DxOMark is announcing their Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens findings today. According to what they did in the lab, the company concludes that the lens is outperformed by the 55mm f1.4 Zeiss Otus lens only in terms of light transmission, distortion control, and vignetting control. Otherwise, they’re basically exactly spot on when it comes to sharpness numbers. The even more fascinating news is that they both wipe the floor with Canon’s f1.2 L offering–and hopefully will dispel the myth that someone should only go for all L glass when building their Canon kit.
The company didn’t test the lens on the Nikon D800E and we figure that this is mostly because the units going around right now are Canon mount.
More findings are after the jump.
Considering an upgrade from your current 50mm f1.4 Sigma lens? Well, DxOMark believes that is sharper, has less distortion and suffers from less chromatic aberration. We’re inclined to agree, but when stopped down it’s tough to tell the differences between the two. Have a look for yourself in our comparison against the 50mm f1.4 version 1. I’m probably not going to upgrade mine, but I also barely use my 50mm over my 35mm f1.4 Art lens.
So if you’re going for the absolute best in image quality then it looks like you’ll need to reach for the Zeiss Otus lens. Indeed, we gave it our highest rating during our review period. We also liked the bokeh from the Zeiss better, though turning the focusing ring manually may throw off your focusing.
Be sure to also check out our first sample images, a full Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens review, and comparison posts against the 35mm f1.4 and 50mm f1.4 version 1.
