Conclusion
Pros:
- Extremely sharp lens even at maximum aperture. Stopping down yields good edge-to-edge sharpness.
- Excellent contrast and good color gives images a lot of pop
- Good control of lens aberrations like CA, distortion, flare and vignetting
- New metal clad design looks good and feels nice in the hand
- Small and lightweight
- Extremely affordable
Cons:
- Autofocus is a little pokey
- Build quality, while decent, could be a little better
- Prone to fingerprints and light scratches
The Sigma 30mm f/2.8 is one of the very best bargains in the photographic industry. It’s a very inexpensive lens ($199 retail, on sale at the time of this writing at $169), but packs serious imaging capabilities. The lens is small, light and puts out images with very high levels of detail right from f/2.8. Stopped down a bit yields excellent cross-frame sharpness and high contrast photos. While there are a few small things like a bit of barrel distortion and a not-so-fast autofocus system, overall, it’s hard to get a better lens for the price. Frankly, in many ways, it’s hard to get a better lens for three to four times its price. Sure, it’s not the fastest normal focal length lens in the world, but if you are OK with an f/2.8 aperture, it’s worth your money to get this lens. A simply top-notch effort from Sigma.
Sample Images
Click on an image to enlarge.
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Great review. I plan on buying a6000 and this lens seems like a very good value for the money…
Hi, I am planing to Buy Prime lens but i am confused if i buy sony 35mm 1.8 or sigma 30mm 2.8, i don’t want a lens of 50MM 1.8 coz it will be difficult to shoot in smaller place. is the sigma 30mm 2.8 is same as 50mm 1.8 on sony A6000.
or it is focal length will be same as 30mm on A6000
The A6000 will crop every lens attached to it so the 30mm lens from either Sony or Sigma will look like a 50mm. The 50mm lens would look like a 75mm So you are right to want the 30mm in tight spots.
Jordan, on the 30mm DN Art, I have heard that the lens does not work well with the Phase detection auto focus on the A6000, have you experience with this? Unless it was the old model and Sigma has fixed it. Thank you!
What is meant by f/2.8 @ f/5.6?
I am a novice.
Hi
Considering DXO reviewing, the older 30mm is apparently sharper than the newer Art version, what do you think about this ?
I’d like to buy one but i would like the best one of course
Does it support phase detection AF for continuous shootng?
Could you compare this lens and 28/2 on APS-C?