nikonnate Loc: Woodbury MN

I rented the 20mm f1.4 Art for shooting the stars with my D850 last summer. Sweet criminy that thing was a brick, but in such a glorious way!!

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I mostly use mine on my a99ii, but during Oshkosh interchanged it with my a77 for different range options. My 24-105 on the crop body with the 150-600 on the ff gives me a 36-600 range. Unfortunately, the weather was lousy most of my week there this year - only sunny day was when I roamed through warbird area. I did find something annoying with the big lens, though. Sometimes when I was trying to zoom or pick it up, I'd accidentally hit the range control and blow a bunch of potentially decent action shots.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

Seems to me this is just an advertisement for Sigma.

richard74account

This is not a rebuttal to your post. It brought back a memory of a member of a camera collectors group that I belong to. This gentleman would bring to the meetings a Japanese trade magazine, unfortunately in Japanese. It was primarily about camera optics. There were ads showing different standardized lens blanks. I found out that manufacturers in Japan use lots of subcontractors. I recall at least 25 years ago on some network magazine show,
a story about an elderly Japanese couple living in a rural area. It showed at their house a robotic paint sprayer painting the base of a record turntable. Enhancing their government pension perhaps?. I can't argue about value
retention but, I think longevity of a lens is dependent a lot on how its owner treats.it. Happy snaps to you all.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

"Art" lens is not a technical term not is it an optical term such as "apochromatic" or "flat field" as in a process lens, or even "soft focus" which pertain to lenses with controlled degrees of zonal aberrations. Each of these terms connotes a special characteristic of a lens that makes it suitable for a specific purpose or effect.

If you were to purchase expensive supplies, top-quality brushes or equipment in an art supply store, does that automatically make you an"artist"? A true artist can make art with just about any reasonable medium.

So the folks at the lens manufacturing/marketing company are advertising under the supposition that fine art photographers need extremely sharp lenses that are well built. Good idea? Well, so do portrait photograher although some may prefer soft focus. So do press photographers, so do medical and scientific photographers. I don't really know anyone who wants an inferior lens that is gonna fall apart in heavy service. So, they decided to call their better glass "ART lenses". Why not? sounds cool! Some are fast glass, well wide apertures are good for selective focus and bokeh it that's your style.

Smart marketing but smart photographers will not invest in lenses strictly based on their moniker!

hrblaine

[quote=azted]The "Art" series from Sigma is their highest quality product, irregardless of what some may debate as to how they purchase their raw materials.

I don't mean to hijack this thread but can someone explain the difference if any between "regardless" and "irregardless"" Thanks, Harry

DrJ

I have some 30 Canon lenses including L lenses. I have 4 ART lenses. If I had to pick my sharpest lens, it would be the Sigma ART 50 f1.4. My second sharpest is probably the Canon 200 f2.8 L Mk II. I carefully compared the Sigma ART 24-105 f4 to the Canon 24-105 f4 L IS Mk II on a Canon 5D MkIII in a camera store and bought the Sigma. I'm very impressed with Sigma ART image quality. DrJ

DrJ

When I was in English class, the teacher said "irregardless" is not a proper word. "Regardless" and "irrespective" are proper words. Nevertheless, language is constantly changing. DrJ

flip1948 Loc: Hamden, CT

While I haven't been able to determine exactly who makes Sigma glass I can tell you that Sigma is heavily involved in the design of the glass that they use, such as in the development of their FLD glass elements. I can also state with full assurance that all Sigma lens elements are ground in house at their Aizu, Japan manufacturing facility. They don't buy their glass elements from a low bidder and just assemble the components into their lenses.

As far as "Art" being hype, nothing can be further from the truth. I've read dozens of reviews of Sigma Art series lenses complete with comparisons to similar lenses made by Canon, Sony and Nikon glass and the Art lenses meet or exceed the performance of lenses produced by those companies...and for less money.

If nothing else Sigma has fired a shot across the bow of the "ship's of state" in the lens industry and the big boys had better not take them too lightly.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

The Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 DC OS APO HSM (1496 g 1316 g sans foot) 77 mm Filter; Min Focus distance: 2.6 feet
DxOmark give this the absolute top rating for an APS-C Portrait Lens when introduced.
Nikon refuses to make Professional Grade DX optics so Sigma stepped up the the plate and blew Nikon out of the market with this stellar optic. Nikon responded by (hard to believe but true) taking legal action against Sigma for intellectual property infringement since this epic sigma used a similar mode of OS (Nikon speak that's VR).

So rather than trying to match this DX Sigma Portrait lens Nikon muscled the courts to have Sigma "Cease and Desist" with production. I got lucky and found one before they were all grabbed up by commercial shooters.

Nikon still refuses to market Professional Grade DX optics... Their mind set is to force APS-C (DX) Nikon Camera users to buy FF Glass in hopes that they will upgrade to FF.

Yes Nikon actually produced a single Pro Grade DX Lens in 2003 (It was Made in Japan!)
The Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 DX However by Sigma's current standards that 2003 Nikkor isn't able to compete...

Nikon has never released a pro grade DX lens since 2003... So much for their FF marketing paradigm.
Sigma Rocks! I totally love their AF 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM; 629 grams; 77 mm; Min Focus:0.9 feet

The APS-C 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM blows that clunky APS-C 17-55mm "Pro Nikkor" away.
Paired with the 50-150mm f/2.8 it's an epic "Professional" Event Kit in DX (something that Nikon doesn't offer)

The Art Series? Way too heavy... and the Sigma "Art" 50-100mm f/1.8 APS-C lens doesn't have OS (VR) what was Sigma thinking?

Please stay safe all...

Bill_de Loc: US

[quote=hrblaine]

No need to hijack a thread when you have Google at your fingertips.
Irregardless is a nonstandard synonym for regardless

https://www.dictionary.com/e/is-irregardless-a-word/#:~:text=Irregardless%20is%20a%20nonstandard%20synonym,%2D%20with%20the%20suffix%20%2Dless.&text=The%20bottom%20line%20is%20that,word%2C%20albeit%20a%20clunky%20one.

mikey12654 Loc: Vancouver, WA

They are Canon's premium lenses, some are better than others in the L series lenses. I own 4 of their best EF lenses and 2 of their RF lenses.

BooIsMyCat Loc: Somewhere

Your "point"?

You asked a question...."What's a Canon L lens???"

billt1970 Loc: Gambrills, Maryland

With all due respect, are you implying that the first party glass from Sony, Nikon, Canon, or Fuji is not procured at the lowest price? That makes no sense to me. Even if they source them inhouse, they are going to pay the lowest price (cost) their business model allows. And, Sigma Art lenses get rave reviews that compare favorably with the big guys lenses. I just don't see how using Art lenses makes you "left behind."

Writer and photographer Michael Gabriel offers an interesting review of Art lenses: "For those who cannot purchase a Canon L series lens, the Sigma Art lenses are the best alternatives. These lenses produce sharper, more detailed, and uniquely-colored images than those of Canon’s. Even for first time fine art photographers, a Sigma Art lens can be an excellent choice."

Just a couple of humble opinions.

BT

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Art is to Sigma what the L is to Canon.

It is their upgraded professional line. I have 5 Art lenses and they are all excellent, having said that they are not always the best choice in a given focal range, but they can generally compare very well and often better the OEM lenses offered by Canon, Nikon, and Sony.