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Review: Sigma 30mm f/2.8 DN Art (Sony E Mount)

Posted on July 3, 2014July 11, 2014 by Jordan Steele

Contents

  • 1Build Quality and Handling
  • 2Autofocus Performance
  • 3Image Quality
  • 4Conclusion
  • 5Sample Images

Conclusion

sigma_artPros:

  • 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.

Fallsville Falls - Sony NEX 6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/11
Fallsville Falls – Sony NEX 6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/16
Iron Gate - Sony NEX 6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8
Iron Gate – Sony NEX 6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8
Morning Highrises - Sony NEX 6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6
Morning Highrises – Sony NEX 6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6
Mansion Gate - Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 DN Art @ f/2.8
Mansion Gate – Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 DN Art @ f/2.8
Stormy Morning - Sony A6000 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/13
Stormy Morning – Sony A6000 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/13
Stage Door - Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/4
Stage Door – Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2
Curves - Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/5
Curves – Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/8
Wet Bricks - Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/11
Wet Bricks – Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/7.1
Stage Door - Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/4
Stage Door – Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/4.5
LeVeque Tower at Dawn - Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6
LeVeque Tower at Dawn – Sony NEX-6 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6
Pages: 1 2 3

13 thoughts on “Review: Sigma 30mm f/2.8 DN Art (Sony E Mount)”

  1. Pingback: Sony Tidbits… | sonyalpharumors
  2. Miles says:
    September 17, 2014 at 8:32 am

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  3. Nick says:
    October 16, 2014 at 4:04 am

    Great review. I plan on buying a6000 and this lens seems like a very good value for the money…

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Review: Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN Art (Sony E-Mount) - Admiring Light
  5. Nikhil says:
    February 6, 2015 at 9:22 am

    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

    Reply
    1. rich says:
      February 8, 2015 at 3:28 am

      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.

      Reply
  6. Pingback: Two Sony E-Mount Lenses: Zeiss 24 F1.8 and Sigma 30mm F2.8 - The GetDPI Photography Forums
  7. BK says:
    August 27, 2015 at 11:17 am

    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!

    Reply
  8. Kay says:
    March 16, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    What is meant by f/2.8 @ f/5.6?
    I am a novice.

    Reply
  9. wolf says:
    May 23, 2016 at 7:26 pm

    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

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Review: Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN (Sony E-Mount) - Admiring Light
  11. Wolfgang Weidner says:
    September 4, 2016 at 12:38 pm

    Does it support phase detection AF for continuous shootng?

    Reply
  12. Maciek says:
    April 1, 2018 at 6:02 am

    Could you compare this lens and 28/2 on APS-C?

    Reply

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