the look of the lens on my 5D Mk II, it needed to be tested on a film camera.

Read the rest of this entry »

Canon 85mm f1.2 ISO 800 f2.2 1/160th

Not long ago, Sigma’s reps called me up to ask about my comparison of the Sigma 85mm f1.4 vs the Canon 85mm f1.8. While they thought the comparison to be fair and informative, they were curious to know why I didn’t compare it against the Canon 85mm f1.2; a lens that it is often compared to. After some talks, I decided to go ahead and do it.

This post is the first of a two part series and was conducted very quickly using my friend Katie in Midtown Manhattan.

Read the rest of this entry »

Portrait photographers often find themselves in a bit of a predicament trying to figure out what lens is the right one for them. For Canon photographers, you have two choices under $1,000 in the form of the Sigma 85mm f1.4 and Canon 85mm f1.8. We’ve reviewed both the Sigma and Canon lenses, and thought very highly of both. There are differences to both of them—but in real life practice only one is right for you.

The question is: which one?

Read the rest of this entry »

Photo A

Photo B

One of these images was shot with the Canon 85mm f1.8 and the other one was shot with the Sigma 85mm f1.4. Both were shot on the Canon 5D Mk II and only had profile corrections applied. Can you tell which image is from which lens? Let us know in the comments below!

Full comparison review is coming tomorrow. The EXIF Data for each image has been left in tact, but no peeking! Click each image to view them at full size.

Shot with the Samsung 85mm f1.4 on the Samsung NX200. ISO 250 1/320 sec f1.4

The other night, we attended a Samsung event where we got to see the new NX200 camera with the 85mm f1.4 lens. Yesterday, the PR Reps from Samsung sent this image sample to me via email. I shot this with the 85mm attached to the NX200. The subject (an event photographer) was asked to step into the illumination of the Photogenic lights around the area. The result is this photo.

For the record, I have done no editing to this photo except for sizing it down to around 500kb for the web. The reason why is because I’d like to show off the purest abilities of the camera. The original file was a 6MB beast.

I was focusing on his eyes and this was shot at ISO 250 1/320 sec and wide open at f1.4. So what do you think? We’d love to hear your comments below.

With today’s announcement of the Samsung NX200 digital camera, I can now officially say that I had some personal fondling time with the camera. While they’re not a name that you hear as often as those of Olympus, Panasonic Sony and Sony does Samsung seem to have a winner with the NX200? Especially with new lenses just announced too?

Read the rest of this entry »