No Pain no Gain.....this is one helluva a lot of glass from Sigma.
First impression on a Canon 5D Mark III: substantial heft! Who needs to pump iron; This will do! The gains are incredible sharp images and a beautifully sharp narrow focus, which isolates the subject from that beautiful creamy background (see, I got around using that overused stupid B_ _ _ H word).
[caption id="attachment_3481" align="alignnone" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption]
The color palette on my 5D Mark III is so pleasing and so pure; and, the sharpness of the ART lenses is something Sigma is getting rave reviews and an ever increasing following. Not to mention what can be said is a quite reasonable, price considering what you get in return. If you are a professional I will wager that your sales will increase in the months to follow after the acquisition of this new tool in your quiver of lenses. If you are a hobbyist and like those club competitions, prepare to win those first place ribbons.
Is it better for landscapes or portraits?
[caption id="attachment_3480" align="alignnone" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption]
This glass can handle anything you can point it towards; and, that 1.4 at a high ISO allows you into the danger zone of low light so one can shoot at higher shake-less shutter speeds! As you can see, it is a razor sharp lens when shooting at 1.4.
I read that the heft is due to that fact that it has 14 elements in 12 groups; not to mention two SLD (special low dispersion) glass elements and one glass element with a high rate of anomalous partial dispersion and refraction according to Sigma. But, I don’t care or know how that all works out; I can just stare into the glass and see by the pureness of this ART glass that magic will happen.
[caption id="attachment_3483" align="alignnone" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption]
Another great improvement is the added torque to the focusing which allows more accurate manual focusing and the manual focusing is full-time; meaning, you can override the AF at anytime to focus on what you please....wow!
[caption id="attachment_3482" align="alignnone" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption]
Thank you Mr. Yamaki and all the talented geniuses at Sigma! I will speak for others as well as myself...We love you ! Now, go check out the photographs and you be the judge and go into a Samy's camera to pre-order or with a few clicks make sure you pre-order one online.
Available in Canon, Nikon and Sigma Mounts available early November.