prime lens ?

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Name
phil
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thinking on getting my first prime lens and i keep getting pulled to the sigma 30mm f1.4 has anybody used this lens if so what is your option on it
is it worth the money ?
ps i have a canon 40d
 
Phil I have the Sigma 50mm 1.4 and I love it for studio stuff where I want full length or half. If you're using the 30mm on a crop body it will do the same job but you might find it too wide if you want to get close up portraits.

Quality wise - I think they are worth the money - the Sigma 1.4 0mm seems to get better reviews than the Cannon 1.4
 
I had a Sigma 30mm 1.4 when I was using primes.

I loved it, was my most used lens on my crop sensor - wide enough but not too wide to distort, super sharp, super fast focus, brilliant wide open.

I sold it along with the canon 85mm 1.8 to be able to buy some longer zooms.
 
I've had the Sigma 30mm for my 40D for a while now, it's very rarely off the body and is my usual walkabout and general purpose lens. There's a couple of hundred example in this Flickr set of mine.
 
Ive got a Sigma 50mm f1.8, it was the first ever prime lens ive bought and although i could only afford the manual focus lens it is does produce excellent shots.

If im honest though i wish i could have afforded the auto focus f1.4 version though :(
 
There's always a risk of constant front or back focusing with Sigma fast primes which can be corrected by sending body and lens to Sigma under warranty or by microfocus adjustment which is not available on 40d. Our 50d has Sigma 50mm f1.5 with fairly major microfocus setting. That said, it's a fab lens.
 
Excuse me for thread jacking, but why use primes over zooms?

Thanks

Rosie
 
If you are prepared for the possibility that you will need to send it back/send it to sigma for calibration then by all means get one. I found the AF to be remarkably unreliable - I've had 4 of these lenses and only one had good AF.

But that lens was an absolutely astounding lens! Why oh why did I sell it!

Excuse me for thread jacking, but why use primes over zooms?

Thanks

Rosie

They generally have a wider maximum aperture than zooms.

This allows more capabilities when shooting low light, and better depth of field control.

Plus image quality is usually better than a zoom too.
 
If you are prepared for the possibility that you will need to send it back/send it to sigma for calibration then by all means get one. I found the AF to be remarkably unreliable - I've had 4 of these lenses and only one had good AF.

But that lens was an absolutely astounding lens! Why oh why did I sell it!



They generally have a wider maximum aperture than zooms.

This allows more capabilities when shooting low light, and better depth of field control.

Plus image quality is usually better than a zoom too.

Ah I see, thanks for clarifying for me

Rosie
 
Phil I have the Sigma 50mm 1.4 and I love it for studio stuff where I want full length or half. If you're using the 30mm on a crop body it will do the same job but you might find it too wide if you want to get close up portraits.

Quality wise - I think they are worth the money - the Sigma 1.4 0mm seems to get better reviews than the Cannon 1.4


never have another sigma, slow noisy and clunky. canon smooth quiet and fast, endith lesson, and can sell one with no probs,

yes i know there have been issues with motors but under warranty all ok. out of warrenty :eek:

Merc
 
never have another sigma, slow noisy and clunky. canon smooth quiet and fast, endith lesson, and can sell one with no probs,

yes i know there have been issues with motors but under warranty all ok. out of warrenty :eek:

Merc
Sounds like you've not used a Sigma HSM lens. The ones I've used are fast, quiet and accurate.
 
If a Sig cost the same as a Canon then I wouldn't expect it to be less than a Canon. As it is they are a fair bit less but you can get just as good image quality if you know what you're doing.

If price is no object then go for Canon L. Otherwise it's a case of making logical choices.
 
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