sigma 28mm f1.8 Macro vs sigma 30mm f1.4

Lemaildetom

Lemaildetom

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thomas
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Hi there,

Sorry I'm a bit confused so I'll list some of my though to try to make them clearer. I'm looking for a versatile prime lens to take to holiday with me has a one lens only trip (because I don't want to carry a big bag of lens travelling with ryanair). I had a cheapy canon 50mm f/1.8 but I'm getting an error message now and it looks like it's good to the bin. I would fancy something a bit wider because on my 40D the 50mm is quiet long.

1) A lot of people seems to said that they had some problem with the focusing on the sigma 30mm f/1.4 and had to send it back for calibrating. I'm worry to buy such a lens second end (200-230£) and not being able to use a warranty? Also if buying from ebay or amazon and it is a lens from asia (250£) I will probably have the same problem of not being able to use the warranty?
From what I saw a new lens in the uk model is around 350-400£ which is a bit much for my finance me

2)Then I saw on internet that there is also a sigma 28mm f/1.8 macro which seems to have relatively good review all saying that this lens is not known enought, none mentioning needing of calibration but some saying that it's slow focusing. I've seen them going between 200-275£ on ebay which fit better to my budget.

3)Also there is I've been trying to compare canon 28mm 1.8 but I think they are significantly more expensive.

I'm not sure what to think the sigma 30mm looks good and has f/1.4 for very low light picture, the 28mm looks like if they're is no possible issue with having to send the lens back to calibration and has a macro capabilitie which my be fun to use as an holiday lens.


What do you think?
 
I had a Sigma 30mm f1.4 and I currently have a Sigma 20mm f1.8 (for sale :D) which I think is a very similar design to the 28mm f1.8 you're looking at.

The 30mm is quite compact and it has HSM which allows you to manually adjust focus even in AF mode.

The 28mm f1.8 is physically bigger and doesn't have HSM. AF is generally slower with non HSM lenses.

Another point, these lenses aren't true macro lenses. They don't give you 1:1 and all that the macro means is that the manufacturer thinks that the lens will focus closer than you'd expect it too. It may be ok for close up shots of flowers etc but you wont get a true macro 1:1.

Personally I'd go for the 30mm, and I did, because it has HSM and it's more compact.

Hope that helps.
 
Yeah I had a sigma 30mm f/1.4, everything about it was awesome, price, IQ was good enough, fast, small, relatively light(~a lb iirc) but the focus was the one thing that let it down, manual focus sucked, worst manual focus lens I've ever used, so stiff and jerky at the same time, almost like trying to manually focus a pepper grinder, and I can't remember how the autofocus was, but it certainly wasn't unbelievable, think it was noisy for a HSM lens.
 
I think I'm too worry about the focus problem to buy a second hand sigma 30mm f/1.4. I found it new on ebay for 310 pound has a uk model with 3 year warranty which is interresting.

Now I've read review on the newer model which is just gone out and everyone seems to complain how the focus ring is horrible on the old one and how the autofocus isn't good! Is this really an issue?
To confirm this Magnus just said here: "almost like trying to manually focus a pepper grinder" this doesn't sounds good at all...

Not sure what to do. Money is a bit of a problem, i don't have 400 pound. The 28mm f/1.8 looks good but it also looks really big for a prime lens.

I'd like a versatile fast prime lens which is sharp, focus well, isn't a tank and cost less than 325£.
 
I've had quite a few Siggy lenses (fast ones - 20mm f1.8, 30mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.4, 150mm f2.8) and I've never ever had a complaint about focus issues on either my 20D or 5D.

I've always thought that what we read on the net about focus issues should be taken with a grain of salt, buy from a good dealer and you'll be ok.

About the original 30mm f1.4 manual focus... mine felt a bit... gritty. I tried another in a shop and it was just the same so I just assumed that's how they are. It was perfectly useable though and given the non existance of competition a small thing to put up with.

Lemaildetom said:
I'd like a versatile fast prime lens which is sharp, focus well, isn't a tank and cost less than 325£.
Click to expand...

You could always buy my 20mm f1.8 :D bit wider though at an APS-C FoV of 32mm. Yours for £320 :D

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=507411
 
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It could have been just due to having not having been used in a while, as when I was on m4/3 I had a 20mm f/1.7 that was pretty damn grindy when I got it, but got a lot better after a few weeks of use, not perfect, but close to being good.

Also if you're worried about autofocus issues, just buy a used one and ask the seller to confirm it has no autofocus issues and no front/back focus, once you've got that you can simply return it if it does have those issues.
 
Decided to spend the xtra money, i'm gone for a new one with warranty, just wanting for delivery. I went for the new model hopefully they will not be any issue. :)
 
Personally I'd say the main reason to own the Sigma 24mm and 28mm 1.8's is the closeup ability, its not true macro but its much closer than is typical for these focal lengths and the wider view makes for an interesting change to typical macro lenses.

That's why I picked up the 24mm on the cheap, if I'd done so for the large aperture performance I'd have been disappointed, very soft at F/1.8 with very ugly bokeh even for a wideangle.
 
You shouldn't be buying a lens this wide and expecting lovely bokeh, but of course bokeh is very much subject dependent.

I have the 20mm f1.8 and I believe it's very similar in design to the 24 and 28 and I'd expect similar performance.

"Macro" shot, whole image and 100% crop... focus on "user's."





I think that's pretty sharp for a f1.8 lens at such close range.
 
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