Sigma A 30 mm f/1.4 DC HSM
11. Summary
- solid-looking, high quality casing,
- excellent image quality in the frame centre,
- well-corrected lateral chromatic aberration,
- not very bothersome distortion,
- good correction of astigmatism,
- noticeably lower vignetting level than that of its direct competitors,
- noiseless autofocus,
- good standard accessory kit.
Cons:
- too weak image quality on the edge of the frame near the maximum relative aperture,
- distinct longitudinal chromatic aberration,
- noticeable coma.
It would be difficult to complain about a lens which is better than its predecessor practically in every category and only slightly more expensive. What’s more, taking into account the fact that we deal here with a novelty, you can expect that its price will drop further, drawing level with the price of its predecessor before the sales. Here the objective part of the summary finishes.
Please Support UsIf you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free. |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Maybe I am a bit spoiled by the results the full frame Sigma 1.4/35 got in our tests but, looking at the tested lens from a more subjective point of view, I admit I feel unsatisfied. The improvement by f/1.4, so the crucial aperture for this lens, is not so remarkable, in fact hardly noticeable in practice. I am also worried by the longitudinal chromatic aberration which shows clearly that the producer perhaps gave up those low dispersion elements too rashly. Those factors might be the reason why owners of Nikon and Sony cameras will rather buy much cheaper, brand-name 1.8/35 lenses which are not worse than the Sigma and momentarily can even perform better. The Sigma can be a huge hit with the Canon users, though, because Canon hasn’t decided yet to launch anything in this segment, offering currently just two expensive models: the EF 35 mm f/2.0 IS USM and the EF 35 mm f/1.4L USM, which prices are often beyond the reach of ordinary amateur photographers. When the Sigma with the Pentax mount is finally released it can also become quite tempting – the 2.4/35 model, made of plastic, slow and expensive for its parameters, will not be a strong rival or a real alternative.
Sample shots
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 3.37 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 3.77 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 3.5 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/4000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 3.47 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/160 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.99 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/4000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.39 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.58 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/1.4, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.6 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.62 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5.3 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/160 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 3.57 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/2000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.86 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/80 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.32 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.4 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.46 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.2, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 3.44 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.11 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.12 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5.07 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.61 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.72 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 3.96 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5.01 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/640 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5.22 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.86 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/640 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.85 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5.12 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5.37 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/640 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.27 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5 MB |
 |
 |
 |
|
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 4.18 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/125 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5 MB |
Camera: Canon 50D Parameters: 30 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 4752×3168 pix, 5.01 MB |
