Sigma 35mmf1.4 ART and A7r/A7, any thoughts?

[eleskin]

I am seriously considering the Sigma 35mm f1.4 ART for my A7r. I have the LA EA 4 adapter and want the best 35mm lens possible with this. I rented the Zeiss 35mm 2.8, but I wanted the flexibility and fast focus capacity with the adapter. Any input would be great!

 

[Keith]

Sensationally good lens which I'm not using currently unfortunately. I would love to try it on my M240 but I suspect a Leica M to Sigma mount adapater may be hard to find.

And it's quite large and rather heavy ... amazing build quality of course like all the new 'Art' lenses.

 

[YYV_146]

Great lens. The major objection is weight and size. If you can live with it, I can't recommend another af lens for 35mm.

 

[kxl]

This lens generally gets a lot of love, and probably rightfully so. And if you can wait a couple of months, maybe Amazon will offer it again as a lightning deal for $699, like it did in December 2013.

My only question about this lens is the value of the Sigma dock. Do you HAVE to have one with this lens? I know the dock is used to update firmware and configure focus settings, but what are the consequences of not buying the dock? Also, are the dock's functions hampered by using an LA-EA4?

 

[GaryLH]

The sigma lens should be used directly w/ the dock.. There is no need for the LA-EA4 adapter in this picture since the sigma dock in question should be the Sony/Minolta a mount. Unless u already have an e mount dock, then that is totally different issue.

All of the dslr designed art lenses are pretty heavy and big. But if u want a lens w/ a modern look that has overall iq close to the Zeiss but less money, it is hard to beat the sigma art series.

That lightning round amazon price is a nice deal....

Gary

 

[kxl]

The sigma lens should be used directly w/ the dock.. There is no need for the LA-EA4 adapter in this picture since the sigma dock in question should be the Sony/Minolta a mount.
Gary

I got that. What I'm wondering is: the dock is optimizing focus for the A-mount Sigma lens. When you mount that lens to the LA-EA4 adapter and then to the A7/A7R, are the focus settings now less than optimized, since optimization happened without the LA-EA4.

I'm not arguing -- I'm just genuinely wondering.

 

[GaryLH]

If I understand correctly.. There is a translucent mirror in the adapter.. So the focusing assumes the correct distance from flange to translucent mirror that is used on the Sony A series dslr that this adapter was designed after. Actually using phase detect focus of the adapter instead of using the phase or contrast detect of the Sony a7 family camera body.

As I understand it from one of the humorous Kai digitalRev videos, the USB Dock in terms of micro af adjust is done via your computer and the USB dock directly controlling lens by downloading new updates to that said lens. But u still need to put that lens back on the camera (this case the LA-EA4) in order to double check that the adjustment is correct. Once this is done, what I am not sure of is once the adjustment is made against that particular camera, what is the situation w/ accurate focus on a different camera. Factory lenses I would suspect are calibrated to the nominal standard..

Gary

 

[Samouraï]

Sony is releasing that 35/1.4 Distagon in early 2015. Don't know if it's worth waiting for. And the price will be crazy. But...something to consider. As good as the new ZM Distagon is.

 

[kxl]

Once this is done, what I am not sure of is once the adjustment is made against that particular camera, what is the situation w/ accurate focus on a different camera.
Gary

This is exactly what I'm wondering about.

 

[Huss]

The lens is sensational. The camera is sensational. But do they play well together? The camera has a reputation of smeared corners and magenta colour hues with non Sony lenses wider than 50mm. Not sure if it does that with this lens.

 

[Tokoza]

I have the Sigma 35 Art and NEX/NIK Novoflexadapter. This lens coupled with Sony A7 gives a very nice image quality (no noticeable corner smearing and absolutely no color shift). But I don’t like the lack of a real aperture ring with marked stops. The size could also have been smaller. But perhaps I could accept this if a precise AF capability was given.

 

[ChrisLivsey]

The dock has two separate functions:

It allows updating if the lens firmware, which may/should improve overall performance regardless of the specific camera body.

Secondly it allows fine adjustment of focus with a specific body.

You would make and save to the lens using the dock the adjustments found with the body A7r in this case you intend to use.
The manual is downloadable and there are numerous reviews which explain how the lens is tested on the camera adjusted on the dock and re-tested.

If you make a note of the set of adjustments you could then fine tune to another body, again saving to the lens via the dock. To use on the A7r again you would not need to re-test but would re-load the previous set, assuming they are different!!

 

[YYV_146]

The lens is sensational. The camera is sensational. But do they play well together? The camera has a reputation of smeared corners and magenta colour hues with non Sony lenses wider than 50mm. Not sure if it does that with this lens.

This only happens with symmetric RF wide angle lenses. The 35mm Sigma is a SLR design and certainly not symmetric, and it will have no issues.

FYI of the RF lenses I own the only one that has noticeable corner degradation on the A7 is the 15mm Distagon ZM, and I only shoot it wide open for street work. My 21 and 24mm Summilux perform fine on the A7 wide open.

 

[Ramersdorfer]

David Hughes has posted several times about his experiences using the Sonys with the Sigma on his blog at Soundimageplus.com.
He raves about the image quality.

 

[jsrockit]

I rented the Zeiss 35mm 2.8, but I wanted the flexibility and fast focus capacity with the adapter. Any input would be great!

Are you saying the 35mm Zeiss focuses slow?