| Latest Review Posted | Sigma EX DC HSM 30mm F1.4
The Sigma 30mm is a great lens. There was no reservation in my mind how much this lens deserves credit for what it accomplishes. It is very sharp right from f/1.4. This is an often overlooked quality when people discuss fast glass. You need a fast lens to be sharp and useable at it's fastest aperture otherwise it defeats the purpose of the lens to a large degree. The Sigma 30 delivers in this regard. It is so often criticized for it's border sharpness (or lack thereof) but in practice this is often not an issue. This appears to be due to field curvature, but I am no optical expert. As many have mentioned, this lens productes a great "3D" look, which I believe is largely in part to the field curvature. So it can be a bit of a double edged sword. Without the field curvature the corners would be sharper but you would lose the 3D look. In the end, I am of the opinion that if the corner sharpness is extremely important on a picture or two, one could easily crop the 30mm image to a 35mm image and end up with sharper corners on a 35mm f/1.4 image.
I enjoy the handling of the lens. It is build like a tank; with a short stubby but heavy build. There is clearly a lot of glass inside this lens. It is surprisingly short at 5.9cm which is a little less than the FA31 at 6.85cm. The FA31 is of course slimmer and made of beautiful metal. I would probably be writing this review for the FA31 if it just wasn't so expensive as I prefer metal primes for their vinta... |
