Sigma prime lens options?

[BIGEYE]

Friend of mine has a full size sensor camera (5d from memory). I was well impressed with some of the pics taken with this camera and a Sigma 50mm f1.4 lens, in particular portrait shots..
I have a cropped sensor camera (60d) and would like to get the same sort of shots. For that reason I have been considering the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Lens. Would this give me the same sort of results for portraits or as close as?

Or should I go for the Sigma 50mm f1.4 lens as it does get good reviews, even on cropped sensor cameras.

 

[BIGEYE]

Anybody tried these lenses and can comment?

 

[lucky_13]

I have tried 3 sigma 50 1.4 and 2 sigma 30 1.4 and I'm still searching for a copy of a 50 that I'm happy with as the ones I have tried so far have not impressed me much IQ wise and AF performance has been poor when compared to the old dog Canon 50 F/1.4 that in my experience it locks AF much faster than the sigmas and the IQ is better than the sigmas. I love the huge size of the Sigma 50 F/1.4 and it's heavy weight and the build quality, in fact I love it so much that I'm still looking to find that good copy of it! But in my experience so far it has proven that such sigma is very hard to come by. I would have bought the canon 50 F/1.4 if it wasn't such an old design, a bit better build and a bit beefyer like the sigma. If only the sigma performed like the canon....

 

[woof woof]

Anybody tried these lenses and can comment?

Yup.

I had both the 30 and 50mm f1.4's when I had a 20D. Personally I found the 50mm a little long for general use on an APS-C but for tighter shots it was fine. The 30mm is a better allrounder on APS-C IMVHO. Mine was sharp at f1.4 and my only real complaint is that the focus ring felt a little gritty when focusing manually but I tried another in a shop and it was just the same so I think the gritty feel is just a function of the HSM mechanism rather than a fault.

I sold the 30mm when I went FF and I now use the 50mm as my standard lens. It's not quite as sharp as the 30mm wide open but from what I've read it's sharper than the Canon 50mm f1.4 and if you check some on line reviews I think you'll find that the vast majority if not all place the Sigma 50mm ahead of the Canon. Just out of interest I tested my Siggy 50mm against my Canon 50mm f2.5 which I've read is thought by some to be Canon's sharpest 50mm and one of their sharpest lenses. My own tests convinced me that the Siggy was at least as sharp and possiby sharper at every aperture that the f2.5 could match plus its focus was faster and more accurate.

I now also have the Sigma 85mm f1.4 and it's even better than the 50mm.

It depends how you shoot and the FoV you want but in your place I'd buy the 30 and the 50 If choosing just one for use on APS-C I think I'd go for the 30mm.

If you'd like any test shots taken with the 30 or 50mm f1.4 just let me know and I'll send you some RAW's to process. They'll just be boring test shots though as I don't catalogue my images by lens type except for test shots when I first get a camera or lens

 

[woof woof]

Found some examples for you. the first three are 30mm and the next three are 50mm. The focus is on the knot in the last image

 

[BIGEYE]

Thanks all for the help.

 

[Alastair]

Or should I go for the Sigma 50mm f1.4 lens as it does get good reviews, even on cropped sensor cameras.

Brilliant lens, wouldn't be without it on an APS-C sensor camera. Lots of examples in earlier threads on this lens - and a pretty good dedicated Flickr group with thousands of examples.