Sigma 30mm F1 4 DC HSM A Review | 54 Data compared

The Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC HSM Art is a dedicated standard-angle prime lens designed for APS-C format SLR cameras. Evaluated by PCMag with a "Good" 3.5-star rating, this sturdy, compact lens stands out as the only option in its focal range to offer a bright f/1.4 maximum aperture. Lab testing revealed that the lens achieves strong center sharpness at f/1.4, which significantly improves all around when stopped down to f/2 and narrower apertures. It features a robust metal and polycarbonate barrel, a rubberised manual focus ring, a 0.3-metre close focusing distance, and comes bundled with a carrying pouch and a reversible plastic lens hood. The lens has distinct advantages and drawbacks depending on your camera system and shooting style. Its primary pros include its compact design, sturdy build quality, excellent sharpness when stopped down, and the ability to open wide to f/1.4 for high light-gathering capacity. However, its cons include some edge softness at wide apertures, a modest 1.5% barrel distortion that causes an outward bulge in straight lines, visible cyan and red color fringing, and a high retail price...

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Art lens is a highly refined, robust, and compact all-purpose prime lens manufactured from a smooth, metallic Thermally Stable Composite. Weighing 15.3 ounces (434g) and tested on a Canon 7D, it feels well-balanced and features a silky, smooth manual focusing ring alongside an ideally placed AF/Manual switch. The lens excels in autofocus performance, delivering fast, accurate, and quiet results. Photographically, it yields richly vibrant colors, beautiful dream-like bokeh from its nine curved aperture blades, and exceptionally low coma, making it an excellent choice for landscape, street, and astrophotography. Despite its high-grade performance, the reviewer identified two main drawbacks related to image sharpness and distortion at extreme settings. While sharpness is wonderful between f/2.2 and f/11, it experiences a significant drop at apertures wider than f/2.2 or smaller than f/11. Additionally, the lens exhibits noticeable chromatic aberration and color fringing when shot wide open at f/1.4. However, these aberrations drop quickly past f/1.8 and can be easily corrected during post-processing. Ultimately, the reviewer awards the lens a 4 out of 5 rating, recommending it as...

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM prime lens for APS-C cameras stands out as a highly portable, travel-friendly alternative to the larger 35mm f/1.4 Art lens, delivering a slick and premium build quality that features robust metal parts. In practical testing, the reviewer found the lens's sharpness to be highly impressive across the entire aperture range, maintaining great image quality from a wide-open f/1.4 all the way down to f/16, with a peak "sweet spot" sitting right between f/5.6 and f/8. Furthermore, its Hyper Sonic Motor provides fast, quiet, and generally accurate autofocus during normal day-to-day use, while its f/1.4 maximum aperture affords photographers beautiful control over depth of field and background bokeh at an affordable $500 price point. Despite these strengths, the reviewer encountered notable drawbacks, most significantly a pervasive presence of green and purple chromatic aberration from wide-open f/1.4 through f/4.5 that is consistently visible around contrast points. The lens also suffers from visible vignetting between f/1.4 and f/2.8, alongside autofocus inconsistencies like cycling or hunting when tracking dark targets, low-light situations, or highly reflective surfaces. Additionally, video...

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Art lens is a fast, robustly built prime for APS-C DSLRs offering a 45mm-48mm equivalent focal length and exceptional low-light performance with smooth bokeh. It features premium Thermally Stable Composite (TSC) construction and rapid, silent autofocus, making it a versatile choice for photographers, as reviewed on Photo Review. Visible vignetting, edge softness at f/1.4, and slight barrel distortion are noted, although image quality improves significantly when stopped down, according to the analysis. The lens lacks image stabilization and weather sealing, while the manual focus ring provides smooth, but short-throw operation.

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM A is a wide-aperture standard Art-series lens designed specifically for APS-C cameras, offering a solid and under-stated build that feels reassuringly robust in the hand. Key pros highlighted in the review include its highly affordable pricing—costing little more than half of its full-frame 35mm sibling—and its exceptionally quiet automatic focussing mechanism. Furthermore, technical testing revealed excellent sharpness right across the aperture range, supported by a static, non-rotating front element during focussing that benefits polarising filter users. Sigma also generously bundles the lens with a cylindrical lens hood and a padded carrying case inside its white retail box. However, the reviewer notes several distinct cons that prevent it from reaching the same elite tier as the full-frame version. While sharpness is strong, the lens shows clear signs of chromatic aberration on high-contrast test targets and exhibits a significant amount of barrel distortion in practical field conditions. Additionally, there is a high level of vignetting present when shooting wide open at f/1.4. Performance-wise, the autofocus speed is notably slower than the 35mm version, and the manual...

The Imaging Resource review concludes that the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Art is a high-performing standard prime for APS-C cameras, delivering exceptional sharpness and low distortion. With a robust build and a versatile 45mm-equivalent focal length, this lens is praised for its performance, particularly when stopped down slightly. However, the review notes some drawbacks, including more pronounced chromatic aberration compared to its predecessor and minor edge softness when shooting wide open at f/1.4. Additionally, the lens lacks built-in optical image stabilization.

The Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC HSM Art lens offers exceptional build quality, utilizing a premium, metallic-feeling Thermally Stable Composite (TSC) material that ensures a compact yet balanced feel on DSLR cameras. Key construction and handling pros include a silky-smooth, well-damped manual focus ring for precise adjustments, a crisp AF/MF switch, and an effective, high-quality lens hood. Conversely, the lens carries a noticeable heft due to the substantial internal glass required for the bright F1.4 aperture. A significant disadvantage highlighted in the review is the lack of weather sealing, limiting its usability in adverse outdoor environments. For the full, detailed review, visit Pentax Forums.

The reviewed article evaluates over 120 lenses for the Canon EOS 700D, highlighting how its 18-megapixel APS-C sensor benefits from a weaker low-pass filter that improves image sharpness compared to older models like the EOS 7D. For prime lenses, the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM achieves the highest overall performance score of 24 points. It is closely followed in the standard focal lengths by the Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM and the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM A. In the zoom categories, standard professional-grade lenses like the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lead in performance. Meanwhile, third-party options like the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 PRO DX top the wide-angle charts. Additionally, the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 EX DC APO OS HSM stands out as the best telephoto zoom option. The primary advantages identified in this review include the high versatility of full-frame lenses pulling "double duty" on the 700D body. This compatibility allows sports and action photographers to leverage a 1.6x telephoto crop multiplier. Excellent value-for-money options are also prominent, such as the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM...