FIRST LOOK: Sigma 30mm F/1.4 Contemporary Lens for Sony E-Mount
21st Apr 2016
Well, this is exciting!
Sigma sent us an early copy of their brand new 30mm f/1.4 prime lens for Sony E-Mount, so we took some test shots to see how it performs! It is great to see Sigma grow their lens selection for the E-Mount, especially something so bright as a f/1.4. This lens is for APS-C format, however it can be used on the fullframe FE series of cameras in ASP-C crop mode.
Now, disclosure before you read the rest. I do not do lens tests all the time. I am sure other resources and websites will be more meticulous and fine-tuned and conscious when it comes to tests like this, but we wanted to show some basic performance details with this lens without going into a crazy amount of detail.
This lens is small, lightweight, and very fast. Now, unlike the Canon/Nikon/Sony/Sigma cousin 30mm f/1.4, this lens is a branded with their "Contemporary" label instead of their "Art" label. Even though their art lenses are their top of the line, the more affordable Contemporary series still packs a punch in image quality and overall performance. Lets dive a bit deeper with some examples:
Annnnd... here are the 100% Crop of the images above!
Now, I don't think I missed focus at 1.4, but it isn't as sharp as F/2.8. That being said, for a sub $350 lens F/1.4 lens (does that even exist in another mount?!), that is still very impressive. F/2.8 - F/8 or so really look great.
Here are a few more images for you to feast your curious eyes on...
Definitely seeing a little bit of chromatic aberration around the text, but nothing insanely bad. Again, this is a sub-$350 lens. I wouldn't expect to see chromatic abberation like this from an Art lens or anything at a higher price point, but to get into a F/1.4 in Sony, you are looking to spend upwards of $1000 and more, so for the price, this is very impressive.
I have always been a big fan of Sigma products and everything they have put out in the last few years has proven to be of the upmost quality.