Other: Sigma 50mm Art or Metabones Speedbooster for Nikon 28-70

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AMcBroom

Member
I'm caught between these two options to try and get a shallower DOF at mid range.

Does anyone have any experience using the Nikon / Metabones combination? I already own the Nikon lens. I realise that the 50mm Art will be a little faster at f1.8 but fixed at about 70mm. I already have the Sigma Art 18-35 which is utterly fantastic.

I use a Sony FS7 and an FS5 if that adds to the complications, which I don't think it will.

Thank you.
 
I have the Sigma 50 1.4 non-ART lenses in both Canon and Nikon mount.

They are excellent lenses- a very big chunk of glass, with a nice focus ring that is easy to use manually. Especially on a crop camera, I would save the money and buy the older 50 mm 1.4. They run about $300 used, or a little less- $270.

The Sigma 50 mm's are my portrait lenses. I have a Nikon D5300 and a Canon 7DII. I just sold my Nikon D750 because I couldn't adapt to teh ergonomics after 5 months.

I have been using my Nikon version on a Samsung NX500 with a $16 adapter that stops down the internal iris on the lens. I am very happy with the lens on teh NX APS-C sensor. At that price, you can add the Metabones Nikon Speedbooster and have both for the cost of the ART lens. That will give you an extra focal length- with and without the Speedbooster. Along with an even faster wide open aperture, or a faster stopped down aperture.

+++

I also have the Sigma 17-50 2.8 OS in a Nikon mount. That has been my standard zoom on my D5300. It is a fantastic lens for the price- about $310 in the US as a direct import from Japan on eBay. I bought mine about 18 months ago from wintokyo, instead of buying a 24-70.

DxO rated the 17-50 as the sharpest standard zoom on the Nikon D7100 at 14 MP. I am just guessing, but I expect it would be a much better lens than the older Nikon 28-70, and it would keep you in the Sigma glass. The sharpest zooms overall on the D7100 were the Sigma 50-150 2.8 OS and the Nikon 70-200 4.0, (an excellent lens, slightly better than the 70-200 2.8 VR II) at 17 MP.

Good luck!
 
SpeedBooster...always.

My reason:
You don't want "just a faster lens" because almost all lenses have their performance drop off at their widest aperture. Nearly every lens ever made gets a bit better stopped down one-stop. Almost always better still stopped down two-stops.

So what this is telling us is that an f/2.0 lens by itself probably won't perform as well as another f/2.0 lens that has been stopped down to f/2.8 and then brightened back up one-stop by the speedbooster. Follow me?
Favor the solution that allows you to use a lens stopped down by at least one-stop...whether that's by using a speedbooster or by adding more light.

Obviously 'some' lenses are THAT GOOD all the way open... but that is very very few lenses.
 
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