Sigma 105 Macro lens

[Falcon]

Hi

Does the lens barrel change by a lot when focusing like the Tamron 90mm macro? I heard many good reviews of this lens but what are the things u hate abt this lens. Tks.

 

[Gunjack]

Pros: Great sharpness, colour/contrast, flare resistance, fast lense(f2.8).

Cons: Ugly Bokeh(not so good for portraits), slow autofocus.

 

[majere2sg]

Originally posted by Gunjack
Pros: Great sharpness, colour/contrast, flare resistance, fast lense(f2.8).

Cons: Ugly Bokeh(not so good for portraits), slow autofocus.

What is bokeh ?

 

[Gunjack]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

Bokeh is the out of focus part of the pic. For me, I like bokeh to be circular, not octagonal and such, and to look more like maybe a charcoal drawing on paper slightly smeared, rather than superimposed pics on each other.

 

[Falcon]

Originally posted by Gunjack

Cons: Ugly Bokeh(not so good for portraits), slow autofocus.

Was told by one of the guys in MSCOLOR that the AF is superfast.

 

[Gunjack]

Originally posted by Falcon
Was told by one of the guys in MSCOLOR that the AF is superfast.

Nah... But it is still a mighty impressive lense for the price, especially when used correctly.

 

[zguy]

any idea how much it is?

 

[munfai]

Originally posted by Falcon
Hi

Does the lens barrel change by a lot when focusing like the Tamron 90mm macro?

yes, the barrel extends. by exactly how much i can't remember... probably like 1/3 of the original barrel length more.

 

[lennon]

Originally posted by Gunjack
Cons: Ugly Bokeh(not so good for portraits)

First time I heard this comment. Not true for my unit. :dunno:

 

[Gunjack]

Try to shoot with some bright highlights in the background(eg sunlight through leaves), you will see that the out of focus areas seem to have multiple super-imposed highlights around each other. Also, the out of focus areas seems to have a sharp defining edge, as compared to beautiful bokeh which is sharper at the center of the out of focus object and gradually blurrer near its edges.

 

[djchris]

what is a good bokeh like? for portraits

 

[lennon]

Originally posted by Gunjack
Try to shoot with some bright highlights in the background(eg sunlight through leaves), you will see that the out of focus areas seem to have multiple super-imposed highlights around each other. Also, the out of focus areas seems to have a sharp defining edge, as compared to beautiful bokeh which is sharper at the center of the out of focus object and gradually blurrer near its edges.

Have you taken the same subj with different macro lens? I think other lenses would behave the same way, unless you have some sample pic to show us that the bokeh is different using other macro lens.

 

[StreetShooter]

This is GOOD bokeh (taken with Canon EF 85mm f1.8):

This is unpleasing bokeh (taken with Sigma 105mm f2.8):

See the difference? The unpleasing bokeh sets your teeth on edge.

 

[Gunjack]

Check this out... The Minolta STF has beautiful bokeh compared to normal AF lense too...

http://www.xitek.com/testreport/xitek/m135stf/example1.htm

 

[munfai]

Originally posted by Gunjack
Check this out... The Minolta STF has beautiful bokeh compared to normal AF lense too...

http://www.xitek.com/testreport/xitek/m135stf/example1.htm

ah but of course... that lens was designed with good bokeh as priority!

 

[lennon]

here's my sample pic taken from sigma 105mm @F4. I believe you wont be able to get a 'good' bokeh if the background is to close to the subj. Just my 2 cents worth....

 

[Gunjack]

That's a nice dog portrait, very well taken with the Sigma lense. I believe the bokeh looks ok in this case is because there are no bright highlights/contrast in the background, it is in fact quite evenly lit. For this instance, the Sigma works fine. I have taken pics like Streetshooter's example and got the same type of effect. I have taken background that is close and far from the subject with other lense and the bokeh all looks fine. I don't think it is due to the distance, cause nice bokeh is nice bokeh, the bokeh is either more or less pronounced.