The Sigma 50mm f/1.2 is a compact, relatively lightweight addition to the company’s flagship Art range. Designed specifically for mirrorless cameras, this professional-grade f/1.2 prime lens is now the fastest 50mm autofocus lens in the L-Mount ecosystem. If you are an SL-camera owner searching for a wafer-thin depth-of-field, this could the lens for you.
The lens features a fast f/1.2 aperture with 13 rounded diaphragm blades (a first for Sigma), which maintains its circular shape when shooting wide open. It comprises 17 elements in 12 groups, with four aspherical surfaces. According to the company, the lens produces beautiful bokeh effects, with sharp imagery across the entire frame, with “exceptional contrast and colour”. Sigma has manufactured it with videographers as well as stills photographers in mind, with focus breathing heavily suppressed.
“By correcting spherical aberration,” according to Sigma, “the sagittal coma flare, axial chromatic aberration, and other aberrations such as double-line bokeh, the lens produces a natural bokeh with a smooth blur and without colour bleeding from the focal plane. The lens also implements a floating focus system that improves its short-range performance. This ensures a high-level of optical quality throughout the entire focusing range”.
Reduced size and weight
The revised floating focusing system using HLA (High-response Linear Actuator) motors helps reduce size without compromising performance. Sigma claims the focusing is fast, quiet, and accurate. Designed for everyday use, the Sigma 50mm f/1.2 DG DN | Art uses new design techniques and technology to reduce weight and increase portability. It weights 745g, 30 percent lighter than the Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG DN | Art.
The new lens is equipped with an AFL button, which can be assigned to a range of functions via the menu on supported cameras. L-Mount users can customise the button further using the UD-11 USB Dock. Depth of field can be controlled effortlessly using the built-in aperture control ring. The aperture ring lock prevents accidental movement, and there is also a switch to turn the click of the aperture ring on and off.
In addition to dust and splash-resistant construction, the front element of the lens features a water and oil repellent coating, allowing operation even in harsh conditions. A dedicated petal-shaped hood with locking mechanism is supplied with the lens.
The Sigma 50mm f/1.2 DG DN Art lens for L-Mount is available from 18 April 2024 at a UK cost of £1,299, including VAT.
Sigma 50mm f/1.2 key specification
(The figures below are for L-Mount)
- Lens construction: 17 elements in 12 groups (4 aspherical elements)
- Number of diaphragm blades: 13 (rounded diaphragm)
- Minimum aperture: F16
- Minimum focusing distance: 40cm
- Maximum magnification ratio: 1:6.2
- Filter size: 72mm
- Dimensions (max diameter x length): 81.0mm x 108.8mm
- Weight: 745g
Sigma 50mm f/1.2 feature summary
- Lens construction: 17 elements in 12 groups (4 aspherical elements)
- Inner focus system
- Compatible with high-speed autofocus
- HLA (High-response Linear Actuator)
- Compatible with Lens Aberration Correction
- Supports DMF and AF+MF
- Compatible with AF assist (for Sony E-mount only)
- Super Multi-Layer Coating
- Water and Oil Repellent Coating (front element)
- Aperture ring
- Aperture ring click switch
- Aperture ring lock switch
- AFL button * Function available on supported cameras only. Available functions may vary depending on the camera used.
- Focus Mode switch
- Support for switching between linear and non-linear focus ring settings (for L-Mount only) * Function available on supported cameras only.
- Dust and Splash Resistant Structure
- Petal-type hood with lock LH782-03
- Compatible with SIGMA USB DOCK UD-11 (sold separately / for L-Mount only)
- Designed to minimize flare and ghosting
- 13-blade rounded diaphragm
- High-precision, durable brass bayonet mount
- Mount Conversion Service available
- Made in Japan
Download the data sheet
More on Sigma lenses for L-Mount
Full review by PC Mag UK
DPReview samples gallery
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If I remember correctly (a big assumption) the reason 50mm was considered the ideal starter, or only, lens was that the field of view was approximately the same as human vision from one eye. At least that is what my photo instructors stated.
The other references I remember are; the field of view for 85mm is approximately the same as the central vision for one eye, and 24mm has approximately the same field of view as human vision using both eyes.
PaulB
Oops! Another reason 50mm was the common “kit” lens was; they used fairly simple optical formulas that provided good image quality and they were relative inexpensive to make. So new photographers could get good images for a modest price.
PaulB
I agree that all cameras were sold with a 50mm lens as standard but many articles in. Magazines such as Amateur Photographer always questioned why 50mm was deemed to be the lens of choice. Until i could afford an alternative lens of course i used it. But then discovered to greater freedom of 35 and 70.
I was brought up in the nifty fifty days of film since the 70s. People also liked 35mm. People like what they like. My choice in prime focal lengths are 16mm, 18mm, 28mm, 50mm. 90 or 105mm, 200mm, 300mm. An individual makes choices based on subject and their artistic vision. My core artistic vision lens is 50mm and will accept 35mm as a backup choice as in the case of my amazing Fujifilm X100VI – I never purchased the Q3 because of the 28mm.
Luckily, we have lots of choice in the current photography environment.
Why does everyone think 50mm is a good objective i was brought up in teh good old analogue days on the assumption that 50mm was a compromise whereas 35mm and 70/75 were the goto lenses
Excuse me but in the world I lived in ( 60s to 70s up to mid 80s and even up to the introduction of the first Minolta AF lenses ) a 50mm lens, always an 1.7 or 1.8 or even an f2, was generally the first lens that most people fitted to their SLRs. Some Pros might have had an f1.4. 35mm was considered wide and was marketed as such.70 to 75mm as a go to lens? What? I don’t think even a Leica rangefinder user would have considered a 50mm a compromise.Many used this focal length as the standard. It was compact and fixed focal length cameras that generally had a 35 or 38mm.
I agree with your historical comments (i.e., “60s to 70s up to mid 80s”), but I disagree that a Leica rangefinder user would not have considered 50mm a compromise. I am a Leica rangefinder user, and from the 1960s right up to today, it is precisely because the 50mm focal length is a compromise that it has been my first choice of lens to start with, and usually my best choice of lens later on when I could carry only one. 50mm gives me at least some minimal reach when without 90mm or 200mm or longer, plus some minimal spread when without 35mm or 28mm or shorter—in other words, a best compromise.
It looks like a very wonderful addition to the l mount system. I would be preordering one if I was still in the L mount system but I had to move to M43 due to health issues.