Sigma Normal 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Sony Alpha & Minolta Digital SLR Cameras

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

I wanted a fast normal lens. This one seems to fill the bill. I'm glad I ordered it. I'm just getting used to it, but so far it's everything I wanted it to be. It's a little heavy, but all the lenses I have for the Maxxum 5D are heavy-so not a problem.

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

I am a concert photographer and wanted this lens for the focal length and fast aperture. I have shot two shows with it so far and it performed awesome!! Is was surprisingly sharp even at the large aperture settings. I would highly recommend this lens...very nice. Nice build and feel to this lens too and very quick AF.

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

This 30mm f/1.4 is a great portrait lens for 1.5 crop factor cameras like my Sony a350. It is excellent for no-flash low light indoor shots like weddings, receptions, parties, etc. Its also good for fast motion outdoor shots like kids and pets playing. Maybe not the best for sports where a longer lens would be more helpful.

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

No problems. Sharp focus, super fast. I used this at a wedding (thinking I'd use if for just a few shots) and ended up not taking it off the camera. Perfect for low-light situations, as well as bright outdoor scenes. I found it great for portraits.
So far I have had no major problems. Auto focus works well, but can be slow in lower light (as with most lenses). Well built, and much preferred over my Minolta 28mm 2.8 lens. Great upgrade at a decent price. It's a sturdy lens, and when added to my A700, battery grip, and flash, it was a lot to carry around all day, but totally worth it. I'd rather have a nice heavy lens than a cheap plastic one. You won't regret the purchase.

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

I am into low light photography and even like to under expose a little on some occasions to bring out the richness of the colours. The Sigma 30mm f1.4 is just the ticket and I look forward to it becoming one of my more used bits of kit.[...]

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

I TAKE ALOT OF PHOTOS AT EVENTS AND PORTAITS AND LOVE THIS LENS, ITS FAST AND GETS MORE PEOPLE IN THE SHOT WITHOUT GOING WIDE ANGLE LENS

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

[Using on a Sony a200.] This lens is actually approximately 45mm in terms of a regular film type 35mm SLR. This lens therefore makes images very close to the same scale that you see by eye. That is, depth of field and so forth are about the same as the human eye, and, what you see is what you get.

The first noticeable thing after mounting the lens is that the viewfinder is considerably brighter than with the standard zoom lens. the next noticeable thing is the lens auto-focuses very fast and quietly. The lens does not have a tendency to 'seek' when focusing: it goes straight to the focus point. And then, the images are sharp.

Some things learned by use:

1. The lens comes with a good hood. It is cup / bowl shaped, with a couple notches to allow you to get your fingers into the filter(s). Even so, getting my fingers to my circular polarizer with the hood on is difficult. I tend to remove the hood and adjust the polarizer, and then put the hood back on.

2. The lens hood will mount backwards for storage when you don't need it, or for when putting the camera away in your kit bag.

3. The lens is excellent for snapshot type photography. Such as pics of your pets, kids, grand kids, and so forth. No flash is usually required.

4. The lens is good for taking travel photos, taking some pics when going to the park, and so forth.

5. The lens really excels for people pictures. Such as candids when walking around town. The fast focus really helps. For taking more serious portraits and semi-portraits, its good also.

6. Taking close-ups of, say a flower, can be done fairly easily. If very close and using f1.4 - f2.8 or so, you may find some of the image blurred out because of limited depth of field. So, you might need to step back a bit when using a wide open f stop.

7. Using inside in a dark church can be done. Makes the headache of doing candids for a wedding much easier. Again, no flash is usually needed.

8. For landscapes, you will need to move your two feet, since there's no zoom. For some shots, wind-up mounting the standard Sony zoom.

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

[...] -I have little time with the fantastic and I think it is easy to use, fast auto focus very good, I personally like to use in manual mode in my alpha 100, strongly emphasizes its brightness.-

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

I bought this lens for taking shots at nightclubs, concerts, and night shots. So far I'm really happy with the lens. It's super fast, very sharp and the large aperture is a must for dark lighting with no flash photography. It works very well with both manual and auto-focus on my sony alpha 200.

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

I switched to Sony so I could use my Minolta lenses and since doing so I've bought several lens from B&H, including the Zeiss 85mm which I love - but this little lens makes me smile every time I use it. I use it as the default lens on my second body. It's ideal as a portrait lens and delivers great results.

Comments about Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC Autofocus Lens for Digital Camera:

Having used compact digital cameras for so long, I'd forgotten just how good it was to get low-light, indoor shots without the harsh edge of a flash.
I bought this lens to complement a 18-250mm zoom on my new Sony A300. It was a good move because I find that even with the Sony's steadi-shot image stabilisation, getting good indoor and night-time shots at f4 is hard!
As expected from Sigma's "EX" badge, the auto-focus on this lens is fast and sure. And of course as far as image quality goes this lens is not the limiting factor (the A300's noise performance is what's letting me down I think).
So, for those who prefer ambient lighting to flash-photography, especially built-in flashes, this is a nice fast lens that gives you options.