Is this lens soft???

JohnMF · Sep 28, 2009

Hi

Need your opinions on this lens before my warranty runs out.

I have have given a link to a sample shot (it's a large file), only editing was from raw to jpeg. No sharpening etc. Also bare in mind it was shot at 400 iso due to poor light.

It is also f1.4 which i know will not be it's optimum

Basically, all things considered, i need to know if you think this shot is (too) soft at the point of focus (the point of focus is on the word 'help').. Do you think this lens is soft?

I've been using canon L lenses for 3 or for years, so I'm worried I may be expecting too much from this Sigma 30mm f/1.4. What do you guys think?

thanks

Derrel · Sep 28, 2009

Most fairly normal lens designs look a bit soft when shot at f/1.4. This type of overall softness and slight loss of contrast is quite normal,and my guess is tha upon stopping down one stop to f/2 that the image picks up quite a bit of contrast,and that by f/2.8 the centers and edges are much closer together in terms of resolution and contrast.

The image looks pretty good to me--the way the lens "draws" is nice. What is in focus looks nicely rendered. It's a small 800x 533 images or so, so we cannot see a "lot" of the image characteristics, but overall, the image is about what I would expect of a normal lens design shot at f/1.4.

robertwsimpson · Sep 28, 2009

you might like this better?

JohnMF · Sep 28, 2009

thanks for the opinions.

Sorry Photobucket resized the image so i 100% cropped it here

Thanks for taking the time to edit Robert, but i need to know if the lens itself is soft, or if i am being over critical on this lens

robertwsimpson · Sep 28, 2009

you're being overly critical. cropping at 100% and pixel peeping is never going to make you happy. Clearly, your new lens is not going to be the same quality as an L series lens. It's unfair to expect it to be. I think it does a fine job, and the rest can be taken care of in PP.

robertwsimpson · Sep 28, 2009

how do you like the FOV on the 30mm? I love my 50mm 1.8, but I have to climb over things to be back far enough to fit everything into pictures.

phocus78 · Sep 28, 2009

No ..definitely not too soft.

Sw1tchFX · Sep 28, 2009

It's fine, what do you expect at f/1.4?

musicaleCA · Sep 28, 2009

Probably being over-critical. No lens is it's sharpest wide open. Try stopping down to f/8, take the same shot, and see the result.

robertwsimpson · Sep 28, 2009

what's the point of having an f1.4 and stopping down to f8? I have a kit lens that can do that. when I put my 50mm f1.8 on, the aperture stays smaller than 3.

JohnMF · Sep 28, 2009

robertwsimpson said:
how do you like the FOV on the 30mm? I love my 50mm 1.8, but I have to climb over things to be back far enough to fit everything into pictures.

I'm loving the FOV. It's ideal for everyday use on a cropped sensor camera.