Is the extra-wide aperture 50mm F1.2 a must-have lens?
The puppy thinks this problem is in Sigma with the release of this 50mm F1.2 DG DN | Art, it's time to end the argument!
Design
50mm F1.2 DG DN | Compared to the previous 50mm F1.4 DG DN|Art, the Art (hereinafter referred to as the 50mm F1.2) has a 1/3-stop larger aperture while barely gaining size, or even a little shorter, and weighs only 75g, which is the lightest and smallest 50mm F1.2 full-frame mirrorless autofocus lens to date.
The mirror has a similar appearance to the previous Sigma lens, and is a continuation of the old tradition of the Art series, with a fully functional button lever and a click switch to switch between the Abrano Aperture. Also because of the combination of multiple buttons/buttons, the lens can be adapted to the needs of all brands of bodies, as well as pictures/videos.
It has a 72mm filter aperture and a concave jade design on the first lens. Needless to say, multi-layer coating is a basic operation, and anti-oil and anti-glare are all basic operations.
The 13-piece diaphragm blades are a special design to ensure a near-circular spot at a small aperture.
When shooting, you can see that a focus group is moving behind the first set of lenses, which is due to the optimized floating focus group used by Sigma this time. This design can have a huge impact on close-up performance.
Many friends may not understand the benefits and difficulties brought by the floating focus design, so I would like to add this time.
Many of the previous Art series lenses have adopted a single-chip in-focus design, which greatly enhances the focusing speed and simplifies the optical path design, but this does not add points to performance at close shooting.
图为50mm F1.4 DG DN | Art
The 50mm F1.2's floating focus design uses one set in front of the aperture and one behind the aperture, so that the two sets of lenses control the focus at the same time, which can greatly improve the performance of close shooting. The improved close-up performance of this lens also makes it better for shooting close-ups of vehicles, street sweeping sketches, etc.
The picture shows the 50mm F1.2 DG DN | Art, you can see that the second and fourth groups are both focus groups
Another improvement point is to reduce the breathing effect, which is often relatively difficult to control with a 50mm lens, but this new design greatly reduces the breathing effect, so that this excellent lens can also play a certain role in the video field and even the film field.
Of course, such a design is not without disadvantages, first of all, the optical path design is more complex, in short, the cost is higher. The second point is that the floating focus design often needs to push more lenses, so it has an impact on the focusing speed, but we found that the focusing speed is very fast when we measured it.
All Sigma lenses are produced at the Aizu factory in Japan, and have a high quality assurance
Through research, it was found that Sigma made the lenses of the focusing group very thin, which put forward very high requirements for the processing technology, and supplemented by Sigma's excellent new HLA focusing motor, such high-speed focusing capabilities can be achieved.
Sigma's HLA high-speed focus motor
Theory test
001 resolution test
We used the Sigma FP L for our resolution test, and because the lens itself is excellent, the 61-million-pixel body can play to its strengths.
As can be seen from the figure, the center part of the picture has a very high sharpness performance from the full opening of F1.2, almost exceeding the maximum test upper limit of the resolution standard plate, and the center resolution has an increasing trend when it reaches F1.4, until F5.6 is still in a state of "bursting the table", F8 can be seen to drop slightly, and the sharpness drops sharply due to diffraction and other reasons at F11.
In terms of corners, F1.2 is slightly lower than the center, and at F1.4 it is improved, with good results at F2, excellent at F2.8, and peak at F5.6, although it may also be due to the use of a high-pixel body, which is slightly affected by light diffraction at F8.
We deliberately checked the position of the third-point line (i.e., the main position of commonly used portraits, sketches, etc.), and the image quality is basically the same as the center, and we can see that Sigma has taken care of the corresponding subject matter.
Overall, in the case of wide-aperture portraits or highlight-out bokeh, the wide-open aperture will provide very good image quality as long as the subject is not at the very edge.
For landscape shooting or extreme corner image quality, we recommend shooting at F5.6-F11 (adjusted according to your own body pixels, etc.) for a more consistent and sharp performance.
This is close to Sigma's official MTF curve performance, which is high until the 3-point line and does not start to decline until the fringe zone.
002 Bokeh Test
As you know, a large aperture like 50mm F1.2 has a very strong bokeh ability, so we placed the background plate close to the main body to better observe the changes in the diffuse circle of the light spot.
The aperture is lemon-shaped at the edge of the pole at f/1.2 and the aperture erosion is very slight at f/2.8. Zooming down to F/11 makes it clear that the focal point is still circular, and the 13 diaphragm blades provide a very good improvement.
The light spot is relatively soft and almost no bright edges, which can bring a "creamy" bokeh effect when shooting in real life.
Here we also communicated with the Sigma factory and learned that they paid special attention to the quality of the bokeh this time, and the correction of the ball difference and coma was exceptionally good, retaining a very good bokeh and improving the atmosphere.
003 Vignetting Distortion Test
We found some vignetting at F1.2, a significant reduction at F1.4, and almost invisible at F2.8. In everyday use, such vignetting does not affect the subject at all, and we feel that we can safely use the aperture wide open (and if you care, you can also eliminate it in post).
In terms of distortion, the distortion is very slight due to the built-in in-lens correction (in-lens data in the L-mount version). We don't think this will affect the shooting experience at all. The core idea of the current lens is to solve the content that can be solved digitally and does not affect the image quality as much as possible, so that the lens can be made lighter and smaller to improve the experience.
Comes with profile prompts
004 Dispersion Test
Although Sigma does not label anomalous dispersion lenses, high refractive refractive lenses, etc., in the lens set, we can see that there are quite a few special materials used to control dispersion. In addition, the overall design has excellent axial dispersion correction ability, so even if you zoom in to 200%, there is no obvious dispersion effect. In-focus magnification dispersion is completely invisible at wide aperture. The effect of axial dispersion outside of focus is also small, with a slight out-of-focus ultraviolet fringing visible at maximum aperture and less noticeable at f/1.4. This is at very close range, and if it were a normal portrait distance, the performance would only be better.
005 Respiratory Effect Test
Previously, most of the 50mm lenses did not control the respiration effect very well, and many optical engineers mentioned that it is not easy to do the respiration effect at this focal length, but we can see that the newly designed Sigma 50mm F1.2 has better respiration effect control, which is of great help for video shooting.
006 Autofocus test
Focusing is related to the performance of the body, etc., and we use a single-point focus test to test the long-stroke focusing speed of the lens, and continuous focus tracking to test the comprehensive focus tracking ability.
In the single-point focus test, the focusing speed of this lens is very fast, and sure enough, the use of multiple HLA motors and thinner lenses has overcome the difficulties brought by the floating focus design, and this focusing speed can fully meet the current shooting needs.
The subject can also be firmly locked during continuous focus chasing, and as long as there is no problem with recognition, the focus can keep up, which is very fast. If it is an E-mount product, it is estimated that the focusing performance will be better.
007 Glare Ghost Test
In terms of glare performance, Sigma's 50mm F1.2 control is not perfect, such as visible glare in the direct range, and there are also slight ghosting. However, the performance in the real shooting is better, and there are certain characteristics, if you are a student who has particularly high requirements in this regard, you can pay attention to shooting as little as possible.
008 Color Tendency Test
When we used the Sigma FP L to shoot the Deta color card for subjective judgment, we can see that the lens itself is not heavy in color tendency, and the grayscale transition is smooth and natural, and there is no "too much contrast to improve sharpness" as the Internet says. In terms of color, the expression is consistent with the expression of the FP L body, and each color can be better restored under the standard color of the camera, without saving money in the choice of glass.
Painted eggshell:
We also shot the same scene in different color modes at the same time, so you can see how the FP L's special mode can bring different feelings.
In portrait mode, the contrast is lower, and the skin tone will be adjusted more in the direction of pink and white, which is a great improvement for shooting portraits, and it is easier to shoot transparent and fair skin texture.
In T&O (green orange) mode, the color tone is significantly different from each other, the contrast is higher, and the saturation of the cyan and orange color system is higher, while the saturation of other colors is very low, and the proportion is quite well controlled. This mode can bring a good feeling when shooting streets, night scenes, etc.
The green expression in the forest green mode is more prominent, and the skin tone performance is also quite good, which can bring a good feeling in the scene where the green needs to be brightened.
Real-life experience
The 50mm lens, as a historical masterpiece of focal length, is used by quite a lot of people, but it is also used very frequently, and the angle of view is relatively mediocre. However, we believe that this 50mm mirror can be the most widely used product, and it can be used in various scenes such as street sweeping, portraits, sketches, and landscapes.
First of all, this large aperture of 50mm will bring a better sense of atmosphere, and the weight of 740g can also allow us to use it as a hang-up head, so the usage rate is higher.
On a rare sunny day in Chongqing, there will be a lot of people coming out to bask in the sun, which brings a certain test to the portrait of the standard focal end, enough bokeh and soft enough bokeh is a way to solve the problem, and this lens is not only F1.2 large aperture, but also specially optimized for the bokeh, so that the overall atmosphere is better, and the bokeh will not be stiff.
While many lenses take into account the rear out-of-focus rather than the pre-focal image, the 50mm F1.2 also takes care of the foreground to some extent.
Even with this large light ratio and FP L's large forgiveness, the large light ratio of the dead light is able to pull the face back in post, and the grayscale transition is excellent.
At night, F1.2 brings more practical value, after all, the increase in light quality leads to better image quality performance, and the by-product of "bokeh" also brings more "atmosphere" to the whole photo. It can be seen that when shooting half body, the aperture of F1.2 blurs the small light beads on the trees behind it into a diffuse circle, although the 72mm aperture makes the edges inevitably have aperture erosion, but the overall picture looks different. If you want a rounder spot, just close the aperture by one stop.
The color performance of the lens is also very good, and the lights of various colors can be reflected even when shooting in the background of a very colorful street.
Of course, it's not just about shooting people, this lens can bring good performance in all aspects. For example, when shooting a building, the image quality of this lens can also be reflected.
If you zoom in on the picture above, you can see that the clarity is very high, and there are still some stains on the tiles, which are also clear.
As the sun goes down, the scenery of Lijiatuo Wharf is very beautiful, and you can shoot such a sea of oranges with 50mm. This is how it behaves in the landscape.
Due to the excellent resolution and high-pixel body, if the image is not simple enough, we can also crop the image to APS-C for shooting, or simply cut it to more than 100mm in post.
At close range, the lens also performs well thanks to the floating focus design, delivering very good image quality at very close ranges with minimal chromatic dispersion.
In terms of close range, we tried to shoot a reluctant cat, and we could see that the hair was completely visible, and the picture quality was very good.
If you zoom in, you can see even the building behind the reflection of the eye
Shooting still lifes can also bring excellent performance.
In humanistic photography (street sweeping), the lens is also suitable for distance and proximity, you can use 50mm to get enough information, and use a large aperture to blur the streets in the distance, so that the atmosphere that the whole photo wants to highlight is stronger.
Taking such photos in a vertical composition is also a strong point of the 50mm.
You can also shoot up close to highlight the subject at close range. For example, when shooting a person sitting down like a person with a large aperture, the degree of bokeh is just right, and the details of the characters are also very clear.
Looking at the corner image quality in actual use, we think the usability is very high.
This should be regarded as the extreme edge, and it is clear when zoomed in.
It's okay to shoot some animals and some food.
Appetite is full
Of course, this lens is not only used for taking pictures, but also has a good performance in video, especially after the 4K60 frame is cropped to the APS-C format on many models, the sharpness of the whole frame is quite high.
Review
After a period of use, we believe that this 50mm F1.2 is one of the best 50mm lenses in the industry, not only has the smallest and lightest size and weight of the same specification, but also has extremely high full-range image quality performance and excellent bokeh performance. This led us to change the way we think about "buy the cheapest 50mm lens and buy the most expensive 35mm lens". There are so many scenes that a good 50mm lens can use.
Merit:
1. The image quality is very good, and the bokeh performance is also very good
2. The lightest and smallest gear in the same gear
3. New technologies such as floating focus design and 13-piece aperture increase usability
4. There are many function buttons
Shortcoming:
1. When the aperture is fully opened, the image quality at the edge of the pole decreases slightly
● 实拍样张 | Sample Image
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