The following images were taken with the Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX DG HSM on a D800. Each image was recorded in RAW and converted with Lightroom 4.4 at Camera Standard settings. Reduction of lateral CA is ON, Noise-reduction is set to 0, sharpening to 70/0.5/36/10. Apart from WB no extra tone-, color-, or saturation-adjustment was used. You can click on each image to access the large original. Please respect our copyright and only use those images for personal use.

The first shot should give you an impression of the bokeh that this lens can produce wide open. The 50% crops are from the foreground, the sharpest point, and the background in the overall image and demonstrate the rendering of out-of-focus elements at closer distances (approximately 1.3m). Both foreground and background look pretty smooth.

Books: Bokeh shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f1.4 on a D800
Main image and all 50% crops: 50mm, f1.4, 1/60 sec, 100 ISO
foreground, f1.4, 100 ISO		center, f1.4, 100 ISO		background, f1.4, 100 ISO

Putto: shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f1.4 on a D800
Main image and all 100% crops: 50mm, f1.4, 1/1000 sec, 100 ISO
f1.4, 100 ISO		f1.4, 100 ISO		f1.4, 100 ISO

.A close-up shot reveals the performance of the Sigma lens at around 60cm. It was shot at f5.6 to have enough dof at this magnification and produces nice details.

Ship model: shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f5.6 on a D800
Main image and all 100% crops: 50mm, f5.6, 1/4 sec, 100 ISO
background, f5.6, 100 ISO		center, f5.6, 100 ISO		foreground, f5.6, 100 ISO

The following shot shows (again) that bokeh is pretty smooth but you can see green outlining at f1.4 around the white flowers in the background: a result of longitudinal CA.

Flowers: shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f1.4 on a D800
Main image and all 100% crops: 50mm, f1.4, 1/60 sec, 100 ISO
background, f1.4, 100 ISO		center, f1.4, 100 ISO		foreground, f1.4, 100 ISO

Some green outlining in the background is also visible in larger distances at f2.8 as the following shot demonstrates:

Pillars: shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f2.8 on a D800

Main image and all 100% crops: 50mm, f2.8, 1/1000 sec, 100 ISO

Art: shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f1.4 on a D800
Main image and all 100% crops: 50mm, f1.4, 1/250 sec, 100 ISO
f1.4, 100 ISO		f1.4, 100 ISO		f1.4, 100 ISO

The following shot at f1.4 demonstrates that the center is of excellent sharpness already but the DX image circle does need some stopping down to achieve the same performance.

Castle: shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f2.8 on a D800

Main image and all 100% crops: 50mm, f2.8, 1/400 sec, 100 ISO

A nice shot to judge background and foreground Bokeh which is pretty satisfying.

Schoener Brunnen: shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f1.4 on a D800
Main image and all 100% crops: 50mm, f1.4, 1/2000 sec, 100 ISO
background, f1.4, 100 ISO		center, f1.4, 100 ISO		foreground, f1.4, 100 ISO

The following night-shot is a good test for coma. The crops show the effect from the right border at various apertures. To avoid the effect you need to step down to f4.

Landscape: night shot with Sigma 50/1.4 at f1.4 on a D800
Main image 50mm, f1.4, 1.3 sec, 100 ISO
f1.4, 1.3 sec, 100 ISO		f2.0, 1.6 sec, 100 ISO		f4.0, 8 sec, 100 ISO

For more examples check out all my high-resolution Sigma 50mm f/1.4 sample images.