Sigma Normal 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Autofocus Lens for Olympus Digital Cameras (Four Thirds System)

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

I don't usually write reviews and try not to pay much attention to them, but I almost did not buy this lens for doing just that. The reviews say this lens is soft wide open, has soft edges stopped down, and has focusing problems so the reader is admonished not to expect much. So I bought one, and...I love it. Yes it is soft wide open, this is an artsy smartsy lens...if you don't know how to use it or the patience for the proper technique, it's not your type. Otherwise, nothing else in 4/3s normal range is going to give that delicious blur to make a sharp subject look that much sharper. Yes, the edges are softer than the center even stopped down, but it's still sharper, lighter, and cheeper than a fast zoom. And the center will put your eyes out. And yes, mine front focuses, easily fixable with focus adjust on an E-620, but even if not, it would still be worth hittin' the manual switch to touch up with the focus ring for the reward at f1.4. Stopped down the the DOF covers the small focus inaccuracies (it;s actually no worse than the kit lens). If you have need or use...something other than "want"...for a fast normal prime, buy this lens, learn it, have an affair with it, and let it take care of you for a long long time.

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

Great lens, great bokeh.

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

Primarily used for low light indoor photography for portraiture and weddings on an E5 and E620. My particular example suffered minor back focus but this has been rectified using the in camera AF adjustment setting. Focus speed isn't the best but patience and knowledge soon overcome this shortfall. Sharpness is good at f/1.4. Once you get down to f/4 it soon becomes excellent. At f/11 is is superb (studio usage). Build quality is ok. The plastic around the distance scale and lower part of the body is fairly poor. I know these used to be all metal as I owned one in the F-mount before. Overall though, it really is a great little lens. Will be adding the 50mm f/1.4.

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

f/1.4 very handy in low light, indoor handheld portraits. Day to day use, especially after dusk. At f/1.4 the bokeh is so great some photos seem out of focus. Small, easy to pack but heavy. Expensive; quality build.

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

This lens has been an awesome addition to my equipment. It has transformed my portraits & wedding shots completely.

I love the look and the size of this lens. And the fact that it comes with a lens hood a case makes it even sweeter.

The only thing that could be a little better is the autofocus. At times it seems to search a bit. But other then that, it's an all around great lens. Very happy with it.

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

I own an e520 and the lens I received had a severe front focus problem (which I tested thoroughly to make sure). I returned the lens and got a full refund. Didn't want to risk another bad copy.

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

Semi-professional, glamour photography is super easy with this lens. It allows for the control of depth of field perfectly. I prefer my subjects to be in crisp focus and the backgrounds to just blur into a nice bokeh. When I shoot wide open, I focus on the eyes in every shot and get crisp focus on the face. Everything else just blurs away. The results are stunning!

Shooting at F8 or above produces enough overall sharpness throughout the image for me, too.

There's nothing like fast glass and I think that this lens is a true value. It makes my E510 perform like a professional camera.

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

I have been using this lens primarily for portraits and for some landscapes. I purchased the lens for low light shots, though haven't gotten to use it much yet.

a few things i like about it
• fast
• fairly close to 50mm
• accurate focusing
• durable build

few things i didn't
• limited to f16 when closed
• absence of zoom, not unexpected though
• no macro
• would like a wider angle

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

Good all around lense very sharp at f5 thru f11 a little soft wide open.

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

I use this as a general purpose lens as well as a portrait lens. I know 60mm is an odd focal length but it is something easily overcome.

This lens is very well built and compliments my E3 perfectly, what is surprising is how well it compliments my E420, what a sweet combo.

Pros:
Very well built
Fast, silent, and accurate AF
Nice large aperture
No distortion
No CA

Cons:
Little soft wide open (especially at the edges)

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

Reading the specs on this lens it promises to be a great lens. For me I love the 60mm FOV on my E3 and the 1.4 aperture is perfect for the portraiture I specialize in. I was hoping this lens would make up for the obvious gap Olympus has in the fast prime area but it just did not cut it for me.

I went through two different lenses and they both suffered from the same issue, off mark focusing. I used a controlled environment to test the lens for focus accuracy at several apertures, the most important to me being wide open. Using the same focus chart for both lenses and exacting standards for the control the results were different for each lens.

The first lens missed focus to the left of center by as much as an inch from a distance of 1.5 feet, the second lens missed focus to the upper right by as much as 1 inch at the same exact distance. As I stopped the lens down the accuracy became more in line with what I expected, so this leads me to believe the lenses had some misalignment issues wide open.

The build quality of the lens is very good. It is a little large for a prime however at 1.4 you can expect to have some pretty impressive glass.

With regard to sharpness this lens provides very good results once you get to 2.8 of smaller and in the 4.5 to 6 area is it excellent edge to edge. I found the edge sharpness at apertures larger than 2.8 to be unacceptable for my work but some may find this to be within their realm.

Overall my disappoint with this lens may be a result of being spoiled by the Zuiko Digital Lenses, they are mostly flawless and are without peer in most price ranges.

Pros-
Build quality
Size
4 yr warranty from Sigma
Price is great

Cons-
Center focus issues wide open
Soft edges wide open
Not weather sealed

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

I have an E-510 and was looking for an affordable fast lens for indoor low light situations. I have had no problem focusing in low light, and the pictures have been sharp. It is a little heavy on my 510, but I expected that.

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

I am a professional photographer and use my equipment primarily for portrait (environmental) photography. I was hoping this lens would be able to compete with my Olympus 50mm f2.0 and provide faster AF. It definitely focuses faster but it is very soft in comparison.

This lens is very well built and has a very tactile feel to it, too bad the glass is not as good as the metal. Would have loved to have that 1.4 aperture.

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

Wow, I guess I didn't realize how quickly a lens could auto focus and how that would help in low light situations. I haven't used it at a gig yet, but my testing has been great. I have a wedding coming up at the end of the month and I bought this lens specifically for that occasion. All indicators are that it is going work out nicely.

I'm using the Olympus E-510 DSLR.

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

As the most affordable low-light lens for the 4/3rds System, this is an amazing lens. It's sharp, bright, and works like a charm with an E-410. I love the bokeh you get with it, and it's amazing for portraits. I've had it for a day now and used it at an evening banquet. I couldn't be happier with what I got. Very solid feel and unusual but nice finish (sort of a matte/suede). The only thing I don't like about it is that the focus is a little slower than the Zuiko's, but it makes up for it by locking just about every single time.

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

I use the lens as my permanent lens when I am out and about. I find it quick and accurate. As a prime lens it is excellent. I really cannot find fault with it, as this is the role I purchased it for and it fulfills my needs perfectly

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

Aside from Sigma's somewhat notoriously questionable QC, this lens in the four-thirds variety is an incredible addition to any Olympus camera bag. Build quality is much better than expected and image quality when the lens is properly focused is exceptional. It's important to keep in mind that at f1.4 there is little margin of error during manual or auto focus functions. Thus, it's extremely important to focus very carefully especially if shooting with large apectures.
Of important note is the ability of the 30/1.4 to compress depth of field. An all too often issue with many digital camera lenses.
With the 2X crop factor present with the four thirds format, this lens becomes the 35mm equiv. of a 60mm lens. A very nice focal length for environment portraits.

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

The allure of the fast prime lens is an almost unavoidablesiren's call.The problem is that while Canon/Nikon users have some strongchoices for under $200, Four Thirds users have to pony upfor either this lens, a slower Olympus, or a very expensive(and rare) Leica-badged Panasonic.So, frustrated with the wait on the Panny, I decided on theSigma.As a a Digilux 3 user, I was frustrated with the lack ofaperture ring I was used to on the Leica kit lens, but foundmyself adjusting pretty quickly.(This isn't an issue for non L1 or Digilux 3 users asaperture is controlled on the body itself on all otherOlympus cameras)I worried about back-focus, but to be honest, it hasn't beenmuch of an issue. There is the occasional shot that's misseddue to low-light situations. I've read that you can send thelens to be calibrated to your body, but haven't gotten tothat point yet.Manual focus is a bit dodgy due to a small viewfinder andintermittent focus confirmation, but the auto focus does anadmirable job 7 or 8 times out of 10.Image quality is pretty solid - with such a wide aperture,you'll have some softness on pretty much everything thatisn't the focal point.Once you bring the aperture down, everything sharpens up nicely.The bokeh is nice and consistent, but not as beautiful asI've seen on the Leica 25mm samples.The lens is a bit large, as is the Leica 25mm.Overall, the 30mm f1.4 is a good, solid lens that deliverson the promise of a fast prime lens for Four Thirds users.It's a bit pricey, but still cheaper than the Leica.Don't be turned off by the spotty Sigma reputation andmisinformation you've seen spread on other review sites.This lens has replaced the beautiful kit lens that came withthe Digilux and it serves as a reminder of the days when aprime lens is what you learned to compose on.Simple, quiet, and (so far) reliable.

Expertise: Professional Photographer

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Leica lenses, Pentax 50mm f1.4

Items I Recommend: 62mm filter

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

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 reminds me of my first OM1 with a 50mm standard lens. While 25mm is the standard lens equivalent on the 4/3rds format, I like the slight telephoto effect of this very sharp, very bright gem of a lens.The specialist niche for the well-built, solid Sigma is probably low-light photography, at dawn, dusk, interior shots without flash, streets at night, etc. It does a admirable job in these situations.The high built quality inspires confidence. The lens focuses very quietly, very quick and decisive on my E-500. The bokeh is attractive.One needs to keep the limited DOF in mind with a fast 1.4 lens. It can be unforgiving of focusing errors when used at f1.4 or slightly higher because of this. Take care to focus at exactly the right spot.Being a prime, non-zoom lens, the optical construction is uncomplicated, which result in much less flare compared to my zooms.

Expertise: South Africa

Problems Encountered: None. My only complaint is that the lens does not focus closer than 40cm.

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4