Tell me about the Sigma 30mm f/1.4

T

The Pielander

Messages
128
Name
John
Edit My Images
No
Following on from a question I asked in an earlier thread I have been looking at the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens as a walkabout lens on my 550D. I mostly like to take photos in cities that I visit and that may include portraits as well as the architecture, scenery etc. I like the idea that it almost makes the camera into a point and shoot i.e there is no zoom to fiddle with. Also the low light capability would be really useful in the evenings and on really grey days. I also have a Canon 10-22mm lens and I'm wondering if the 30mm will be a good addition?

What do those of you who own this lens think of it? Is it as useful as you thought?

Cheers
 
Hello,

I have one of these. It seems to be well made and it's compact and comes with a hood and a case. I bought one for it's f1.4 and roughly 50mm FoV on my Canon 20D and so far I haven't been disappointed.

In use the focus seems to be fast and accurate and the images seem to be sharp. The only thing I can even begin to think about complaining about is that when focusing manually it doesn't feel very "nice" but I really am nit picking here and at least the HSM focus is fast and you get full time manual focus too.

I've posted this shot before but I think it shows the lenses strengths. I hit this first time at f1.4.

t6-11c.jpg
 
I've just sold mine as it won't work on a full frame body. It was the best lens I owned and rarely off my D90. I can't rave about it enough.

If you look in my flickr photostream, you can search for 'Sigma 30mm' and it will bring up quite a few that I've taken with the lens.
 
I don't like posting people shots but here's a 100% crop. It's straight from RSE with sharpening set to zero, nothing else has been done apart from the crop.

IMG_6439-01c.jpg


I think that anyone thinking about a lens in this range and not too worried about it being APS-C should probably have a look at this lens.
 
There are a lot of reports of the 30mm back/front focussing, but in 99% of cases it's down to operator error - people not appreciating just how narrow the dof is at f/1.4....
 
I have a Sigma 30mm f1.4 and a Nikon 50mm f1.4 and as much as I love the 50mm I am starting to think that I prefer the 30mm because on a crop sensor the practicality of it is far better. I used both lenses at a wedding last weekend and I found myself using the 30mm a lot more than the 50mm. Both are tack sharp and both have quick focus but in the close confines of a wedding reception I would rather capture the wider view of a 30mm and crop than miss the shot with a 50mm because I don't have room to move back and frame properly.

For wide open shots I have never really noticed any difference in quality between the 30mm and 50mm. Neither are perfect but very few lenses are perfect when used wide open.

I'm not at home at the moment so I can't hunt through my portfolio for sample shots but the photos of the sweets in THIS GALLERY (Password: Miami) were taken with the 30mm at f1.4. There are plenty of others taken with the same lens in that wedding gallery but I can't remember which ones.
 
Last edited:
Flash In The Pan said:
There are a lot of reports of the 30mm back/front focussing, but in 99% of cases it's down to operator error - people not appreciating just how narrow the dof is at f/1.4....
Click to expand...

Yep, completely agree. It took me a quite a while to appreciate the lens, but when I was fully familiar with shooting at 1.4, I never looked back. this lens is as sharp as they come when shooting at f/4 as well.
 
I have the Siggy 50mm f1.4 and I think that the 30mm is sharper at f1.4.

I think that an often overlooked lens is the Siggy 20mm f1.8 which I also have. It gives an almost 35mm FoV on my 20D, which is nice, and although it isn't exactly razor sharp at f1.8 it is soon after. It is quite a large lens though and it doesn't have HSM.
 
woof ! where is the ice cream ? :|

grr... sony mount sigma 30mm f1.4 auction ends after 2h and I still haven't sold my 24-70 :(
 
The Pielander said:
Following on from a question I asked in an earlier thread I have been looking at the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens as a walkabout lens on my 550D. I mostly like to take photos in cities that I visit and that may include portraits as well as the architecture, scenery etc. I like the idea that it almost makes the camera into a point and shoot i.e there is no zoom to fiddle with. Also the low light capability would be really useful in the evenings and on really grey days. I also have a Canon 10-22mm lens and I'm wondering if the 30mm will be a good addition?

What do those of you who own this lens think of it? Is it as useful as you thought?

Cheers
Click to expand...

I owned one for about 18 months and recently sold it due to lack of use. I found it soft at f1.4, softish at f2 and good from f2.8 onwards. I very rarely used it because I found the convenience of a 28-70 f2.8 zoom lens too appealing. It's not as wide as I would have liked (45mm equiv on a Nikon or 48mm equiv on your Canon). I was always pleased with the results on the rare occasions that I did use it but I only ever used it for people photos as it wasn't wide enough or sharp enough at the edges for landscapey stuff. Now that I've sold it I miss it and am looking for something to replace it (maybe Nikon 35 f1.8, Sigma 24 f1.8 or Sigma 28 f1.8).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top