p.1 #1 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
I've got the new Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN Contemporary for E-mount in for review this week, and I thought I'd share a few thoughts, given that it's a fairly low cost lens, and I believe the first f/1.4 lens for APS-C E-mount.
It's actually a really well built lens, despite being in the C line instead of the Art line. Metal and plastic with a nice grippy and large focus ring,though damping is quite light.
Image quality is a bit of a mixed bag in my testing so far. Close up, it's got good resolution wide open all the way to the corners, which is pretty surprising. It's not bitingly sharp at f/1.4, but it's definitely decent across the frame. Stopping down a bit makes it very sharp across the frame...BUT: As the focus distance increases, absolutely massive field curvature is introduced. At f/5.6, when the center is at infinity, the edges are focused to around 5-10 feet or so, and infinity edges are very soft. For landscape use, you really need to stop down quite a bit, and even then, the distant edges are going to be a little soft. Bokeh is decent, but not spectacular. It can look really good in some instances and average in others. Flare is OK ad wide and medium apertures but gets pretty bad if you stop down a lot.
Overall, so far it looks like a good lens to grab for wide aperture use close up, but isn't going to be an ideal lens for landscape use.
p.1 #3 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
They are. The lens has a built in profile that Capture One can read, so it did it automatically. It does have rather large barrel distortion optically.
p.1 #4 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
Strange, 30mm really isn't an ultra-challenging focal length particularly for the smaller image circle. I'm surprised there's such strong field curvature and barrel distortion. Is it a super small lens?
p.1 #5 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
Jordan, I'd be interested to hear if you have tried this lens at f2.0 in single shot AF mode. I've had 2 copies and both had issues at f2.0 but fine at 2.2 very strange.
Very sharp in the middle but I didn't keep it long enough to judge the edge/corner performance
p.1 #6 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
Two of the shots above are at f/2. Does just fine.
It's not a super small lens, but is reasonable in size. Similar to the Sony 55/1.8.
johnahill wrote:
Jordan, I'd be interested to hear if you have tried this lens at f2.0 in single shot AF mode. I've had 2 copies and both had issues at f2.0 but fine at 2.2 very strange.
Very sharp in the middle but I didn't keep it long enough to judge the edge/corner performance
p.1 #9 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
That's interesting. Cropping to APS-H would make this a 40mm, even with the field-curvature issues it may be good for walk-around street-shooting. Care to show us some examples of the vignetting?
Jman13 wrote:
No baffles. It covers a bit wider than APS-H from what I can tell.
p.1 #12 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
Sr.Cordeiro wrote:
That's interesting. Cropping to APS-H would make this a 40mm, even with the field-curvature issues it may be good for walk-around street-shooting. Care to show us some examples of the vignetting?
p.1 #14 · Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DN (Sony E and m4/3) Impressions
Unfortunately for jpg shooters that don't like to edit (like myself), this lens is a non-starter because of the distorion. The field curvature doesn't help either.
Not that I have a crop Sony anymore, but really disappointed in how this has panned out.
