Canon and Sigma 50mm f1.4 owners

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drb5

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David
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Quick question.

Refurbed Canon 50mm f1.4 with a years warranty for £233 or

Used Sigma 50mm f1.4 with unknown warranty for £50-70 more than the Canon

What would you choose?
 
The Sigma lens is a very nice one, and for my money I'd say it's better. I forget what, but there is a part on the Canon one that fails (search these forums, it's mentioned somewhere), and my Sigma 50mm 1.4 is very, very nice :)
 
I'd get Canon and immediately attach the hood to it permanently.

Sigma is not bad IF it is a perfect copy, but Canon will have more edge resolution stopped down slightly. I'd question why they are selling it in the first place. Unless they are getting Nikon or gone bankrupt I can't see another innocent explanation.
 
Get the Sigma, against the Canon it wins the vast majority of reviews. I use the Siggy on my 5D with no issues.

Forget Siggyphobia, much of it is internet crap IMVHO :D
 
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woof woof said:
Get the Sigma, against the Canon it wins the vast majority of reviews. I use the Siggy on my 5D with no issues.

Forget Siggyphobia, much of it is internet crap IMVHO :D
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I was about to say the same. As with anything, people often quickly jump to the keyboard to tell the world how bad something is, but rarely come back to tell us the good news (relating to any product or service).

You only need to look on Flickr and other image resources to see that there has to be vastly more good copies of these lenses out there than the poor ones. When I was researching this before making my purchase I found a handful of OLD posts showing evidence of poor quality and next to nothing new. When I ordered mine I had to wait for it to ship from the factory, and when it arrived it was spot on focusing, which was nice as I had no micro adjustment option on my 30D or 60D.

Point being people see 1 person mention a bad copy, and tell the world that Sigma 50mm lenses are rubbish due to QC. Since I bought mine over 2 years ago now, I haven't seen anyone actually posting about problems with theirs.
 
I bought the sigma 50 1.4 over the canon and don't regret it one bit
the canon is alot cheaper
 
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It appears most would go for the Sigma then.

I see Panamoz have it for just over £300 if BT, but will need to see what the deal is with returns first, if the lens is poor.
 
drb5 said:
It appears most would go for the Sigma then.

I see Panamoz have it for just over £300 if BT, but will need to see what the deal is with returns first, if the lens is poor.
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all in their terms and conditions
I bought mine from ebay as you know as it was a 1 month old as new uk lens which I have been able to register with sigma for the extended warranty
it was pointed out to me on my threads that sigma are very funny about warranty if it is not a uk purchase
I am over the moon with mine
does appear that this issue with sigma quality is an old issue and is not apparent on their latest product range
how true that is I don't know
ffordes have the lens for 360 ish I think http://www.ffordes.com/product/10072316355001
 
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Im pretty sure you also need the original purchase receipt to make a claim with Sigma UK if you go the used route and register warranty. If you get a decent priced used lens its only £37 for a focus adjust, may take a few weeks for them to do but they usually come back perfect first time. Oh, I purchased 2x 50 siggys for my 5DC when I owned it and both FF quite heavily and with no focus adjust it was a pain, sent back both in the end as couldnt wait +- 6 weeks for the adjustment and I never had any other lens have issues with that body and I used a lot of fast lenses.
 
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neil_g said:
one thing i would say, avoid grey imports as sigma can refuse to work on them (which could land you with an expensive paperweight outside of the retailer warranty).
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In my experience and others I know, they dont refuse work they just put you at the back of the queue and if your lens needs an AF part that only Japan has they ship it back to Japan for repair, you wait, you pay for all labour, parts and shipping.
 
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I'm struggling to consider a used Siggy at around £280 when a new one with their own warranty from Panamoz is just over £300. Ok it's an import, but that doesn't bother me.
 
It will if it comes over with focus issues and they are "within tolerance". Not wanting to change your mind as the Sigma is amazing (I now have it on a D700 and its a great copy), just be aware of possible issues.
 
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twist said:
In my experience and others I know, they dont refuse work they just put you at the back of the queue and if your lens needs an AF part that only Japan has they ship it back to Japan for repair, you wait, you pay for all labour, parts and shipping.
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ive heard of work being refused without a UK VAT receipt. why take that chance..
 
Personally, I would not buy the Siggy from anywhere other than a shop that will accept returns without much quibble. I went through 3 copies to get one that was calibrated to my 5Dc. One I tested in Jacobs and 2 from WEX. However, once you get one that is spot on, it's a stellar lens!
 
I'd say this to anyone going through three copies of any lens... the odds against getting three duff lenses in a row from different places and over a period of time must be remote and when it happens technique and camera body must come into question.
 
I think poor sigma copies were the old versions The one I bought from ebay is only a month old and is perfect
I have even managed to get the sigma 3 year extended warranty
 
woof woof said:
I'd say this to anyone going through three copies of any lens... the odds against getting three duff lenses in a row from different places and over a period of time must be remote and when it happens technique and camera body must come into question.
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Absolutely true. But when you own a body without a MA function, there is no other option, other than having to send the body and lens to Sigma for calibration.

For me, technique wasn't the issue. The first copy I tried in Jacobs was misfocussing at different distances, the second from WEX was just too soft wide open. The third was pretty much spot on with focussing and has acceptable sharpness wide open - nothing that can't be sorted in pp. I'm sure if I had MA I could get it tack sharp. But I'll have to wait till I get my 5D3 for that! :)
 
neil_g said:
i believe they are all the same, its just the coating that was changed.

i cant find anything to suggest different.
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you could be right who knows, all the manufacturers keep very hush hush secret squirrel when they have issues with their products and there are no exceptions to this rule :LOL:
seems an industry standard with global corporations
 
2 copies here, same basic technique, images sent to and verified by Sigma servicing to need calibration. Yeah, mustve been the duff tripod and high shutter speeds that did it. But I do agree on occasion sometimes the camera doesnt play nice, from reading more so Canon than Nikon with Sigma lenses.

Have a read OP.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=367
 
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