Sigma art 18-35 and 50-100

[Michel Domaine]

Hello to everyone,

new here.
I'm a new possessor of a Red Epic MX.
I was thinking about some lenses now and before to go to some prime lenses I would like to get some zooms to use easily everywhere .
I was thinking about the Sigma Art 18-35 and the 50-100 but I read and saw that the first is vignetting until 21-24 and the second one has a very hard breathing.
What do you think. Should I buy them anymore or it's better to.choose an alternative?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Craig Lees]

Hi Michel,

Welcome to reduser!

Yes that's about right but if you shoot at 5kHD, most of it clears, will certainly clear at 4kws & under. The speed of these lenses helped me out no end in the Scarlet MX days with their speed & crop. The 50-100 breathes like crazy yes but I found it not to be much of an issue for the work I did where if I knew I'd be doing a near to far Focus pull, you normally tend to plan those types of shots so would switch to a sigma art 50mm prime (another killer lens for the money) if needed. Sharp, fast and contrasty images the arts render meant they were, & still are, really good all rounders IMO. And less than half the price of L-Series glass makes them affordable too & a good investment. The 18-35 sometimes goes AF awol on my reds but I'd find reattaching it quickly usually fixes it! Great lenses with the dsmc2 sidehandle & evf & stripped down run & gun -my epic-w is like a dslr on steroids with this setup. AF on this lens works with DSMC1 redmote too, though it steps a bit, though foolcontrol iOS is pretty smooth- handy for lightweight & cost effective gimbal remote focus.

Original thread here though I'd start at page 30 & go backwards ; )


http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?98540-New-Sigma-18-35mm-f-1-8/page29

Craig Lees
RED's, Alexa & Lomo Scopes
UK

 

[Michel Domaine]

Thank you very much for your reply and your suggestion Craig!

Actually I can't find any good alternatives except Canon.
Do you think that cause of these problems of the Sigmas I should buy Canon?
Do you know any other alternatives?

Thanks!

Michel

 

[Mohammed Almedfa]

I very much recommend the Sigma Art line over the Canon L’s in general. Of course there are some great Canon L lenses too. The 18-35 /F1.8 is a unique and incredibly useful lens, the vignetting clears reasonably quickly and it’s a wonderful all-round lens otherwise, excellent on gimbals and other systems where you would rather use a zoom and avoid changing lens often.

The 50-100 is a bit of a mixed bag due to the breathing, but I love the performance of it in every other respect and have found my copy to be exceedingly sharp wide open, it makes an incredibly good B-camera lens for use on shots with limited camera/subject motion and thus limited focus pulling.

I would echo Craig’s recommendation of the 50mm Art lens. I would say that arguably the more generally versatile set (as one avoids the breathing issues) would be to get the 18-35 /F1.8, 50 /F1.4 & 85 /F1.4. I’ve found both the 50 & 85 Art’s to be incredible lenses from wide open (as is generally the case in the Art line).

 

[Alex Lubensky]

Can't speak of 50-100 about vignetting at 5k, but the 18-35 on a Red Scarlet MX is fine at 5k full res on 18mm (you just have to take the sun hood off). You do notice some fall off in resolution at the edges, but it's not that scary.

 

[Alex Lubensky]

Here are direct examples of a same shot in 5120x2700 res @18mm on Red Scarlet MX, with the hood on and off.

 

[Michel Domaine]

Wow the difference is incredible.
But how the hood can affect the vignetting caused by the difference between lens and sensor...?

 

[Michel Domaine]

Thanks to everyone!
Ok for the 18-35... but I'm not so sure on 50-100 and its breathing.
What would you recommend me: sigma art 50-100 or Canon L 70-200?

 

[Alex Lubensky]

Wow the difference is incredible.
But how the hood can affect the vignetting caused by the difference between lens and sensor...?

The difference in exposure is due to an interval in time on a timelapse shot. It's like 5-7 minutes in difference between the two. The only thing you should look at is the two black bars in the frame sides, which actually is the end of the hood right in the frame on 5k res. No vignetting at all at 18mm @5k without the lens hood, at least on the Sigma i've used.

Thanks to everyone!
Ok for the 18-35... but I'm not so sure on 50-100 and its breathing.
What would you recommend me: sigma art 50-100 or Canon L 70-200?

The breathing on the 50-100 is pretty severe. I have not experienced any kind of breathing like this on any lens I have ever used. Still, it's a F1,8 zoom, which is exceptional in this price range. Between those two i'd choose 50-100 as a main unit because of colour consistency of the two lenses (like going 18mm-100mm focal length). It's smaller also. BUT - I'd rather buy 18-35 ART zoom, 50 ART fixed, 85 ART fixed (beware, this certain lens might not yet be supported by the latest firmware), 100 Macro Canon, instead of buying into those telephoto zooms. You rarely need more than 100mm on a S35 camera, unless you're shooting sports.

 

[Mohammed Almedfa]

I would also echo Alex's sentiments on preferring the 50-100 Art over the 70-200 Canon. Again it depends what one shoots and how much of a problem the breathing will be for the type of work, in some contexts it is a no-go, in other contexts it barely comes up and functions as a 'variable prime' in much the same way as the 18-35. As a B-Camera lens for shots with less focusing pulling, it's a star lens.

Also the Canon 100M L Macro lens is a wonderful multi-purpose lens, mine doesn't seem to be quite as punchy as my 50 & 85mm Art lenses, but it's very solid, and the combination of Macro & a very good built-in IS makes it quite a multi-use long focal length lens. It is certainly the Canon lens I personally use most, although the 18-35 & 50mm Art both see more use than it.

Speaking of which, the 18-35 + 50mm Art is probably the best 2-lens starting point out of the lenses discussed. If one knows they have frequent contexts where the 50-100 breathing is not a problem, it's an amazingly capable & flexible lens, but the breathing simply locks it out of a number of uses.