sigma vs nikon 85mm lenses

jamiebonline

jamiebonline

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hi everyone

i have been looking at my finances and primes might be the best solution. i know these are quite different but i need to make a decision for my d7000 and i cant afford the nikon 85 1.4

so its the sigma 1.4 or cheaper nikon 1.8g
i tend to avoid secondhand glass.

i heard that the sigma has af issues.
i shoot potraits mostly and i currently have a 50mm 1.8g which i find too wide and dont like the distortion on headshots.

some advice? do you own one of these lenses?

thanks a lot :)
 
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I have the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 and the Nikon 85mm f/1.4G, I was going to sell the Siggy after buying the Nikon but decided not to bother as I have separated my work kit from stuff I use for myself and the Siggy is now part of my messing around kit.

I used to have the 85mm f/1.8D and a fella that some times shoots with me has the Nikon 85mm f/1.8G so I have got to use that and see the results fairly extensively.

Of them all the Nikon 85mm f/1.4G as you would expect considering the price is my favourite but the Siggy is no slouch which is why I was reluctant to sell even after buying the Nikon version.

Each to there own obviously but personally considering your options I would go for a used copy of the Siggy. Buy some were that you can test before parting with your cash and you should be fine and you should be able to pick one up for not much more than 1.8G would cost new.

One thing I would say is that while I love 85mm's I did find them a little long on a crop sensor camera so you may want to try before you buy.
 
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I have the Sigma 85 1.4 - no AF problems at all - in fact it works very well. If unsure just get the Nikon 85 1.8 & save some money.
 
I've had all three, of the f1.4's I preferred the Sigma for its bokeh but if f1.4 isn't a critical need I would settle for the Nikon f1.8, it's a cracking lens :)
 
Tough choice, Ive had 3 Sigmas, 2 had focus issues, 1 was spot on and very good. Ive had 2 Gs and both were perfect. Both are fantastic imho, the G is cheaper and has nicer handling, also a little sharper wide open BUT the Sigma is 1.4.

Id probably go for the G tbh. Price vs performance its very hard to beat.
 
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I had the 85mm f1.8g on my D7000 and it was a nice lens with nice image quality. I found nailing focus 100% could sometimes pose an issue as the dof was so thin... but... the shallow dof was amazeballs. I loved it. If I were to buy again I would give the Siggy a go personally. Siggy bokeh seems to just edge that of Nikons imo, both in the 50 f1.4 and the 85.

It gives an efv of 127.5mm on the d7k which can be a tad long for some folks but I quite like it.

Don't discount second hand, especially buying from somewhere like here, the majority of the members are honest and reliable. A good way to save yourself a few quid and end up with a pretty much 'as new' lens.
 
i have pretty much decided on the 85 1.8g The money I save in the difference can be put to better use esp as I run the risk of getting a sigma with af problems. dont want the hassle. and is 1.4 worth almost double the money? i dont think so. thanks for your advice guys.
 
You will always want that little bit extra :p

I'd recommend a macro extension tube to go with the 85, for close up bokeh goodness
 
jamiebonline said:
i have pretty much decided on the 85 1.8g The money I save in the difference can be put to better use esp as I run the risk of getting a sigma with af problems. dont want the hassle. and is 1.4 worth almost double the money? i dont think so. thanks for your advice guys.
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It is if you want to use your lens at f/1.4 ;)

There is no guarantee that buying the 1.8G means you won't get any focus problems either :whistle:
 
I bought a samyang 85 f1.4 a course of years ago. It's manual focus but I love it for portraits. It was ace in my d90 and it's pretty good on the d800. I love it for portraits.

I will upgrade it to the nikkor f1.4g once I've saved up for it.

All that said. It's hard to beat the f1.8g nikkor.....unless you need to shoot at f1.4.
 
Siggy's 85mm probably doesnt perform well at 1.4 which needs to be stopped down which mean u might as well be with Nikkor 1.8G. Samyang is probably better optically. However it is a manual focus.
 
ricky1980 said:
Siggy's 85mm probably doesnt perform well at 1.4 which needs to be stopped down which mean u might as well be with Nikkor 1.8G. Samyang is probably better optically. However it is a manual focus.
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Lol. The siggy is superb at f/1.4
 
I've just purchased myself the Nikon 85mm 1.8 after playing with one when I met another TP member a few months ago. Been saving since!

Incidentally, it seems you have picked your text colour when you made your post. I know this since when using the dark theme I can't see anything in the OP except a smiley!

Leaving it at default will make the forum swap the fonts over for those on different themes.
 
ricky1980 said:
Siggy's 85mm probably doesnt perform well at 1.4 which needs to be stopped down which mean u might as well be with Nikkor 1.8G. Samyang is probably better optically. However it is a manual focus.
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'Probably' makes it sound like you have no experience of the above lens and its lack of optical performance you speak of... if that's true then it was a bit of a silly thing to say.
 
Sorry not used ether lens actually :). Just judging from what photozone has tested. Siggy has some decent centre performance and excellent bokeh. But the rest of the frame suffers from coma at wide aperture which is its optical downfall. Compare with Nikkor 1.4/1.8 and samyang 1.4, it has the worst corner and border resolution due to this issue at wide aperture. I am not sure it will affect the type of photography you do, but at 1.4 it may not be an issue.

http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests/608-sigma8514dx?start=1

"There is one issue that has prevented better corner/border results: the resolution figures suffer quite a bit due to rather pronounced coma at large apertures - very sharp contrast transitions towards the center, soft contrast transitions towards the outer image field."

Of course if you shoot DX then you probably won't notice much of the issue but on full frame it will be obvious.
 
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To be fair I would love to have the nikon 85mm 1.4. But its a bit cost prohibitive which is why haven't given it a go yet. Not really keen on sigma for the reason of not having used it either.
 
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