Sigma 18-35 Art Lens Focus Issue Update and Q&A
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- A little over a year and thousands of photographs later, I give an update on my Sigma 18-35mm focus issues. I also answer your frequently asked questions.
Link to printable focus test chart:
2.bp.blogspot.c...
Link to Sigma Optimization Pro Software:
www.sigma-glob...
Sigma USB Dock I purchased on Amazon (not an affiliate link) www.amazon.com...
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If you have any questions or comments leave them in the comment section and I'll reply.
Thanks for watching,
Todd
Thanks for this. I bought this lens for my Nikon D7500 and was super excited to use it after reading all the massive love that it had received from photographers. I had the same problem with the autofocus being soft. E V E R Y now and then I'd get a decent shot, but mostly I've just stopped using it cuz I felt like I couldn't depend on it, given the hit or miss randomness of the autofocus. Brutally disappointing given a) the price I paid for it; and b) what a high quality lens it's reputed to be. After watching this video I put it on a tripod and did a couple of self-portraits comparing regular autofocus and switching to live view autofocus (both using a cable release). The difference was shocking. Liveview images were tack sharp and the non-liveview images had the same overall softness I've been experiencing. Took it off the tripod and tried various shots of inanimate objects, again comparing liveview with optical view, and then, suddenly it seemed like both were sharp. Am I losing my mind? Did the liveview experience (I never use liveview) 'teach' the lens to focus better? Is that even possible?
Hey Ruby Gold 👋! That is crazy! LOL. And check this out, on a mirrorless camera I haven't had any issues. Always tack sharp focus. I'm not sure what's going on but you have to admit, when it's in focus, the images from this lens are awesome. I'm happy you got it working on your end and thanks for the comment! 👍
@@iamToddNorris sadly - it did not last
Hoping that maybe a firmware update might make a difference
@@rubygold5533 oh no!!!! Sadly a firmware update probably won't be coming this far along in its life cycle. I think the last one Sigma released was a couple of years ago. It was when the Canon eos R was released.
@@iamToddNorris I meant for my Nikon d70 500. I thought maybe it might help with the camera talking with the lens but sounds like maybe you don't think so?
Very helpful. Thank you! I’m using it with a EOS90D. The live view solution works perfect.
Hey JBM 👋! That's awesome and thank you.
I’ve experienced this on my 90D as well. Exactly as described, TTL viewfinder only, intermittent, soft field. Going to try the latest firmware. Thanks for posting.
Hey Carl! Thanks for the comment. Let me know how it goes with the update and your 90D.
iamToddNorris, I checked and my lens is already at v2.02 release, so I will move on to old school calibration to see if I can improve my keep ratio when shooting via optical viewfinder. I’m hoping also that Sigma sees the popularity of the 90D as a reason to address this problem with another update, as 2.02 is about one year old.
@@CarbideGames Oh no. Well good luck man. If I hear anything about an update or a fix I'll post a video.
Great video. I am in the market for that very same lens, so I am trying to understand the issues beforehand. The fact that live view does not produce the issue makes me hopeful the lens will work fine with mirrorless cameras - they basically operate in live view 100% of the time. Keep up the good work.
Hey Iko Knyphausen 👋! Thank you and yes, you are correct. Also, the last firmware update sigma released for this lens was about its capability with the eos r (mirrorless) .
Sad to hear this. I had issues with this lens in 2017 and eventually gave up. Sold it on ebay. But I still think about it a lot!
Hey Phillip 👋! I know, right? I still use it for b-roll and shots with liveview. 👍
For me, ive never had the ENTIRE image go soft, but it did severely misplace the focal point in any number of random amounts and directions.
my current suspicion is that the Phase detect sensors are picking up on something strange coming from the light the lens is spitting out and occasionally misses the visible light focus
Hey Maverick 👋! You could be on to something. Although I've never had this issue with other lenses. At this point I've just moved on to other lenses for photography and I only use this one for video, which it excels at, without issue.
I got this lens used,. Then got a new USB dock. I am using this on a Nikon D500. I tried using Nikon's built in Autofocus fine tune feature and it consistently comes back with a rating of 0 (which is the default setting.) Then I purchased Reikan FoCal and ran the camera+lens through the focus test. It recommended a +10 setting. When that adjustment was made, the sharpness factor has improved. I wonder if FoCal makes other adjustments other than just recommend an autofocus fine tune setting?
I mainly got this lens for its ability to shoot video as the glass in the lens is not unlike Cinema lens glass and configuration. In fact, Sigma reissued this same lens but in a Cinema style format. Thus far, I haven't run into an all-blurred issue or even the off center focus issue. I did try to replicate the off-center issue, but I suspect the auotfocus capabilities in the D500 were more than a match.
I will keep this lens because when it does shoot photos, they are SUPER sharp! Sharper than any other Nikkor lens I have, even after calibration!
Hey Falcon! Thanks for the comment and sharing your experiences. I love this lens for video too. There's nothing else like it for apsc cameras. 👍
All my Sigma lenses need AF callibration with the usb dock and the 18-35 is no exception. When correctly callibrated this lens is sharp wide open. Focus accuracy is also good, I have seen many nikon lenses doing worse.
Thanks so much for the follow up, I was struggling with trying to calibrate my lens, but like you said it wasn't front or back focusing. The whole image was just soft and fuzzy, and RANDOM! I was about to sell my lens, but I'll give the dock a try, and since I have a shoot today, I'll try live view to work around on my 70D. I'm kinda falling in love with the live view features anyway.
Thanks Martin. Let me know how it turns out. Hope you get some great shots! 📸👍
@@iamToddNorris shots came out clean and sharp using live view.
I am having what i believe is the same issue on my canon 80D paired with sigma 18-35 mm lens. But it almost never autofocuses well whenever I’m taking videos where the subject is further away. As a RUclips creator, this is very frustrating because so much of my B-roll looks grainy and blurry. Which i believe is simply because my camera never focuses on the right subject. When i do sit down talking videos, it always focuses well on my face and i have no issues. It’s only when the subject is further away, such as when shooting b-roll or videos where I’m sitting further away, where this is an ongoing issue. Any advice? I don’t know what to do.
Hey Safe Space with Sierra 👋! I've had this issue before too. It's not specific to this lens, it has to do with how the camera's auto focus works. The smaller the subject, the more difficult it is to track. Sometimes I can try to work the position of the camera to where the background is a lighter or brighter color than the subject or make my subject brighter than the background. The autofocus likes to use contrasting pixels to lock on. Your only other options are to make the subject bigger or use manual focus. Hope this helps.
Hi sir. Does this only happen when using af? I think i have this issue but only use mf
The lens is great i switch to mirrorless on nikon and the focus was still off in eyeAF decided to sell it since the 17-55 f2.8 is cheaper and suit my needs, i can always get primes to fill in the F1.8 gap
Hey RandomVideoProduction 👋! Sorry to hear that, but at least you found a good alternative! I've been using the Sigma on my m50 mirrorless for b-roll without issue. Haven't used it for photography yet though.
Thanks for the comment! 👍
I got an 18 to35 definitely because I fell into the prime lens trap I was taking pictures and recording videos until one day I realized I had a couple thousand dollars worth of lenses that I only used for one thing so when I found the 18 to 35 for $500 even I grabbed it to replace my 12 mm F2 my my 24 mm My 28 mm 1.8 in my 35 mm F2 IS usm and I noticed a while the focus is twice as slow it’s worth it in every way because it got me close enough to all of those lenses without cost nearly as much as the 35
Hey Justin 👋. I was thinking the very same thing just yesterday. It's why I don't use my 24mm or 35mm primes much. Even though the sigma is heavier, you don't have to keep changing lenses to get a different look.
I also have same issues with this lens on my 80D. Even i try to calibrate using sigma usb dock. I consider sell this lens and my 80d for upgrade to fullframe camera.
Hey Ramdho! I mostly use this lens for video without issue. I shoot a lot of bird photography so aps-c helps with that. If not, I'd go with full frame too. Although it's quite expensive. Canon does sell the rp for cheap but most of those rf lenses are 2k or more each. Hopefully they'll come out with some new budget friendly options. Thanks for the comment and stopping by. Cheers! 👍
I find my 18-35mm sigma to have slow focusing on my Nikon D7000. I noticed that the focus rings on other lenses such as canon, are ALOT looser when compared to Sigma. Sigma's rings have much more resistance by comparison. I wonder if that could also be one of the reasons for poor focus performance on this lens.
Hey 305👋. I'm not sure, sometimes I think the glass it's moving to aquire focus is so heavy it doesn't make the final position but I'm just speculating. When I'm in live view I have no issues, but I would assume, in this mode, the focus motor is constantly being sent a signal to move the glass. When you're using the optical view finder it only send the signal to focus once on the half press of the shutter button. Regardless, I love this lens. It's limited to my b roll video shots these days. It's focus motor is too noisy for talking clips but even in my last video about water birds, I got a lot of cool video using this lens.
Cheers, and thanks for the comment 👍
i would assume that this lens works well with live view, because live view relies on contrast detection autofocus (which is more accurate) as apposed to the viewfinder which relies on phase detection autofocus (which is much faster).
in general, Sigma lenses are known to be terrible in autofocusing, unlike Tamron lenses, it is heartbreaking that a lens with such optical quality and construction would be useless for any type of action photography.
Hey Abdullah! You are right on all points! But I still love this lens. There's nothing else quite like it for crop sensor cameras.
I would assume that dark environment pictures have also issues due to this? (I use only live view, canon 250D).
@@lrmcatspaw1 Yes, in low light it's more difficult for all cameras to autofocus.
@@iamToddNorris unfortunate. Looks like a really good lens over all.
I have question my sigma 18-35 when in manual focus ring is very stiff? Is this is a problem or ordinary?
Hey archel 👋! Mine is too on this lens. I wouldn't say it's difficult to turn but stiff, like you said.
@@iamToddNorris I just saw other user there sigma focus is so smooth while mine is not, thank you
Wish I had known about this issue before purchasing.
Hey M. A. 👋. Sorry to hear that. Are you having the same issue?
@@iamToddNorris Hi Todd. Yes, more than half of the pictures I took at a wedding with it are soft.
@@m.a.3571 Ouch! It's so frustrating, I know. I've been able to work around it using liveview but shooting like that was just too weird and unnatural for me. I mostly use it for b-roll video now without issue. Which is sad because it produces a beautiful image when it works.
do you have any issues with the lens focusing on infinity, ie being un sharp for further away backgrounds?
Hey messylaura 👋. I've never had an issue with it. Sometimes the marker for infinity focus is off a tad but I have never had any issue focusing to infinity. Thanks for the comment 👍.
Hay I have canon 60 and using sigma 18-35 but having auto focus issue. Do I have to update the lens to fix the issue?
Hey Fahim! 👋 If your issue is consistent it will help. I'd recommend getting the USB mount and using their optimization pro software to calibrate the lens. It's a tedious process but if your lens is consistently missing focus its worth it. My issue is random and the entire image is soft, nothing is in focus when it happens. So calibrating the lens didn't fix my issue.
The 60d is a supported camera for this lens so you can always reach out to sigma support first and they'll answer any questions you have. 👍
Hope this helps.
I wonder how it’s going to work in my 90D and for how long? I don’t want to update because just now working perfect 👌!
Hey Chupeta! 👋 If it's working great I wouldn't worry about it. I noticed my issue early on. Thanks for the comment 👍!
Great video i got the Sigma for my Canon 77D and is your same issue ..... SOFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT i hate it ..... I will buy the Dock and see
Hey Manuel 👋! Thank you! Sorry you're having the same issue. Upgrading the firmware via the USB dock has helped some people. I hope it fixes your issue too. Let me know how it goes. 👍
@@iamToddNorris Disaster my friend, i but😰 the dock and is still with issues with focous, i had to return the lents, so sad ..... i have another Sigma Lents and there is not problems with this.
@@manuart1983 oh no! Sorry Manuel. I was hoping that would have fixed your issue. At least you were able to return your lens.
I have issues on my Canon T7
Hey Ale Salum 👋! Sorry to hear that.
I've been trying to find answers to the following question everywhere to no avail, I'm hoping that you could help me.
I recently purchased a sigma 18 35mm f1.8 Nikon F mount lens. I need to use this on my Sony a6500 body. I'm yet to find a good adapter for this. I only do video work so autofocus is very important for me. Can you please help me?
Hey English for Sri Lanka 👋! A company called Commlite makes most of the adapters for Nikon F to Sony E mount. The adapters have several different brands on the outside but all the internals are Commlite. I've never used them so I can't personally speak to their autofocus reliability for video. However, Matt Granger is the Nikon "Go to" guy on RUclips. He made a video testing a couple of these adapters. You can find the link below and if the video doesn't answer your specific question leave him a comment or reach out to him on social media. Hope this helps!
ruclips.net/video/_TIfdsrm9FI/видео.html
@@iamToddNorris Thank you Todd for taking the time to answer my question. You've earned yourself a subscriber.
@@englishforsrilanka2535 Thank you 🙏.
I bought this lens for the Eos M50 II to do fitness video. The sharpness is focus is terrible, much worse than a simple iPhone video. I have tried many different settings with AF and still no improvement. Any idea on how I could make it work?
Hey Nicolas👋! Sorry to hear that. There are a couple of things. You could try to close down the aperture to get a deeper depth of field or you could manually focus. The m50 has a setting to turn on called "focus peeking" which will highlight what's in focus when you turn off autofocus and turn the focus ring on the lens. It defaults to a red color but I changed mine to blue because it was easier for me too see. Personally, I've only had focusing issues with this lens in photography. It's always done a pretty good job in video. In your video's are you tracking a moving object like a face or body? Is the camera on a tripod or are both you and the subject moving?
@@iamToddNorris thanks Todd, I normally don't use any zoom but will check the aperture. Everything is on a tripod and I do video of myself about 4m away from the camera and full body so I need to work with AF. I run video in FHD 25fps in neutral picture mode. The sharpness is really bad and blurred especially when I pause the video.
I will try to get some help from someone to see how manual focus improve the image. Thanks
@@nauckland OK. Hope you get it sorted out.
@@nauckland Hey Nicolas, just curious, you said the video is really bad when you pause the video... When you scrub the video are any of the frames in focus or are they all out of focus? The reason I ask is because that's what video compression does. When there's movement in a video it takes the frame before it and the current frame and blends them together. This will make a frame look blurry if you pause on it. That's how IPB mp4 compression keeps the file size small. There is an ALL-i compression that doesn't blend frames but it's only on high-end cameras. Another way to get around this is to use a faster frame rate. You can shoot FHD 60 fps if you're in USA or 50 fps if your in UK. You'll still get some blending but it'll be less noticeable when the video is playing. Of course this all depends on if your issue is compression or the lens autofocus. Anyway, hope this helps.
@@iamToddNorris Hi Todd, the all image is out of focus and videos are done in 1080p as the 4K function on the M50 doesn't have AF. I do video myself on a tripod so nobody is being the camera but I tried today taking a video of someone and same results. I tried in 50fps but no improvement. As a need to be about 4m from the camera would a solution be to upgrade to the R50 in order to shoot in 4K with AF? Thanks a lot for your help, really appreciate it
Will it be okay to use this lens with Canon M50 ?
Hey Kishan 👋! Yes but you'll need the ef to ef-m adapter.
Is this the SLR or mirrorless version?
Hey kipling1957 👋. SLR.
I’ve got a double whammy, I’ve the the issue with the Canon 70D and this sigma art lenses. No wonder I’ve have so much problem
Hey roundlaker007 👋. Sorry to hear that. Maybe Santa will bring you a new camera 🙂 🎅. There should be some good deals after Thanksgiving.
I was about to Buy this lens ...now i have More questions !!!! Iam not a guy with money to burn...in fact Is a big sacrifice....mine is just a hobby...i have a 90d....just Buy the body,brand new...for save some money for the Sigma 18-35....
Hey 👋 betohs2121! It depends on what you're going to do with this lens. I use it mostly for video now without any issues.
I hope you can help me. 😊 I recently acquired a 1.8 18/25mm for Nikon. I just have a problem with this lens. The problem is that he always focuses on a face. And not what I want. This only happens with photos with a face on it. I take pictures of Man with fish in the A position of the camera. All settings are correct and the focus point is just where the fish comes. But the fish is always out of focus with this lens and my head is very sharp. I have already provided my camera with a new update (Nikon D5500). But the problem is not with the camera. If I use a 1.8 lens from nikon I don't have this problem. Do you know why the focus is always on a face when it's nearby? I hope you can help me
Hey Patrick 👋! I'm not familiar with Nikon cameras but does your camera have face tracking options?
Your D5500 has four different autofocus area modes for Live View: Wide-Area, Normal-Area, Subject-Tracking, and Face-Priority. Are you using Liveview? Do you have Face Priority turned on? What focus mode are you using?
@@iamToddNorris hi, i used the AF-A and i don't use livevieuw. When i use livevieuw then i can't do interval shooting
@@iamToddNorris normal area, and face-priority is off. Thats the problem. 🤣. Yesterday i send Sigms the same question maybe they have awnser for me.
@@pvanleur668 hopefully they'll have an answer for you. Sorry I couldn't have been more helpful. Without being able to physically see the issue, it's kind of hard to assess the situation.
I’m considering this lens for viewfinder shooting on my 80d. How often does it misfocus? 10% 25% of the time? Thx
Hey Anand 👋. It's completely random. I can go 500 shots or 1000 shots or 100 shots before it happens again. It's always 2 or 3 shots in a row when it does happen then the rest of the shots are fine. So if I'm using the optical view finder with this lens, I always over shoot and I only use it for personal projects. If I'm doing a professional gig and I have to use this lens, I use liveview. I've never had an issue with shots taken using liveview. Hope this helps and thanks for the comment.
@@iamToddNorris thanks for the reply. It wouldn’t be for professional use so I’m not under any pressure to nail every shot. But I’m just making sure that it’s not like every other shot that’s out of focussed.
How does the AI Servo viewfinder focus work with the lens?
@@anand-iyer on the 80d there isn't an servo mode for the optical viewfinder. It's in LiveView mode only and it works great. I use it for self portraits with a remote and I also use it for self video recording. The only issue I've had in this senerio is the lens has a loud focusing motor and gets picked up by the mic. I get around this by moving my Shotgun mic off the camera and closer to me, just out of frame. In LiveView mode the camera is using Canon's dual pixel auto focus and it works great with this lens.
Todd, I am trying to know if this problem is general in the sigma line up right? Now do you know if these problems go away with mirrorless cameras? Say if you were to adapt this on a mirrorless camera would this happen?
Why you don't you see this inconsistency in live view? TIA
Hey PyroblastM! 👋 I'm not sure why it's not a problem in LiveView. I've used this lens on my M50 but only for a test video for the FotodioX adapter. This lens is too big for mirrorless cameras. I'd recommend the sigma 16mm 1.4 for mirrorless. It's faster, smaller and less expensive.
@@iamToddNorris yeah, but have heard that the problem goes away with the mirrorless camera - so not sure can't test haven't got it.
@@pyroBlastM I would assume you wouldn't have the problem on mirrorless too. Unfortunately its not something you can easily test because it's not reproducible. It would take several months of shooting to be sure. On my dslr I've gone 500 shots between seeing the issue. Then I had the issue twice with 200 shots. If I'm shooting for myself that's not an issue but if I'm shooting for work I have to use Liveview or use another lens.
@@iamToddNorris so when you shoot for a client you use the live view or another lens, like native lens/own brand lens?
@@pyroBlastM Yes. The great thing about the sigma 18-35 is the ability to get a creamy background at 18mm and f1.8. If I'm shooting a product for a client, I can use the ef 50mm, step back and achieve the same effect. You can even use the ef-s 24mm and get some decent bokeh if you know what you're doing. What are you trying to accomplish with the sigma? What are you shooting? What camera do you have?
I'm having some focus issues with that lens at specific focal distances, when using 18mm the focus is wrong, but when I use 35mm the focus is ok, for example. I'm disapointed, I loved this lens and I never noticed this problem. I'm using old sony slt cameras, like A77 and A99. =(
Hey kabassa 👋. Sorry to hear that. If you get the USB dock and download the sigma software you can make adjustments to the focusing distances (calibration). You can also update the lens firmware which might help. I love this lens too and it bums me out with the focusing issues and also the loud focus motor noise when I want to use it for talking video shots. I used it a lot for b-roll in my latest video about water birds. I didn't have any issues but it's uses are limited. Thanks for comment 👍
@@iamToddNorris thanks for the reply,I bought the sigma focus calibrator, this has improved the lens autofocus considerably, but the lens remains inconsistent, the calibration process is tiring and the lens focus accuracy remains inconsistent, mostly between 0.7m and infinity, I tried to adjust this several times very calmly, maybe my lens is faulty.
Thanks anyway!
@@kabassa Well that stinks, but I understand. Thank you for the reply and sharing your experience. Hopefully it will help someone who has the same setup and problem.
question sir. my sigma 18-35 when in live view the photos were sharp. but then in viewfinder the photos were soft. I tried it with 2 cameras 800d and 750d and still the same soft view finder result. what would be the problem? thanks and Godbless
Hey Van! 👋 Sounds similar to the issue I'm speaking about in this video but mine is random. Have you tried using the "single point" focusing type when you're using the view finder? In liveview you're probably using subject tracking which is constantly setting the focus on what ever you touch on the screen. When using the view finder, the focus is set once on a half press of the shutter button. Try using the single point focus type. Hope that helps and God bless you too.
@@iamToddNorris tried it sir and yes single point gives sharper picture than other type of af. my lens is still not updated will the new firmware update somehow helps this view finder issue? I love taking pics in view finder bec the focus is faster but it still kinda feels like the live view is more dependable for sharper images.
@@vansinsay7214 well that's good news! As for the firmware update, some people have reported that updating the firmware helped them but for me personally, I didn't notice a difference. You can visit Sigma's website and view this lenses firmware update history at the link below. Click on the Canon EF tab and scroll down to the "history" section. They've released several updates to accommodate new cameras and bug fixes but I don't see anything listed for focusing issues.
www.sigma-global.com/en/lenses/a013_18_35_18/?tab=support&local=firmware
Hope this helps. 🙏
@@iamToddNorris thank you so much sir😃
last concern sir. I have these 2 bodies 750d and 800d. when I tried shooting on live view both cameras using 18-35 sigma. the 750d delivers sharp live view photos while 800d has soft results most of the time. what would be the problem sir? thank you in advance 😊
Would this lens work with a cannon rebel t6?
Hey Chevy Dog 👋! Yes it will. Just make sure you get the one made for canon mount.
im using nikon d3500 and sigma 18-35 art.. the image is not sharp ..
Hey Jeff Santos 👋. Is it every image? When I don't get the random issue this lens is one of the sharpest I've used. Mine gets softer at 35mm but at 18mm it's tack sharp.
@@iamToddNorris Yes sir.. I think it is because of the nikon body i am using nikon d3500. even if my apperture is 2.8 still not sharp image..
@@korokrunch ouch! That sucks. Sorry to hear that.
Did I get it right, that the autofocus issue isn't there when using live view? Cause I shoot on live view only... and also I've heard that the issue is no more once you use mirrorless, can anyone verify that?
Hey cinnimo! 👋 That is correct, I've never had the issue in liveview and I've never had it on my mirrorless canon M50.
Maybe someone else will verify that for you too. Anyone?
@@iamToddNorris good to know. I wanted to get a sigma 24mm 1.4 and a sigma 35mm 1.4 then I was torn wether or not I should get a zoom because I want to get into event photography maybe.. then I read about the focus issues... then I considered tamron... 🙄🙈. I now am gonna rent a tamron 24-70mm 2.8... now I'm considering the sigma again cause I only use live view anyway... man. So confusing. .
@@therealcinnimo what camera body do you have?
@@iamToddNorris canon eos sl3.. which is crop obviously. I would love to upgrade to the eos rp or so in maybe 2 years...
did you update with 2.02 firmware?
Hey Sujan! 👋 Yes I did. The 2.02 update for the Canon mount was released on February the 21st of 2019. Almost a year before I produced this video. The update mostly had to do with supporting the Canon EOS R camera. I haven't noticed any difference on my 80d. Still, it's one of my favorite lens.
iamToddNorris thank you . I will use your calibration . And will let you know . Thank you for your work . Really appreciated.
The only thing holding me back from buying this is the focusing issue it has
What do you plan on using the lens for?
iamToddNorris photos of my dogs and sports