The Sigma Difference

I have been trying to bring the normal Uncle Dick cynicism to bear on the products of the Sigma Corporation of Japan. You understand it is not just native meanness on my part - though there is a great deal of that - but a cocked eyebrow and sidewise squint often helps me to see further into a design than wide-eyed acceptance.

I think this would have been more successful with their lenses ten years ago. The earlier devices from Sigma were aimed at a different market, and you could tell by looking.  Oh, the optical performance of the glass was good, and the value for money was there, but the appearance and design of the barrels and the firmaments was a bit problematical.

The external finish in those days was a sort of a plastic crackle coating - I'm not sure if it was a paint or a texture pressed into the components. It did have a certain charm, but if you started to use the lenses extensively and were not careful how you packed them you could find it wearing smooth at noticeable points. Don't stop the lenses from working but did bother some people.

Of course, this did not affect the optical design departments and they came up with ever more useful combinations of focal length and resolution. I myself whacked out real cash for an 8-16mm DC lens for the Nikon mount and found it was the best thing since sliced bread for interior shots. It also paid its way with large group shots at weddings, but as with all extreme wide angles, you had to make careful disposition of the people on the edges of the group - otherwise they got pumpkin faces.

So, where are we now. Not cynical at all, actually. Sigma must have decided to make a clean sweep of their external designs when they brought out their new A, S, and C lenses. The one you see on the heading is he 50mm f:1.4 DG HSM A lens - in this case in the Nikon mounting. of course you can get, Sigma, Canon and Sony mounts as well, so don't change the dial. It is intended for pro DSLR use.

That's evident from the MTF figures - the DP Review testing of it is quite remarkable. The sharpness of the resolution wide open is the thing that will rivet many of the potential buyers - couples with a full-frame camera this would be the perfect portrait lens in low available light conditions.

You pay for it, however, in the weight of the lens, and you bear that weight because Sigma have used top level components in the barrel. The old crackle finish has been left behind and then new sleeker surfaces should stay pristine even when going in and out of a camera case frequently. The level of finish on the mount  is also remarkable - no poorly polished nickel plating back there. Quite frankly it is the kind of finish you would expect on the best lockwork of bespoke shotguns or Swiss watches.
It is the sort of attention to detail that allows the manufacture to back up a two-year warranty without fail.

You'll also notice the engraved "Made In Japan" on each Sigma lens. They do, and they use their own components too. Make what you will of the national pride in the cameras and lenses, it does mean that you are getting good value for your money.

See the Sigma range in store at 230 Stirling St, Perth or at http://www.cameraelectronic.com.au/sigma

A Year Later - The Cold Wash Up For The New Lens - And It's A Hot One

About a year ago I posted a column about the Fujifilm 27mm EX 2.8 mm lens I had just bought. I speculated that it would be a useful addition to the menagerie of glass I keep. I didn't know the half of it.

For the last 40 years we've been accustomed to thinking of standard prime lenses as wide-aperture affairs. Ever since the 50's we have clapped lenses onto our cameras with maximum apertures of f:2...f:1.8...f:1.4...f:1.2... If not a national obsession exactly, it has been the expected norm for a lot of natural-light shooting. People make careers of portraiture at maximum aperture - particularly if their clients are older, richer, wrinklier, or have hairy ears. You can hide a multitude of sins in back of a shallow depth of field...

Yet...every camera maker worth their multicoating has always had a standard length lens that has a smaller aperture - frequently combining this with some other useful feature like compact size or collapsibility. It has also usually cost less than the low-light lens. And frequently had better peripheral resolution. The only disadvantage for most of the film era was the fact that it had less bragging power than the f:1.4 version...

But it could be superb. I took years of tourist shots and weddings with the 50mm f:2.8 collapsible Elmar on the M2 Leica - and a lot of working shooters did too. It was the photographic equivalent of a .303 SMLE...and quieter.

Well, the 27mm Fujinon lens is in the same class. Small - look at the profile picture of the lens:

Simple. Only one ring turns - the manual focus ring. Lightweight. Fast. Precise. And of a focal length that can be turned to most tasks in street, social, or studio photography on the appropriate Fujifilm X series camera.

I use mine to take studio portraits:

I also haunt Camera Electronic beer-and-new-camera nights to gather reportage pictures:

It records all the little details of modelling projects:

And cars at shows:

It goes on holiday to the art galleries:

And sometimes it has adventures that it doesn't even tell me about:

I shall leave speculation on the last picture to the viewers - I know I am puzzled - but I would point out the interesting detail in the next-to-last one...the gentleman capturing the picture of the lady is using a mobile phone while a perfectly good Canon DSLR is hanging from his left shoulder.

Sigh...

Eyeing The Fish On Dry Land

There have been a number of photographic equipment manufacturers in the past who have made what are termed "fisheye" lenses. I can recall seeing examples from Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Tokina, and Rokinon in my time at the shop. Doubtless there have many others - even down to Saga or Spiratone who made a fisheye adapter that we all bought in the 35mm era.

Did I include Sigma in that list? I should have, because they have made a number of these...and this week we have one to play with in the studio.

It is a 10mm f:2.8 DC version that is intended for use on an APS-C sized Nikon. I'm testing it by means of a Kindai adapter and a Fujifilm X-E2 camera. This is not as cumbersome as you might think - the adapter has an aperture control ring that allows you to make exposure changes on Nikon G lenses. It is not marked with conventional stops...it has 0 to 7 on the control ring but you quickly learn to count down from whatever the maximum aperture is and anyway a check of the LCD screen shows you whether you are on the right track. Fortunately the Fujifilm X-E2 has a provision in its control menu that lets you see clearly through the finder or on the screen even if you are stopping down. You can watch the DOF advancing as the numbers climb.

So, what do you use a fisheye lens for, anyway? I have no blessed idea. I never did know, even when I had the Spiratone fisheye lens screwed on the front of a Pentax 55mm Super-Takumar. I did the obligatory big-nose picture of a friend and made the headlight assembly of my old Renault 10 loom out of the picture - like I had seen in the photo magazines of the time - and then ran out of ideas. Doubtless if I had had occasion and permission to shoot straight upwards inside the Dome of St. Peter's in Rome or St. Paul's the view of the lens would have been invaluable.

Likewise I can see it as a novel establishing shot for any other imposing environment - church, cathedral, cavern, missile silo, etc should the opportunity present itself. Or produce and image that is hip, funky, swinging, or whatever the buzz word would laud, in other circumstances. A bold advertising photographer might record a product photo using one, but would have to be fast on the feet to sell it to the art director and the client - generally they tend to favour undistorted views of their sales items.

Landscape? Well, yes, but you do get to a point where the wide but distorted view becomes repetitive. Likewise use during sporting events or crowd affairs. Once seen, a fisheye picture impresses itself on the memory in such a way that it is really unnecessary to do again.

But. But. But...

But that impression can be as essential to making a visual point as a punctuation mark can be to a written description. It is not the period, nor comma of visual punctuation - it is the exclamation mark! In some cases it is several of these!! AND THE NEXT SENTENCE IN CAPITALS!!!!

You can't write a letter or email like that all the time, but you can wake up the reader occasionally with something unexpected. That's the fisheye lens.

Note: Apparently it is possible to use these lenses to construct virtual reality images but the computer has to do a great deal of electronic heavy lifting in some cases to cope with the distortion evident at the edges of the images. Be warned.

Step On The Gas And Get That Glass

Day 3.

You've got the filter and the memory card and the tripod and the bag and the camera body. Now at last you can get the lens and take some darned pictures!

March Madness moves amongst the lenses today. It's Wednesday the 23rd and all day they'll be selling selected lenses for all sorts of camera mounts at discounts ranging from 13% off to 45% off.
You don't get that sort of thing haggling in the vegetable markets...

Lenses from Leica, Nikon, Fujifilm, Canon, Mitakon, and Olympus are on offer.

In-store, in stock only. Bring your card and get the optic that you have been hanging out for.

Come And Fiddle With The Sony Cameras - Make A Little Photographic Music!

Rental Man and Rental Girl - aka Thomas and Evelyn - have activated the Rent-Signal for the photographers of Perth. Flashing above the skyline, it has signalled the availability of some of the most sought-after Sony full frame gear.  Now you can try the new mirror-less system and see if it will be your future!

The stocks avaiable for rental include the following:

Sony A7s Mk II body

Sony A7r Mk II body

35mm Zeiss lens.

70-200mm lens

28-135mm lens

90mm macro lens

16-35mm lens

24-70mm lens

55mm Zeiss lens

Metabones adapter for Canon mount

Come on down to the RentCave ( the back counter at 230 Stirling Street ) and bring your credit card and identification - let Rental Man and Rental Girl put you out on the street with Sony's finest.

Nananananananana. Nananananananana. Rental Man!

Email - rentals@cameraelectronic.com.au 

Day 6 - Panasonic Steps To The Cash Back Plate

Well, the 12 days of Christmas are swinging along pretty well. On Wednesday the 16th of December the Panasonic micro 4/3 fans get their chance to touch the money.

There are a number of items on offer well under their normal price and in some cases they are also bolstered by $ 150 cash back offers from Panasonic themselves. This makes them very good purchases indeed. Look at these:

DMC-GX8 camera body for $ 949...

DMC G7 body plus 14-42mm f:3.5-5.6 II ASPH lens for $ 599

Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm f:1.7 ASPH lens for $ 649, get $ 150 back = $ 499

Panasonic Leica D Summilux 25mm f:1.4 ASPH lens...again pay $ 649, get $ 150 back = $ 499

Panasonic Lumix G Leica Nocticron 42.5mm f:1.2 lens pay $ 1740, get back $ 150 = $ 1590

Panasonic Lumix G 7-14mm f:4 lens pay $ 1149, get back$ 150 = $ 999

Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f:2.8 lens pay $ 949, get back $ 150 = $ 799

Panasonic H Lumix G X Vario 35-100mm f:2.8 ASPH lens pay $ 1149, get back $999

The GX8 and G7 can very well be the all-purpose go-to cameras for every traveller or family shooter here in Perth, with the added incentive of some pretty zippy video work. Unbutton your purse, Mortein the moths, and get down to the shop for  a good buy before it is goodbye.

Image: Tokyo with a Panasonic GX7 camera

Another Three Arrows In Your Mirror-less Quiver

The advent of the Olympus and Panasonic mirror-less cameras - the micro 4/3 system - has seen some amazing lens performance from the two manufacturers. Each have unique focal length and aperture combinations as well as shared equipment. There are special features abounding , yet there is one thing in common between them - a common mount and operation.

Now there is a third alternative - another exclusively Japanese manufacturer has taken options on the mount design and operations - Sigma is in the game.

And in a good way. Sigma is making three micro 4/3 lenses in prime form that are proving to be superb in terms of resolution and colour performance. The new " Art " design for the barrels is very smooth and sleek and they all have the feel of quality in the focussing.

We've tested them here on our cameras and our Olympus expert, Gavin, has had a chance to go head-to-head with equivalent Olympus lenses. Even he is impressed.

I am hoping that they also take up options for Fuji X mount and fill in with these focal lengths. I use a Sigma currently on an APS-C DSLR and am more than happy with the performance.