Sigma's new 105mm f/1.4: Sigma recently announced the release of a new 105mm f/1.4 lens for about $1,600. I'm currently using a 70-200mm f/2.8 L for portraits and am in the market for...

Cheese

Sigma recently announced the release of a new 105mm f/1.4 lens for about $1,600. I'm currently using a 70-200mm f/2.8 L for portraits and am in the market for a new portrait lens, and debating between the Canon 100mm f/4 L, the Canon 85mm f/1.4, and the new Sigma lens. All my current lenses are Canon, and I have never owned or used a Sigma before. The Sigma costs about $750 more than the Canons. Online reviews of the Sigma appear to be mostly positive, other than the weight factor, even Nikon users who owned the Nikon 105mm f/1.4 liked it. (Some reviewers said they were allowed to see and touch the lens, but not take photos. Wonder why?). Canon does not have an equivalent lens. I know the lens is not in the stores yet, so I'm not expecting firsthand user reviews. Just looking for general thoughts and recommendations. Thanks.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I wonder if that will be part of the ART series? From the description, it sounds like it could be~ fast and heavy. If it is part of the ART series, I'm sure it will be an awesome lens. I have the 50 and 24 and find that they are on my camera most of the time.

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

Suggest you also consider Canon's 135 2.0 L ---
Cost is around $900.00 --
One of the sharpest Canon lenses around -- An excellent portrait lens

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I believe you can't make a blanket statement like Canon lenses (Nikkor in my case) are better than Tamron or Sigma or ... You have to carefully read the reviews on each lens because sometimes Sigma and Tamron (and others) make better lenses in a specific category than Canon and Nikkor. Image quality and fstop might not always be the top criteria either. For example, I picked up a Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-6.3 for Nikon for those times when I only want to pack one lightweight lens like a Disney vacation with the family. Its a good, but not great lens, but the flexibility is next to none. I recently bought a wide angle Sigma Zoom that shows some vignetting an pincushioning with a bit of CA - all of which can be fixed in Lightroom. You might want to rent your choice and give it a test run before buying.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Cheese wrote:

Sigma recently announced the release of a new 105m... (show quote)

Wait a few weeks until one gets into the hands of Tony Northrop, Jared Polin, the new guys at DPreview or Matt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKVPOuLny0A - overview, not hands on). Not Theoria Apophasis, he hates everything.

It will, based on description, be part of the ART lineup.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

Yesterday I read an article that said some of the art series lenses dont work well with Canon. I cant remember the issues, so waiting for a review would be a good idea.

Cheese

tradio wrote:

I wonder if that will be part of the ART series? From the description, it sounds like it could be~ fast and heavy. If it is part of the ART series, I'm sure it will be an awesome lens. I have the 50 and 24 and find that they are on my camera most of the time.

I believe it is part of the ART series. Do you use yours on Canon bodies? There is a post below about ART lenses not working properly with Canon, and I was wondering if that has been your experience. Thanks.

Cheese

ken_stern wrote:

Suggest you also consider Canon's 135 2.0 L ---
Cost is around $900.00 --
One of the sharpest Canon lenses around -- An excellent portrait lens

Thanks. Certainly something to consider.

Cheese

Strodav wrote:

I believe you can't make a blanket statement like ... (show quote)

Agree about not making blanket statements. I don't have any Sigma lenses, so have no firsthand experience using them. Most of the professional reviewers seem to have seen the lens, but not been allowed to use it. I'm guessing that since it is so new, there will not be many copies in the rental market.

I'm assuming there would be no vignetting problems with the Sigma 105mm, since it has a humongous 105mm filter size!!

Cheese

rgrenaderphoto wrote:

Wait a few weeks until one gets into the hands of Tony Northrop, Jared Polin, the new guys at DPreview or Matt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKVPOuLny0A - overview, not hands on). Not Theoria Apophasis, he hates everything.

It will, based on description, be part of the ART lineup.

Thanks for the link. I notice he too says he was not allowed to use the lens. Wonder why Sigma will not let professional reviewers try out the lens. Perhaps they were pre-production models.

Cheese

jim quist wrote:

Yesterday I read an article that said some of the art series lenses dont work well with Canon. I cant remember the issues, so waiting for a review would be a good idea.

Thanks. Please share the link if you happen to find the article. This is troubling.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

Cheese wrote:

I believe it is part of the ART series. Do you use yours on Canon bodies? There is a post below about ART lenses not working properly with Canon, and I was wondering if that has been your experience. Thanks.

Sorry, I'm using it on a Nikon body and have had no problems although, sometimes it's hard to get the lens cap back on.

ELNikkor

The Canon 85 1.4 will be the best choice of all the above. Less cumbersome than the new Sigma, 3 stops faster than the 100mm Canon. To my eye, 85mm is the perfect portrait length.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

ken_stern wrote:

Suggest you also consider Canon's 135 2.0 L ---
Cost is around $900.00 --
One of the sharpest Canon lenses around -- An excellent portrait lens

👍👍👍 completely agree - the sharpest L series lens I own. I used to say if I had to keep only one lens it would be the 70-200 f2.8L IS - not anymore. Now it would be the 135 f2L, which paired with Canon’s 1.4X extender also provides a light and tack sharp 200mm f2.8.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

tradio wrote:

I wonder if that will be part of the ART series? From the description, it sounds like it could be~ fast and heavy. If it is part of the ART series, I'm sure it will be an awesome lens. I have the 50 and 24 and find that they are on my camera most of the time.

This IS an ART series lens!