Sigma 50-150 mm f/2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM review - Image resolution

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Sigma 50-150 mm f/2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM

13 February 2013

Arkadiusz Olech

4. Image resolution

The resolution test of the Sigma 50 –150 mm f/2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM was based on RAW files from the Canon EOS 50D. The maximum MTF values of the best lenses, tested on that camera, reach 51-53 lpmm. The decency level is situated near 34-35 lpmm. Let’s see how the tested Sigma compares here. The graph, presenting its performance in the frame centre at 50, 100 and 150 mm, is shown below.

Sigma 50-150 mm f/2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM - Image resolution

To tell you the truth I didn’t expect such results in a zoom lens test. At the maximum relative aperture the Sigma reaches simply sensational values of 46-50 lpmm. After stopping down to f/4.0 – f/5.6 the MTF increase to 52-54 lpmm. To realize how sensational these results are you can go back to the test of the Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro. It is one of the sharpest lenses we’ve ever tested and that’s why we often use it as a litmus test of a kind. If you compare the Sigma’s 50-150 mm OS performance at 100 mm you can find that the zoom Sigma fares actually a bit better than the fixed focal Canon lens, optically brilliant! I think there is nothing to add.

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How does the situation look at the edge of the frame? You can find out glancing at the graph below.

As you see once again the lens can only be praised. The differences between particular focal lengths are a bit bigger than in the frame centre but even the 150 mm focal length, performing the worst, at the maximum relative aperture can provide MTFs near 40 lpmm so the image there will be of good quality. What’s interesting the best focal length – 100 mm – once again is better than that of the Canon 2.8/100L IS Macro. Incredible!

At the end of this chapter we present a crop of our testing chart photo, taken from JPEG files which were saved along with RAW files, used for the analysis above.