Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Long Term Review

Last March I bought an F mount lens released in 2014. Why would I do that when I have a fancy Z mount camera, you ask? Well because it’s an Art lens with fantastic sharpness, great contrast, and only cost $365! This is a lens that still sells brand new, right now, for $950, and sells for around $500 used. I snagged mine on eBay for less because it has some coating marks and a small scratch on the front element that generally don’t interfere with image quality. I didn’t get around to writing a review of it last year, but that’s given me more opportunity to use it and share a more rounded evaluation. So let’s get to it.

A Bit of History

I already own quite a few 50mm lenses – Nikon’s AF-S f/1.8G, their terrible AF-S f/1.4G, the older AF-D 1.4, and a couple AF-D 1.8’s I received with some of my “history cameras”. The AF-S f/1.8 was the first 50mm I bought and has been my sharpest. It’s affordable, reliable, takes great photos, and works on my Z8 through the FTZ adapter. The AF-D f/1.4 is one of my favorites though – it’s older, heavier, and has slower screw autofocus, but boy does it have some character. I just love the photos that I create with it. I bought it for $200 and used it in place of my AF-S f/1.8G immediately. It’s not as sharp but it has wonderful micro contrast. Unfortunately the FTZ adapter doesn’t support screw autofocus so it only works on my Z8 as a manual focus lens, which basically means I don’t use it.

To prepare for the transition to Z mount I bought a used copy of Nikon’s AF-S f/1.4G. From the moment I bought it I was disappointed. I thought my copy had an issue that prevented it from being as sharp or sharper than my f/1.8G, but realized after reading reviews that it’s just not a sharp lens. I expected better image quality than the 1.8G at twice the price, but it’s quite a bit worse. It’s not even as sharp as my older f/1.4 D! It also doesn’t focus as fast as its cheaper sibling. There still may be something wrong with my copy, reviews of good copies of the lens weren’t very good either. So that one was a dud and went back into the closet.

That’s what led me to the Sigma Art 50mm. I had seen it before, but the $950 asking price was too high for a non-Z mount lens I wouldn’t use all the time, especially when other “pretty good” 50mm lenses cost as little as $200 new. I recall it being lauded for being very sharp, very large, very heavy, and very worth the cost, but I didn’t need something like that. So why reconsider? While I’m slowly building my Z lens library, I’m also looking for deals on F mount lenses as people jettison them for Z mount equipment. It also helps that 50mm optics are a bit of a thing recently – Nikon’s 50mm f/1.8 Z costs over $500 and their f/1.2 costs $1900! The Sigma Art for F mount was running around $500 on the used market, so I started researching it to see if it would provide any value over my f/1.8G or if I should spring for a f/1.8 Z.

State of the Art

The version I purchased was released in 2014 for Canon EF, Nikon F, and other mounts. There’s a newer “mirrorless-designed” version, the 50mm f/1.4 DN, which is slightly sharper, weather sealed, and uses a faster autofocus motor, but it’s only available for Sony E and Leica L mounts right now. That’s fine because the 2014 model is still extremely well reviewed, and perhaps I’ll have access to the newer model for Nikon Z at some point 🙂 Anyway, back to the 2014 model.

It’s pretty large and heavy compared to my other 50mm lenses. At nearly 4” long and 1.8 lbs, it’s more than twice the length and four times the weight of my 1.8G! It feels much more solid and high quality though, with a metal body and lots of high-quality glass inside. It’s closer in size and weight to my F mount 24 – 120mm f/4 lens, and that’s fine because I used that on my D750 quite often without issue.

As for image quality, it’s very sharp. Many 50mm lenses at f/1.8 and f/1.4 need to be stopped down to be acceptably sharp in the center, but the Art is already extremely sharp in the center wide open at f/1.4. Sharpness falls off towards the edges of the frame, and that’s OK for centered portraits. If I want to compose using the rule of thirds, stopping to f/2.8 will suffice. Images have amazing and deep contrast, making colors pop. The bokeh is very smooth and backgrounds melt away nicely. Out of focus highlights are nice and circular without strong onion skinning. I loved my AF-D f/1.4, but its out of focus highlights were pretty bad in comparison.

Based on reviews autofocus speed and accuracy, especially on Nikon, are a weak point. I’ve seen some of that but it isn’t as bad as I expected. There are a few things going on. First, at f/1.4, depth of field is extremely thin, so getting what I’m targeting into crisp focus can be challenging depending on my distance from and angle towards my subject. Accuracy can definitely be hit and miss with dark subjects (like my dog or grey cat’s eyes) in lower light. Is that an issue with Nikon’s Eye AF as much as the lens? Perhaps. This hit rate doesn’t actually differ much from my 50mm f/1.8 in similar scenarios. To mitigate this, I make sure to shoot some bursts and refocus a few times, which results in the images I want. Subject tracking is also considered a weak point of this lens and I don’t recommend it for shooting action, but I don’t recommend the 50mm f/1.8 for that either. Maybe the Sigma is a tad slower than the Nikon, but it doesn’t make a real difference. It’s certainly quieter.

I’ve used this lens in many scenarios and I’m really happy with the images I’m getting out of it. It is just so sharp at f/1.4 and the backgrounds just melt away – it’s great. I’m not using it for action shots and I’m happy to take a few shots from different angles to ensure I get what I want. This was a great purchase, I have no issues using it with an FTZ adapter, and the scratch on the front element hasn’t been a problem. I got a huge deal on this at 54% off the current sale price and I do not regret expanding my F mount lens collection.