| Latest Review Posted | Sigma DC HSM (Art) 30mm F1.4
The sharpness is good, sure, but not worth playing Sigma Autofocus Roulette for.
Doesn't matter how carefully I calibrated the microadjustment, the lens would randomly miss focus completely on maybe 4/10 shots. Good light, bad light, BBAF, centre point only, nothing made a difference. i don't mean it was slightly soft or it locked focus on the background etc, I mean it'd be a totally unfocused, unusable shot. Tried using it for one model shoot and the a commercial job, and immediately sent it back. For £300 this should be the best damned walkaround lens on the planet, but Sigma's crappy AF makes it impossible to trust.
The detail and rendering is nice even at f1.4, but this comes at the price of pretty severe purple fringing, which seems to get WORSE as you stop down. Bizarre, I can only assume Sigma is building the ART lenses to look good in the all-important MTF charts rather than as balanced, useful tools.
If, like me, you're reading this thinking 'I'll be able to live with the dodgy AF if the image quality is really good'...trust me, you won't. This isn't something you can fix with microadjustment, the USB dock, focusing technique etc, it's just inconsistent. By all means give it a try, but only from a retailer with a decent returns policy. |
