I bought this as I hadn't treated myself to a new toy for a while. I already have a 50mm f2.5 but that lens is physically quite slow in operation and I wanted something fast and with f1.4 for occasions when I'd prefer 50mm over my 30mm f1.4. Anyway, for those reasons I'm now the proud owner of Sigma's latest 50mm, complete with a lens hood and a carry case.
The lens is physically larger than my existing 30 and 50mm lenses although not as large as the Sigma 20mm f1.8. When mounted on my 20D the combination feels comfortable and handles well. The lens appears to be well made and the HSM appears to be fast and focus is achieved quickly even in quite low light levels. The focus ring is quite narrow but falls to hand easily and the HSM allows full time manual focus, even in auto focus mode.
The minimum aperture is f16 and I would have preferred that it went smaller, but you can't have everything.
The lens element seem to be quite recessed so I'd imagine that flare will not be too much of an issue on too many occasions. The hood can be reversed and fitted to the lens when not in use but when this is done it covers the focus ring and the distance scale. I think that when I don't want to use the hood I'll pop it into my camera bag or pocket rather than reverse fit it to the lens.
One small thing that I noticed is that the lens cap is different to all of the other Sigma lens caps I have. It's a small detail, but it does make the cap easier to use and as it's difficult for me to describe and a picture paints a thousand words...
I've only had the lens two days but here are my impressions...
...I think that it's a very good lens.
F1.4 seems perfectly usable and although the results are never going to be as sharp as smaller apertures those used to the results possible at larger apertures will probably be pleasantly surprised, I am, and by f3.2 I don't think that anyone will be complaining.
Light fall off doesn't appear to be an issue, not on my 20D anyway, and I can not see any corner to corner issues.
I find 50mm a bit long (50mm equates to about 80mm on my 20D) so this is never going to be my most used lens but if / when I go FF it will replace my 30mm f1.4 which is a small sensor only lens (Sigma DC.) I'll use this lens for portrait type shots, copying, record type shots and when I want something physically fast to operate with the benefits of having f1.4 available.
The price of this lens may be higher than that of the equivalent Canon, but it does come complete with a hood and a case, neither of which come with the Canon.
I think that anyone looking at a 50mm wide aperture lens should take a serious look at the Sigma. It appears to be well made and the positive reviews this lens is getting seem by my limited experience to be telling the truth, it really does look like it's a very good lens.
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