I have focusing issues with my Sony a7iii when I zoom my 24-105 all the way in. I have to zoom out for the autofocus to engage the re-zoom. You’re the first to mention this type of issue so I’m keen hear what Sony says!
Aw, what a lovely dog! I've looked at quite a few wide lenses and the curved front element and therefore filter use has been a sticking point for me, but it seems that is how they can design the optics with such low distortion and minimal aberrations, so I've concluded that I can probably live with 24mm and longer for filter use, none of the other "bins" would bother me, there are probably ways to work around filter use with different filter systems, but I probably won't.
The images are ***beautiful***. Curious how you see this focal length working into your routine. When do you anticipate using the 20mm vs. your 85mm or 105mm? Can't wait to see where you go with this cool new piece of kit. :)
I'm guessing you are shooting at aperture priority? Not sure why you selected 1/650 sec with your ISO at 1000. Most cameras including yours have 0 issues shooting at 1K iso. I personally use continuous af..not the eye af as you noticed having some issues. You are correct its the camera body not the lens itself. Love your composition and thank you for reviewing this lens. Recently sold my Nikon 17-35 and I want to go with this 20mm to replace it. 🍻
Great review! I had focusing issues with both my Sigma lenses and had to buy the dock to fine tune, one was front focusing and the other back focusing. They're still not perfect and at certain distances are worse.
One thing I have noticed with your settings - you are always perfectly comfortable with what I always thought was a relatively high ISO. I think I might be out dated and I am coming round to the idea of popping up to 1k iso without a second thought. Certainly it allowed your shutter speed to remain where you needed it to be with handholding and the images - well they speak for themselves.
Jess, your videos just make my day! I always have a giggle when I watch them and I always come away knowing a tone more than I did. I've been researching wide-angle lens's and I was, literally about to ask you if you could recommend one... and hey presto! Still can't believe you do all this work and we don't have to pay for it. We love you! Keep staying safe xx
Unfortunately for me, my personal experience of Sigma has been utterly appalling. Five years ago, I purchased the 20, 35 and 50mm f1.4 arts and they have all let me down, I deemed every lens unreliable for professional work. Yes they are sharp, render bokeh well and look professional. However their reliability and trustworthiness over time faded dramatically. Back then, I owned 2 Nikon d800's, a D610 and a D5200. So there was plenty of testing across all the cameras to rule out camera issues. At a fireworks event the 20mm fogged up internally at the slightest whiff of humidity. It had to be rescued by my 24-70 Tamron which had no issue at all. At several Portait shoots the 50mm Art - the Af became "sticky" and I was lucky if I got 1/10 shots in focus. It had to be rescued by my Nikon 50mm 1.8g, again no issue after swapping . The 35mm was terrible at particular focal lengths. Within a year started to shake lose and every couple of months had it to be constantly re-calibrated with the USB docks. The lens had to be stripped down and thread locked. After that, I lost trust with using it for weddings. It worked well on my Z6 mirrorless system but the mental damage was already done by then. The Nikkor 35mm z weather sealing, lightness and portability won me over. Could someone really be that unlucky. You'd think at least one Sigma would be reliable. So sorry, your videos are absolutely wonderful but if someone mentions Sigma, my scars burn deep
Really loving Sigma lenses, but the issue with this lens (at least for me, who also shots video) is a large size and weight which is not optimal for gimbal use. If I were only shooting stills, it's a no-brainer. Stunning images, even right out of camera.
why iso 1k and shutter 1/400? at that focal length you could easily shoot at 1/100 and much loewer iso. If you camera have ibis you could even get away with 1/50s. Dog was static as well
Otherwise known as Chromatic Aberration, it's like annoying coloured edges to objects in the image. It's very very bad and noticeable in poor quality or entry level lenses, but we also can see it in high contrast situations at wide apertures. Adobe have done a good blog on it which can be seen here: www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/photography/discover/chromatic-aberration.html
Thanks for the video! I'm looking at the 20mm 1.8 but might need to reconsider.... One question: At the start you said you had to underexpose to retain the highlights but your meter said you were +2.0? The exposure looked good to me so I'm wondering which metering mode you were using?
Yes for sure, though I wouldn’t pay it too much attention here. I have the cameras set for highlight priority metering and on the Sony cameras, if you dial in a +2 or close to +2EV (or do it manually) you tend to have the best exposure across the image in raw files and you can retain all highlight detail along with the majority of the shadows. The highlight metering puts the highlights in the centre of the histogram, so if the EV read 0, the whole image would be a couple of stops underexposed. It’s very useful for video work though we don’t let it touch 2! I don’t pay a great deal of attention to the meter though - I work by eye on my screens/viewfinder most of the time 🤓
Wish I had a green ball like you have and my cats obeyed :) I have a feeling focus issue more lens The Sony 24 f1.4 or new 35f1.4 might do better Distance also might be issue. To close
I've had that lens for 2 years now - never thought of it as a possibility to shoot portraits or dogs... Cool, "new lens" and subjects to try out.... It is also fantastic for night sky, landscapes and similar.
Have you gotten to the bottom of the focus issue? My mum has a similar problem but my camera is just fine. We switched lenses and mine is still significantly better than hers.
Hi Jess, I have the A7Riii and also struggle with autofocus, although only mainly in action, for portraits it’s pretty good. I use the Sony 135mm GMaster and really struggle with any sort of action shots when the dogs are moving towards the camera it seems not to track particularly well. In good lighting it’s better but under the trees it’s pretty bad at keeping up with the dogs. Do you have this same issue with dogs in action? Just wondering whether it’s the camera or me!! Thank you.
Hmm great question! I’m not a regular action shooter but I’ve not had a lot of issues with it. The Sony 135 is lightening fast too, so no concern there. With my issue, I’ve don’t test shots for the Sony team that may be worth trying? Get a helper, a human, to stand still in good light. Use AF-C and eye af together for a head and shoulders shot, adequate settings for shake and light. Next, turn of eye af / face recognition and use the flexible spot small over the eye only (not nose), take a shot. Then, turn to AF-S and take another shot, still no eye af. Compare the three images. On mine, the middle one is completely out - like unusable bad. Can you try this and report back? Be careful to keep everything the same and still try as hard as possible to get good focus on the eye. I have a feeling the AF-C part of the system is damaged or broken, and that the eye af fine tunes it / overrides it to be correct, but in situations that eye af can’t handle (backlit, very fast action, low light, lack of contrast/features) the standard af-c gets it wrong? (Also check that your af-C tracking is set to the most responsive options - 1 and 5 I think?)
@@ThatPhotographySpot Thanks so much for the response, I’ll definitely give this a go and let you know as I think you’re on to something though, as before my experience with single shot is a lot quicker to acquire focus. Yes my tracking has been on 5 and changed my viewfinder refresh rate to the higher setting too. Is it best to reply via this comment? Thank you, Sam
Not that I’m pleased you’re having autofocus problems but this issue has been bothering me for a while so hopefully can figure out what’s going on. I was contemplating switching to an A9 but love resolution of the R3 and the files are so nice to play with raw settings. I didn’t want to switch if I was the problem and not the camera 😅
The focus on the images shot when the Eye AF went green but the scene was backlit are usually grabbed onto the back of Alfs head, so where the hair has sky between. We tested with Dan later and it did the same, the camera was just picking the point of highest contrast, not even in the square (point) or near the eye. Hit rate maybe 20%, if that! Shocking. I do not believe is is the lens at all, it wouldn't put me off adding this to my bag if I was after one 👌
@@ThatPhotographySpot ahhh! I think your 85mm is same as mine but with a Sony mount so it’s probably normal for the lens. I found my canon EF lens much more accurate when using the eye AF.
Wow I love wide angle lenses! This is amazing😍 Just a question, how did you get the eye so incredibly sharp. When I shoot, I put the focus 'rectangle' over the dog's eye and it is never as sharp as yours are. Although it could be that you have higher quality gear. Mine is all entry level😂🙈
I used to have an old one, it wasn't great! The newer sport models are good but I did have a one to one this morning with someone who shoots with a Tamron 70-200 2.8 and it produces LOVELY images!
Wow anything higher that ISO 250 messes my photos up completely on my D500 unless I'm right up in the models (dog) face, this basically means I can never shoot in even slightly darker lighting😩 so jealous 😅 Loved the review👍
Ah I used to have a D500 and to be honest I didn't think it was the worst cropped sensor camera I'd had - it dealt with noise really quite well. Are you underexposing your shadows quite a lot?
No, it's not the lens it's the camera my friend who shoot sony had the same problem, because of low light and the dog's black fur the camera struggles to focus. This is a well-known problem with sony it really needs good lights to focus.
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I have focusing issues with my Sony a7iii when I zoom my 24-105 all the way in. I have to zoom out for the autofocus to engage the re-zoom. You’re the first to mention this type of issue so I’m keen hear what Sony says!
I’ve been researching for a couple of weeks and I too have found very little - I’ll keep everyone updated for sure 🤓
Your skills as a photographer and content creator are a whole different level! 👍🏼
Wow, thank you Phil, so kind of you!
Aw, what a lovely dog!
I've looked at quite a few wide lenses and the curved front element and therefore filter use has been a sticking point for me, but it seems that is how they can design the optics with such low distortion and minimal aberrations, so I've concluded that I can probably live with 24mm and longer for filter use, none of the other "bins" would bother me, there are probably ways to work around filter use with different filter systems, but I probably won't.
This looks incredible. The pictures of Dan were also amazing. Seems like a perfect addition for your lens collection 😁👍
Yep for sure!!
Great lens review, but I what I'm really impressed by is how amazing the interaction between you and Alf is!
Ah he’s my teammate - he’s never far away 🥰
Really useful video... I have a 24mm 1.8 but this has given me some ideas on how to get more out of that.
Looking forward to seeing your future work 🤓
The images are ***beautiful***. Curious how you see this focal length working into your routine. When do you anticipate using the 20mm vs. your 85mm or 105mm? Can't wait to see where you go with this cool new piece of kit. :)
In the urban settings for sure and then also probably for off camera flash work too outdoors (“big sky”) 😊
Just got in to photography and got this lens on a great deal. After watching your video, I loved it even more! Greetings from Tijuana, Mexico!
Hey - welcome to the channel!
I'm guessing you are shooting at aperture priority? Not sure why you selected 1/650 sec with your ISO at 1000. Most cameras including yours have 0 issues shooting at 1K iso. I personally use continuous af..not the eye af as you noticed having some issues. You are correct its the camera body not the lens itself. Love your composition and thank you for reviewing this lens. Recently sold my Nikon 17-35 and I want to go with this 20mm to replace it. 🍻
you’re amazing! my inspiration 🤍
Ah that's so kind, don't forget how amazing you are though, inspire yourself!
I have the sigma 24mm art lens, love it. I haven’t really used it yet with dogs, but will be finishing my studio soon.
Ooh you should take it into the town!
Great review! I had focusing issues with both my Sigma lenses and had to buy the dock to fine tune, one was front focusing and the other back focusing. They're still not perfect and at certain distances are worse.
One thing I have noticed with your settings - you are always perfectly comfortable with what I always thought was a relatively high ISO. I think I might be out dated and I am coming round to the idea of popping up to 1k iso without a second thought. Certainly it allowed your shutter speed to remain where you needed it to be with handholding and the images - well they speak for themselves.
ISO 1000 makes no sense with a 1/400 shutter speed, 1/50 would do, and then ISO would be 125.
Jess, your videos just make my day! I always have a giggle when I watch them and I always come away knowing a tone more than I did. I've been researching wide-angle lens's and I was, literally about to ask you if you could recommend one... and hey presto! Still can't believe you do all this work and we don't have to pay for it. We love you! Keep staying safe xx
Lauren you’re too kind! So glad this video was helpful for you!!
Unfortunately for me, my personal experience of Sigma has been utterly appalling. Five years ago, I purchased the 20, 35 and 50mm f1.4 arts and they have all let me down, I deemed every lens unreliable for professional work. Yes they are sharp, render bokeh well and look professional. However their reliability and trustworthiness over time faded dramatically. Back then, I owned 2 Nikon d800's, a D610 and a D5200. So there was plenty of testing across all the cameras to rule out camera issues.
At a fireworks event the 20mm fogged up internally at the slightest whiff of humidity. It had to be rescued by my 24-70 Tamron which had no issue at all. At several Portait shoots the 50mm Art - the Af became "sticky" and I was lucky if I got 1/10 shots in focus. It had to be rescued by my Nikon 50mm 1.8g, again no issue after swapping . The 35mm was terrible at particular focal lengths. Within a year started to shake lose and every couple of months had it to be constantly re-calibrated with the USB docks. The lens had to be stripped down and thread locked. After that, I lost trust with using it for weddings. It worked well on my Z6 mirrorless system but the mental damage was already done by then. The Nikkor 35mm z weather sealing, lightness and portability won me over. Could someone really be that unlucky. You'd think at least one Sigma would be reliable.
So sorry, your videos are absolutely wonderful but if someone mentions Sigma, my scars burn deep
They're great on the Sony e-mount systems
for Sony e-mount system it is game changing
both sigma and tamron are like 95+% reliable for me
Really loving Sigma lenses, but the issue with this lens (at least for me, who also shots video) is a large size and weight which is not optimal for gimbal use. If I were only shooting stills, it's a no-brainer. Stunning images, even right out of camera.
Thank you for your kind words
why iso 1k and shutter 1/400? at that focal length you could easily shoot at 1/100 and much loewer iso. If you camera have ibis you could even get away with 1/50s. Dog was static as well
awesome video as always, just wondering whats fringing?
Otherwise known as Chromatic Aberration, it's like annoying coloured edges to objects in the image. It's very very bad and noticeable in poor quality or entry level lenses, but we also can see it in high contrast situations at wide apertures. Adobe have done a good blog on it which can be seen here: www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/photography/discover/chromatic-aberration.html
Thanks for the video! I'm looking at the 20mm 1.8 but might need to reconsider....
One question: At the start you said you had to underexpose to retain the highlights but your meter said you were +2.0? The exposure looked good to me so I'm wondering which metering mode you were using?
Yes for sure, though I wouldn’t pay it too much attention here. I have the cameras set for highlight priority metering and on the Sony cameras, if you dial in a +2 or close to +2EV (or do it manually) you tend to have the best exposure across the image in raw files and you can retain all highlight detail along with the majority of the shadows. The highlight metering puts the highlights in the centre of the histogram, so if the EV read 0, the whole image would be a couple of stops underexposed. It’s very useful for video work though we don’t let it touch 2!
I don’t pay a great deal of attention to the meter though - I work by eye on my screens/viewfinder most of the time 🤓
For videography would you say it's as good as a cine rockinon 24mm?
To be honest - we've never tried it so can't comment!
Good content. Thanks. I have the 35 art 1.4 and I love it on my canon. Might pop it on my Sony see how it goes.
Yes go for it 🤓
You inspire me everyday!! Keep up the good work. 😍 I’m young, but I want to be like you when I’m older 🥺❤️
That is so kind! Don’t try to be like anyone else though, there’s no one better to be than yourself 🙌
That’s really good advice!!
Wish I had a green ball like you have and my cats obeyed :)
I have a feeling focus issue more lens
The Sony 24 f1.4 or new 35f1.4 might do better
Distance also might be issue. To close
The same issue is occurring with any lens in the same situation on this camera body, so I do believe it is the body in this instance sadly!
great stuff - love your vids. makes me giggle how you do the bit about posting every week at the start in one breath :-)
I’ll try to say it faster every video just for fun 🤓😅
@@ThatPhotographySpot do it 🤣🤣
I've had that lens for 2 years now - never thought of it as a possibility to shoot portraits or dogs... Cool, "new lens" and subjects to try out....
It is also fantastic for night sky, landscapes and similar.
Yes for sure! If you shoot off camera flash work, it would be great for this also with pets 🤓
Great video as always !
Thank you 🙏
Are you editing this photos in Lightroom only or Photoshop too? Its looks amazing :)
Both :)
Have you gotten to the bottom of the focus issue? My mum has a similar problem but my camera is just fine. We switched lenses and mine is still significantly better than hers.
Hi Jess, I have the A7Riii and also struggle with autofocus, although only mainly in action, for portraits it’s pretty good. I use the Sony 135mm GMaster and really struggle with any sort of action shots when the dogs are moving towards the camera it seems not to track particularly well. In good lighting it’s better but under the trees it’s pretty bad at keeping up with the dogs. Do you have this same issue with dogs in action? Just wondering whether it’s the camera or me!! Thank you.
Hmm great question! I’m not a regular action shooter but I’ve not had a lot of issues with it. The Sony 135 is lightening fast too, so no concern there.
With my issue, I’ve don’t test shots for the Sony team that may be worth trying?
Get a helper, a human, to stand still in good light. Use AF-C and eye af together for a head and shoulders shot, adequate settings for shake and light.
Next, turn of eye af / face recognition and use the flexible spot small over the eye only (not nose), take a shot.
Then, turn to AF-S and take another shot, still no eye af. Compare the three images.
On mine, the middle one is completely out - like unusable bad. Can you try this and report back? Be careful to keep everything the same and still try as hard as possible to get good focus on the eye.
I have a feeling the AF-C part of the system is damaged or broken, and that the eye af fine tunes it / overrides it to be correct, but in situations that eye af can’t handle (backlit, very fast action, low light, lack of contrast/features) the standard af-c gets it wrong?
(Also check that your af-C tracking is set to the most responsive options - 1 and 5 I think?)
My grammar was appalling in that comment, I apologise!!
@@ThatPhotographySpot Thanks so much for the response, I’ll definitely give this a go and let you know as I think you’re on to something though, as before my experience with single shot is a lot quicker to acquire focus. Yes my tracking has been on 5 and changed my viewfinder refresh rate to the higher setting too. Is it best to reply via this comment? Thank you, Sam
Not that I’m pleased you’re having autofocus problems but this issue has been bothering me for a while so hopefully can figure out what’s going on. I was contemplating switching to an A9 but love resolution of the R3 and the files are so nice to play with raw settings. I didn’t want to switch if I was the problem and not the camera 😅
Yes please, that would awesome!
I don't even need this lens but now I'm convinced it's a necessity.😂
😂😂 I really like it! It's definitely staying 😂
Seems like It's gonna be a good edition to a street photography kit.
Absolutely!
Your In the Bins are better than my Wins. :-)
Fab saying isn't it :)
1:56 Why do you use 1/640 and ISO 1000 when your dog doesnt move? You can use 1/100 and ISO 320.
This is because the subject isn’t completely stationary and there will be movement.
Great video! Did you find you got front / back focus even though the focus was locked on to the eye? Or did it just not lock on?
The focus on the images shot when the Eye AF went green but the scene was backlit are usually grabbed onto the back of Alfs head, so where the hair has sky between. We tested with Dan later and it did the same, the camera was just picking the point of highest contrast, not even in the square (point) or near the eye. Hit rate maybe 20%, if that! Shocking. I do not believe is is the lens at all, it wouldn't put me off adding this to my bag if I was after one 👌
@@ThatPhotographySpot I found my 85mm does this a bit. Do all your lenses do it? Or just this one? X
The 85mm definitely also does this - I can't shoot backlit at all with it, but I'm going to retest them all against each other soon!
@@ThatPhotographySpot ahhh! I think your 85mm is same as mine but with a Sony mount so it’s probably normal for the lens. I found my canon EF lens much more accurate when using the eye AF.
Love the shot @ 5:32
Thank you 🙏
Wow I love wide angle lenses! This is amazing😍
Just a question, how did you get the eye so incredibly sharp. When I shoot, I put the focus 'rectangle' over the dog's eye and it is never as sharp as yours are. Although it could be that you have higher quality gear. Mine is all entry level😂🙈
It might be the equipment for sure! Are you using good light?
Thanks! Really useful 😀
I’m so glad!
Have you ever had the chance to try the sigma 70-200 f 2.8 ? If you have would you recommend it ?
I used to have an old one, it wasn't great! The newer sport models are good but I did have a one to one this morning with someone who shoots with a Tamron 70-200 2.8 and it produces LOVELY images!
@@ThatPhotographySpot great ! Thank you !
Wow anything higher that ISO 250 messes my photos up completely on my D500 unless I'm right up in the models (dog) face, this basically means I can never shoot in even slightly darker lighting😩 so jealous 😅
Loved the review👍
Ah I used to have a D500 and to be honest I didn't think it was the worst cropped sensor camera I'd had - it dealt with noise really quite well. Are you underexposing your shadows quite a lot?
Between sigma 20 and rf 24-105. Sigma is sharper and wider. . Canon is more versatile.
Tu utilises cet objectif sur un boitier plein format ou APS-C pour ce rendu ?
Oui, l'appareil photo est configuré pour utiliser la mise au point du bouton arrière et il s'agit d'un appareil photo sans miroir Sony plein cadre.
No, it's not the lens it's the camera my friend who shoot sony had the same problem, because of low light and the dog's black fur the camera struggles to focus. This is a well-known problem with sony it really needs good lights to focus.
I wanted to buy the Art 1.4 50mm but the prize 😭 I need to win the lotery first
The 105 breaks the bank!
I liked the video, altought i have nikon xd