Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Views Please

Livin The Dream

Livin The Dream

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Kris
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Have been looking for a good, fast, normal lens for my 50d for a while and this just about ticks all the boxes in my price range. However, i recently got rid of the only Sigma lens i've owned (10-20 EX) as it was awful so am a little unsure with a 3rd party offering again. The EF28mm was the other option but this seems to just about get the vote.

Any happy owners out there?

Regards

Kris
 
I was an owner.

If you can get a good one that focusses accurately then it is quite simply an amazing lens. I had one that was a goodun but at the time I wasn't using it so sold it.

A decision I then regretted and I decided to buy another. Frustratingly after two I could not get one that would focus properly so gave it up as a bad job.

Try before you buy and you should be fine.
 
Got one and am very happy with it.

The f1.4 is great for low light work and I have been happy with the results. I find that it is much more usable on my 50D that the Canon 50mm f1.8 and for me it feels like back to the 80's when all I could afford was a 50mm on the front of a Practica B100 with ultra manual zoom (you walked closer or you walked further away!)

If I'm honest though it doesn't get as much use as it should, zooms are just too convenient as a walk about lens, and the times I need a fast lens in low light are seldom but that said I wont be parting with it.
 
Thanks Richard, sounds like one to buy over the counter then. Was it clearly noticeable on screen?

Kris
 
brilliant lens :) is all i can say. Make sure you get a good copy, but if you do, its just amazing. so sharp, and reasonably good even wide open at 1.4, Mine has saved my life so many times, shooting gigs in dingy badly lit pubs :p
 
Used on the other day. I rate it a lot, nice circular aperture, sharp and cost effective. A great lens on a crop camera.
 
I've posted it before and I'll post it again...this was my favourite lens on a cropped-sensor camera. :)
 
Love mine, it's a great general purpose lens.
 
I have a Sigma 30 1.4. I tested two side by side, and they were both good. I wanted a fast general purpose prime and for crop, this lens is perfect.

I use it very rarely. Performance is good, but the razor thin depth of field you get at f/1.4 make many low light subjects very difficult. I often prefer to use flash instead. Unless of course, you want that shallow focus, in which case it's unbeatable.

The way I test new lenses is very simple, but is good at weeding out 'bad copies'. Shoot a distant subject at f/1.4. High shutter speed, high ISO. Focus very carefully, and shoot a target like a car number plate. Lock focus and exposure. Position the target in the corner of the frame and take a shot, then reposition it in the other three corners and take three more shots.

Then blow up each corner target on the LCD and compare them. They should all be equally sharp (or more likely, equally unsharp - this is a tough test). If one or more of the targets looks distinctly softer than the others, chances are the lens is not properly centred - which is the most common manufacturing fault. Just remember that you are not looking for perfect sharpness, becuase you won't find it with any lens with this test. You are looking for equality. And then just to show what the lens can do, shoot another frame at f/5.6 with the target in the centre. That will look pretty sharp :)
 
Very happy with mine.
 
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