Add to Cart
The new Sigma 30mm prime lens takes 62mm filters like its predecessor does, and weighs just slightly more. And like most Sigma lenses, this one is available for a nice, budget-friendly price of around $499 and ships with front and rear caps, a lens hood and a soft case.
Sharpness
Overall, the Sigma 30mm ƒ/1.4 DC Art produces very sharp images. Wide open at ƒ/1.4, images are a little soft except for in the dead center of the frame, however, when compared to its predecessor, the new Art-Series model shows vastly improved performance at max aperture. Stopping down to ƒ/2.8 shows a significant increase in sharpness, and it stays very sharp throughout the aperture range with only minor diffraction softness at ƒ/16.
Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration is not really a significant issue with this lens, and it looks fairly similar to the older model in this regard, if only slightly worse. At ƒ/1.4, both models averaged around 300ths of a percent of frame height, and while the older model averaged around a more or less constant value, the new version shows an increase in CA as you stop down to just around 600ths of a percent at ƒ/16.
Shading (''Vignetting'')
Unlike CA, vignetting has been much improved in this new model compared to the older one. While both models displayed about half of a stop of light falloff wide open, the new model shows a sharp decrease to nearly zero light loss by ƒ/2.8, and remains at that level throughout the rest of the aperture values. The older model, on the other hand, showed a slow, steady decrease in CA, but even by ƒ/8, the older version had more vignetting than the new one does at ƒ/2.8.
