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November 12, 2008
[ SETTING NEW STANDARDS ]
We’ve said it before and no doubt we will say it again, when it comes to lenses there is nothing as sweet as a well-developed prime (fixed focal length) lens.
There is a zap and punchiness of picture taken with prime lenses that ordinary zooms, affordable by mortals, cannot match. Without the compromises in image quality that zoom mechanics and complex optics demand the mechanically simple primes generally have better resolution and contrast that results in sharper images.
We have been having a happy time in the company of two exceptional prime lenses – the Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM and the Tokina F2.8 35mm AT-X Pro DX macro. The Sigma is for use on either full frame DSLRs or with the reduced size APS sensor used on most consumer DLRs, and the Tokina is for APS-C sensor cameras.
The Sigma is a beautifully made, massive lens with a very fast ring-type ultrasonic focusing motor. It can be used on the entry level Nikons that do not have in-body focus drives. It has a RRP of $750, so it is more expensive than the competing lenses from Nikon and Canon.
[Portrait taken with Sigma lens on a Nikon D300]
The Nikon/Canon equivalent lenses are of fairly old design, made originally for use on film cameras. The Sigma is a totally new design, using complex glass mouldings that practically eliminate distortion and various aberrations that lesser lenses suffer from.
The angle of view is that of a 50mm lens on the full frame cameras and approximately equivalent to 75mm on APS sensors. We found it an ideal lens for portraiture even if it is a little shorter than we would normally use.
Sigma have paid attention to some fine details in the design of this lens. For instance the diaphragm is as close to a perfect circle as it can be made and this results in very smooth, attractive out-of-focus backgrounds (known as “bokeh”).
The Tokina (RRP $800) takes a different approach. It has an angle of view approximately the same as 52mm on full frame – in other words on an APS sensor camera this is what we would once have called a “standard” lens with what we also called a “normal” angle of view.
[Portrait taken with the Tokina lens on Nikon D300]
Tokina doesn’t have a focus motor so it would be strictly manual focus on an entry Nikon. However, on other DSLRs it is fully automatic. And it uses Tokina’s push-pull clutch ring to change quickly from auto to manual focus.
This lens is a macro, focusing to 1:1. Manual focus, which we used often while taking pictures of the native flowers which are everywhere in abundance right now, is smooth and well damped.
These lenses are magnificent. Mount one of them on your camera and zoom with your feet and you will enter a new (or old, actually) world of sensationally sharp and brilliant images.
Posted by terry at November 12, 2008 10:25 PM
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Comments
The Tokina 35mm is a crop sensor lens isn't it?
Posted by: Tim at November 14, 2008 03:19 AM