Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM “Art” Review (Photography Blog)

Photography Blog reviewed the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM “Art” lens (price & specs) for full-frame APS-C DSLRs (45mm on APS-C). While this is one of Sigma’s recent lenses that get one good review after the other, the 30mm doesn’t convince on all fronts. Build quality is au pair with the Sigma 35mm (price & specs) and 18-35mm f/1.8 (price & specs) lenses. The Sigma 30mm appears to suffer from chromatic aberrations and is not fully sharp in the edges (you have to stop down to f/4 for good results). However, still a great lens at a competing price ($499).

From the conclusion:

The Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC A lens […] offers acceptable sharpness wide-open at f/1.4 […], excellent build quality, lovely bokeh and fast and quiet auto-focusing, all at a surprisingly affordable price.

The Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC A is tack-sharp in the centre from f/1.8 onwards, although you need to stop down to f/4 to get acceptable results at the edges of the frame. Disappointingly the lens does suffer from serious chromatic aberrations when shooting wide-open, along with obvious vignetting and some barrel distortion too.

There is also a set of sample pics shot with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and a Canon EOS 70D (price & specs).

[via PB]

More product description after the break.

The 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras from Sigma is a prime lens designed for Canon APS-C format cameras. Its 35mm focal length equivalent is 45mm which places it in the category of standard focal length lenses. With its particularly fast maximum aperture of f/1.4, the lens will perform very well in low light situations and provides shallow depth of field focus. With updated optical configurations (9 elements in 8 groups), as well as rounded aperture blades, the lens delivers sharp detail and nice background bokeh. Its minimum focus distance is 11.8″ (30 cm).

The lens’ optimized light distribution helps to minimize field curvature preventing a loss of image quality at the edges of photographs and its double-sided aspherical lens element minimizes spherical distortion. A rear focusing system combined with a newly developed autofocus algorithm and Hyper Sonic Motor provide smooth and accurate autofocus. Fulltime manual focus is also supported. As part of Sigma’s “Art” line of lenses it is compatible with Sigma’s new USB Dock, which enables firmware updates and focusing adjustments.