Comments on: Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Arrives. Announces New World Order.

By: JP

JP — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:09:53 +0000

I had bought a Sigma 35mm for my Canon 6D and yes, it front focused. Sent it back to Sigma, who said that they had recalibrated the lens, but that it probably was my camera’s fault. This is ridiculous, for I never had any focus problem with any of my 10 other (L and non-L) lenses. The recalibrated version still front focused as much as before. So I went for a refund; it may be a beautiful lens but if it does not focus properly, it is useless for making pictures with it. I have now bought the Canon 35mm 2.0 IS instead, and I am actually happy that I did. It is much sharper in the corners, lighter, smaller, and the IS is remarkably practical. If I need shallow DOF I use a 85 or 135 mm.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:39:01 +0000

I first handled one of these lenses this week and was seriously impressed by its apparent build quality. It is heavily engineered and exudes the look and feeling of being a pro lens. Previously I regarded myself as a kind of Nikon snob and thought of this company being “Stigma” not “Sigma”. Handling the lens almost changed my mind.

I rushed home to “Google” the lens to find out what people are saying about it as I now invariably do before investing money in new kit. Having done that, I am distressed to hear so many reports (not only on this forum)of focusing irregularities. And I have to say that until this issue is fixed, buying this lens must be off my agenda.

Apart from a DSLR I also shoot a Leica M8 which of course uses a rangefinder to focus. Focus calibration can be problematic with that camera / lens combination and I have experienced this and had to spend time money and effort to get the camera calibrated properly and make sure specific lenses are working properly in the field. I can only say it is no fun. It is extraordinarily frustrating to have to cope with missing shots randomly because kit is not quite up to the task.

Sad, so near and yet so far.

By: Bob B.

Bob B. — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:30:14 +0000

Ok…this is a great lens. I took delivery on one yesterday and will be breaking it in this weekend.
Build is great, fit and finish superb, appears to be VERY sharp, lens hood included and it snaps on REALLY TIGHT…no slop. NICE. Sigma…you almost got everything perfect…except the case. What is with the over-sized toaster cozy???? I put that thing right back in the box and it will never see the light of day again. A nice, simple sexy neoprene pouch would have complemented this piece of Art perfectly…and cost less to manufacture. I know I am quibbling…but that case is truly hysterical!…easily fixed with 3rd party item. Clearly the team that designed that lens had nothing to do with the case. LOL!

By: Thomas Pindelski

Thomas Pindelski — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 22:10:26 +0000

The Beta release of Lightroom 4.4 now includes an Adobe profile for the Sigma 35/1.4. I have checked it against mine – referenced in my comment above, and it performs identically.

By: Roger Cicala

Roger Cicala — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:41:45 +0000

Andy, I can’t say it’s normal, but I’ve heard of some people with similar issues. Sigma can adjust it for you or you can exchange it. In a month or so, when we have the adjustment tool Sigma is promising, you should be able to adjust it yourself but that doesn’t help with your copy right now.

By: Andy Holdsworth

Andy Holdsworth — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:23:02 +0000

Hi Roger,

I have just received the 35mm and am finding after calibration it works well for subjects 4-8 feet away but the further the subject is thereafter the more it seems back focuses, so I was wondering if you could tell me if this is normal behaviour for this lens. I’m using the same aperture for the testing.
thanks,
Andy.

By: Roger Cicala

Roger Cicala — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 18:02:32 +0000

Thank you Thomas! Most useful. I’m going to go grab it myself.

By: Thomas Pindelski

Thomas Pindelski — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:04:10 +0000

Thank you, Roger. It’s so great optically that I will wait for Sigma to fix the AF issues before buying one.

If it helps I have made an ACR lens correction profile (RAW and DNG only) which can be downloaded here:

http://pindelski.org/Photography/download-lens-profiles/

I guess it will take Adobe a while to make one.

This works with Lightroom and Photoshop and is especially useful at f/1.4 and f/2 where the Sigma vignettes heavily.

(My site is non-commercial so this is not an attempt to garner clicks) .

By: Roger Cicala

Roger Cicala — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:32:00 +0000

Thomas, all of our published resolution testing is done in live-view on bodies. We don’t do any critical autofocus testing other than just shooting around the lab, which means plenty of controlled light, etc.

By: Thomas Pindelski

Thomas Pindelski — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 19:02:16 +0000

I rented a brand new one (local place in SF, sorry Roger!) and while the lens has the best resolution and color rendering I have seen, it’s useless based on my example. It simply cannot focus consistently on my D3x, known to be dead accurate every time with my 85/1.8 at full aperture. I would estimate the hit rate at no better than 50%. Identical exposures, seconds apart, vary between back focus, front focus and dead on. This looks like a design issue with the stepper motor and/or circuitry. The miss rate is so great that the lens simply cannot be trusted in any light – I get the same results in daylight as in poor light at any distance and it will miss even at f/4 by a significant amount on occasion.

I thought mine might be an isolated example but the other recent comments along like lines suggest this is a broader issue.

Roger, how do you test these? Are you using LiveView on your test bench or are you testing without a camera body? I only use regular AF (I’m a street snapper, so LiveView is not useful). Some AF tests from you might be instructive.