sigma 30mm f/1.4. good, bad, or meh?

punch · Apr 5, 2012

I have a Canon 50mm f/1.4 that I rarely find I take off my 50D. However, sometimes I get tight crops that I don't love and can't always just back up. I take mostly indoor pictures of people.

I wish I had had more room for this one, for example, but I was as far away as I could get taking some candid shots of my nephew:

I'd like to go to a shorter focal length, and I'm trying to figure my options... so far they seem to be Canon 28mm f/1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and Canon 35mm f/2. I don't want to get the 35L... I've already spent over $2000 on equipment this year.

Right now I'm leaning towards the sigma, but don't own an off-brand lens. I've heard it's great though... wondering if any of you had thoughts on it.

Thanks.

punch · Apr 5, 2012

Tell me why it's great to buy a sigma lens.

penfolderoldo · Apr 6, 2012

well i've got a couple of Sigmas and they're great. However, i've used the 30 f/1.4 and hated it - the focus is painfully slow and noisy. Image quality was ok to fine, but from the list you mention i'd plump for the Canon 35 f/2.

TheBiles · Apr 6, 2012

The first place I always look for lens reviews.

punch · Apr 6, 2012

Thank you.

DiskoJoe · Apr 6, 2012

I have heard good things about the Sigma 30mm. The canon 35mm is good too. Personally I would save and get the Sigma 17-50mm f2.8.

DiskoJoe · Apr 6, 2012

You kid has a bulldog coming out of his head too. You might want to get that looked at by a specialist. lol

2WheelPhoto · Apr 6, 2012

Use 50mm and above to shoot portraiture and your subjects won't appear squished up.

punch · Apr 6, 2012

DiskoJoe said:
You kid has a bulldog coming out of his head too. You might want to get that looked at by a specialist. lol

I'm not going to worry about it, because he's not my baby.

punch · Apr 6, 2012

2WheelPhoto said:
Use 50mm and above to shoot portraiture and your subjects won't appear squished up.

that IS a 50mm lens. i want a wider angle and i don't know what you mean by squished up.

ghostdog · Apr 6, 2012

Some of these reviews are a little outdated, but you might want to start by checking out the reviews on photozone.de. You can check out how these lenses perform w.r.t. resolution, CAs, and vignetting. I was also looking at these various options. Between the ones you listed, I would go with the 35 f/2. I agree with the conclusion on the 28 f/1.8. I owned this lens and it was very lackluster.

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos

That said, I'm not sure you would get as good of a result with using a wider angle lens for portraits as you would by keeping with the longer lens and backing away from the subject a little more. Otherwise, you may experience undesirable distortion.

punch · Apr 6, 2012

ghostdog said:
Some of these reviews are a little outdated, but you might want to start by checking out the reviews on photozone.de. You can check out how these lenses perform w.r.t. resolution, CAs, and vignetting. I was also looking at these various options. Between the ones you listed, I would go with the 35 f/2. I agree with the conclusion on the 28 f/1.8. I owned this lens and it was very lackluster.

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos

That said, I'm not sure you would get as good of a result with using a wider angle lens for portraits as you would by keeping with the longer lens and backing away from the subject a little more. Otherwise, you may experience undesirable distortion.

Thank you. I do worry about the distortion... that's a good point.

Mach0 · Apr 6, 2012

punch said:
that IS a 50mm lens. i want a wider angle and i don't know what you mean by squished up.

Its not a 50 mm. It's equal to a field of view of a 50 mm lens but the actual focal length is 30 so it has distortion like a 30mm lens.

punch · Apr 6, 2012

Mach0 said:
punch said:

that IS a 50mm lens. i want a wider angle and i don't know what you mean by squished up.

Click to expand...

Its not a 50 mm. It's equal to a field of view of a 50 mm lens but the actual focal length is 30 so it has distortion like a 30mm lens.

is that what he meant? i see. i thought he was suggesting i get a 50mm lens, but he was talking about that equivalent focal length.

the 30mm would be 48mm so i thought it'd be fine for portraits, right?

Mach0 · Apr 6, 2012

punch said:
is that what he meant? i see. i thought he was suggesting i get a 50mm lens, but he was talking about that equivalent focal length.

the 30mm would be 48mm so i thought it'd be fine for portraits, right?

As long as you aren't too close to them.

http://stepheneastwood.com/tutorials/lensdistortion/strippage.htm