I have this lens and the 60mm 2.8 for portraits . The 30 is my walkabout lens and my 28 1.8 on my phone covers the wide end . Shooting on MFT means the lenses are double and so the 30 is 60mm and the 60 becomes 120mm. Back in the film days my favourite walk about lens was 55mm and portraits were done on 135 mm. These lenses are really sharp and the 60mm is one of the very best lenses you can get anywhere . When we look at the price of these gems then it is a wonder why Sony and MFT users don’t have a least one copy of these lenses or more . Having all three is More appealing than a pro zoom .
Outstanding review and just completely packed with great examples....I can't stand all the Sony lens talking heads on CZcams that take two or three pictures around their little apartment and call it a review.. this is truly in depth with both still and video examples and veried lighting conditions. I just saw one of these listed locally for $120 and based on this review I'm going to drop the cash on that pretty much as fast as I can. Thanks again for a true users review.
This was a fantastic review. I'm a Portlander, so I was surprised to see downtown in the background of these shots! I'm picking up one of these this weekend. Cheers!
If you look and shine light through both the CZ lens and the Sigma you will see a color difference in the glass between the two. Sigma typically uses a higher iron in their glass (blueish hue in the glass.) The Zeiss you will notice will not have and color on the lens groups. Built into the Sigma in the past the lens would (without people noticing) change the white balance in the camera. I have used Sigma in the past on my Nikon DSLR's and when I would change the white balance to florescent lights oh man......what a mess. After several times to my camera dealer he asked what lens are you using I stepped up to the Nikor lens and never had a issue. The do have sharp glass just don't white balance let the white balance changes to post production. I do have to say this was about 3 years ago. Hopefully hey have changed the glass. as always great review and thanks for the hard work!
+n3qdz Thanks Matt, I do think Sigma has stepped up the quality quite a lot in recent years. I really like the Art series lenses that I have tried. With that said, they are not Carl Zeiss glass. I will definitely examine both lenses as you suggest and look for differences - i find lens construction very interesting! Cheers, Sean
Just picked one up myself the other day. My first Sigma lens and about 10 years. Couldn’t pass up the $200 buy. Took a few sample test shots and indeed it is really good
I whacked one on my A7ii today, just for fun. I don't know how it compares to sharpness to the 28 f2 Sony or 35 f2.8 Zeiss. I can see straight away it's sharp.
I have this lens as well as the Sigma 19mm f2.8 but decided to upgrade to the Sony 35mm f1.8 as I was really missing the OSS stability and brighter lens to no have to use such slower shutter speeds and get blurry shots when doing my street photography. cant be the price though. great if shooting outdoors in good light, not for low loght/night time though
You say the lens focuses slower than native lenses but I would have to disagree with that statement from experience. I have tried multiple Sony, Sony/Zeiss (55.1.8, 24 2) and sigmas side by side before deciding to purchase and have found that the difference in minimal and in fact the sigma may have an edge in speed when mounted on our A6000s. I'm sure there are variations with batches but I think this is indicative of the norm for this body. In fact, when on continuous focus, both I and the shop manager found it difficult to tell when it started to refocus due speed and quiet manner in which it operated. To make a discernible comparison we had to focus from 2' to infinity. But mind you this is only a subjective observation and not an exhaustive lab test. Also bought the sigma 60mm 2.8 as well. What do you think about that lens? Nice review on a nice lens. Keep up the good work.
+Sophiep Tran I may have phrased the issue in terms of focus speed. I probably should have been more specific and spoken about phase detect autofocus (PDAF). When the Sigma 30 was first released, it did not deliver full PDAF (the dancing green squares) when paired with with Sony cameras. The central portion of the frame had PDAF, but coverage was not as broad as delivered with native Sony lenses. Thus, PDAF was less effective when using the Sigma. Note that in the time since, Sony has issued several firmware updates that may (?) have improved matters. I should probably do a fresh test of PDAF and the Sigma 30 with this in mind. In any event, my original intention was not really to criticize the focus speed of the Sigma (which is nevertheless quite good) but to let the viewer know that PDAF may not be fully functional with it. With regard to the Sigma 60, I think it is equally brilliant, and perhaps even sharper than the 30! I own the 60mm and plan to review it also. (I will also be reviewing the 19mm.) Thanks much for your post.
+Sharp View The len does reasonably well in low light situations, but it is an f2.8 and thus not as fast as the Zeiss 24 f1.8 or the Sony 28mm f2. Video is fine, but there is no optical stabilization in the lens.
+Quindry Eisden Hi Quindry, thanks for your post... I'm sorry to report that I have not yet tried the Panasonic 25mm f1.7. Maybe someone else out there reading this can chime in?
Thanks! They are both excellent lenses. The 60 is a 90mm equivalent on the a6000, which is more of a short telephoto - great for portraits, but it will be tight indoors. The 30 is a 45mm equivalent on an a6000, which is an excellent "normal" focal length. The 30mm is the type of lens you can use on a 'walkabout.' The 60 is a little sharper, but personally I find the 30 focal length more useful, so personally I would start with the 30.
+Loloho.Photo if you use this lens in a full frame.. you get vignetting.. that means this lens was designed for aps-c.. how comes this lens on a aps-c sensor (aka: A6000) becomes a 90mm.. it should be just 60mm..or im understanding everything wrong..
On full frame the 60 performs like a 60 -- but with vignetting because the lens passes through light intended to cover an APS-C sensor. On APS-C, the 60 performs like a 90 (the APS-C "cropped" portion of light equals a 90mm field of view). The first time you use an APS-C lens on a full frame camera and see the results, this will all make sense. Maybe I will do a video about this topic.
Loloho.Photo so this lens is the one with the problem, it doesn't know if be a aps-c lens or ff lens. I've seen many trying to understand lenses on different sensors.. So far I had in mind that if using a ff lens on aps-c you would get more length.. 60 to 90 .. And if using a aps-c lens on ff-sensor you would get an smaller length.. 35mm aps-c lens on ff sensor would be 28mm with vignetting.. anyway hope to see a video explaining Thanks
Hi I'm having such a hard time deciding which one to buy... Im between the 19 and 30. Any ideas? id mainly use it for portraits/landscapes and some general group shots.
+Varun Trivedi if you want to take flattering photos of people, the 30 is probably your best bet. The 19 is great but it is wide - actually it's a very similar focal length to that used in many cellphones. The 19 is quite versatile (better for landscapes) but not really suited for true portraits.
razorree I honestly haven't noticed a big difference. I've shot with the 16-50 kit and the Sony 35 1.8, and as far as AF focusing speed and tracking, they really aren't much different from both the 19mm and 30mm 2.8 from Sigma. I have shot on both the a5000 and a6000
Same here man and I also want it primarily for video. I'm leaning towards the 30mm f1.4 being the better choice but this one probably isn't bad either. By the way, nice channel.
+Rezaul Karim Arif Don't get the 60 - although a fine lens, it would not give you much over your 50mm. The 19 would be a good (and inexpensive) choice that owuld make for nice variety with the 50. The Sony 35 is good for video thanks to the OSS. Stay tuned for my review of the new Sigma 30mm f/1.4, which will be posted next week. It may yet prove to be the best of all.
I have this lens and the 60mm 2.8 for portraits . The 30 is my walkabout lens and my 28 1.8 on my phone covers the wide end .
Shooting on MFT means the lenses are double and so the 30 is 60mm and the 60 becomes 120mm.
Back in the film days my favourite walk about lens was 55mm and portraits were done on 135 mm.
These lenses are really sharp and the 60mm is one of the very best lenses you can get anywhere .
When we look at the price of these gems then it is a wonder why Sony and MFT users don’t have a least one copy of these lenses or more . Having all three is More appealing than a pro zoom .
Outstanding review and just completely packed with great examples....I can't stand all the Sony lens talking heads on CZcams that take two or three pictures around their little apartment and call it a review.. this is truly in depth with both still and video examples and veried lighting conditions. I just saw one of these listed locally for $120 and based on this review I'm going to drop the cash on that pretty much as fast as I can. Thanks again for a true users review.
This was a fantastic review. I'm a Portlander, so I was surprised to see downtown in the background of these shots! I'm picking up one of these this weekend. Cheers!
Just ordered this lens. Looking forward to giving a prime lens a try on my A6000. Some nice images on this video.
If you look and shine light through both the CZ lens and the Sigma you will see a color difference in the glass between the two. Sigma typically uses a higher iron in their glass (blueish hue in the glass.) The Zeiss you will notice will not have and color on the lens groups. Built into the Sigma in the past the lens would (without people noticing) change the white balance in the camera. I have used Sigma in the past on my Nikon DSLR's and when I would change the white balance to florescent lights oh man......what a mess. After several times to my camera dealer he asked what lens are you using I stepped up to the Nikor lens and never had a issue. The do have sharp glass just don't white balance let the white balance changes to post production. I do have to say this was about 3 years ago. Hopefully hey have changed the glass. as always great review and thanks for the hard work!
+n3qdz Thanks Matt, I do think Sigma has stepped up the quality quite a lot in recent years. I really like the Art series lenses that I have tried. With that said, they are not Carl Zeiss glass. I will definitely examine both lenses as you suggest and look for differences - i find lens construction very interesting! Cheers, Sean
Just picked one up myself the other day. My first Sigma lens and about 10 years. Couldn’t pass up the $200 buy. Took a few sample test shots and indeed it is really good
I whacked one on my A7ii today, just for fun. I don't know how it compares to sharpness to the 28 f2 Sony or 35 f2.8 Zeiss. I can see straight away it's sharp.
I use this lens on Sony a7ii with apsc crop, and is very good !
I have this lens as well as the Sigma 19mm f2.8 but decided to upgrade to the Sony 35mm f1.8 as I was really missing the OSS stability and brighter lens to no have to use such slower shutter speeds and get blurry shots when doing my street photography. cant be the price though. great if shooting outdoors in good light, not for low loght/night time though
Wonderful video thank you so much! This will definitely be my first prime :)
You say the lens focuses slower than native lenses but I would have to disagree with that statement from experience. I have tried multiple Sony, Sony/Zeiss (55.1.8, 24 2) and sigmas side by side before deciding to purchase and have found that the difference in minimal and in fact the sigma may have an edge in speed when mounted on our A6000s. I'm sure there are variations with batches but I think this is indicative of the norm for this body.
In fact, when on continuous focus, both I and the shop manager found it difficult to tell when it started to refocus due speed and quiet manner in which it operated. To make a discernible comparison we had to focus from 2' to infinity. But mind you this is only a subjective observation and not an exhaustive lab test.
Also bought the sigma 60mm 2.8 as well. What do you think about that lens? Nice review on a nice lens. Keep up the good work.
+Sophiep Tran I may have phrased the issue in terms of focus speed. I probably should have been more specific and spoken about phase detect autofocus (PDAF). When the Sigma 30 was first released, it did not deliver full PDAF (the dancing green squares) when paired with with Sony cameras. The central portion of the frame had PDAF, but coverage was not as broad as delivered with native Sony lenses. Thus, PDAF was less effective when using the Sigma. Note that in the time since, Sony has issued several firmware updates that may (?) have improved matters. I should probably do a fresh test of PDAF and the Sigma 30 with this in mind. In any event, my original intention was not really to criticize the focus speed of the Sigma (which is nevertheless quite good) but to let the viewer know that PDAF may not be fully functional with it.
With regard to the Sigma 60, I think it is equally brilliant, and perhaps even sharper than the 30! I own the 60mm and plan to review it also. (I will also be reviewing the 19mm.) Thanks much for your post.
Great in-depth review...
I don't need the beer :) love your reviews, of course subscribed!
+Spikey Groeneweg Thanks much for the sub. More reviews on the way!
+Loloho.Photo When you have the time, please review the Sigma 30mm F1.4 for sony E-Mount. Many thanks.
I will try to get my hands on a copy!
Great review thanks!
very good information, where are these beautiful places?
can I use that lens for Sony e-mount also on the Olympus omd- E10 mark III ?
so is that lens mainly for full-frame since theres a crop on apsc?
Great review 👌
Awesome review! How does it preform in low light situations? And is the video quality good?
+Sharp View The len does reasonably well in low light situations, but it is an f2.8 and thus not as fast as the Zeiss 24 f1.8 or the Sony 28mm f2. Video is fine, but there is no optical stabilization in the lens.
this looks like a dream
can this be paired with canon 700d?
Hii sean nice review on this lens. Do you have any experience with panasonic 25mm f1.7? If you do what are you thoughts on it ?
+Quindry Eisden Hi Quindry, thanks for your post... I'm sorry to report that I have not yet tried the Panasonic 25mm f1.7. Maybe someone else out there reading this can chime in?
good vid thanks
Great video . If you where going to get either the Sigma 30mm or the 60mm (for the Sony a6000) which would you choose ??
Thanks! They are both excellent lenses. The 60 is a 90mm equivalent on the a6000, which is more of a short telephoto - great for portraits, but it will be tight indoors. The 30 is a 45mm equivalent on an a6000, which is an excellent "normal" focal length. The 30mm is the type of lens you can use on a 'walkabout.' The 60 is a little sharper, but personally I find the 30 focal length more useful, so personally I would start with the 30.
+Loloho.Photo Great . Thank you very much .
+Loloho.Photo if you use this lens in a full frame.. you get vignetting.. that means this lens was designed for aps-c.. how comes this lens on a aps-c sensor (aka: A6000) becomes a 90mm.. it should be just 60mm..or im understanding everything wrong..
On full frame the 60 performs like a 60 -- but with vignetting because the lens passes through light intended to cover an APS-C sensor. On APS-C, the 60 performs like a 90 (the APS-C "cropped" portion of light equals a 90mm field of view). The first time you use an APS-C lens on a full frame camera and see the results, this will all make sense. Maybe I will do a video about this topic.
Loloho.Photo so this lens is the one with the problem, it doesn't know if be a aps-c lens or ff lens.
I've seen many trying to understand lenses on different sensors.. So far I had in mind that if using a ff lens on aps-c you would get more length.. 60 to 90 .. And if using a aps-c lens on ff-sensor you would get an smaller length.. 35mm aps-c lens on ff sensor would be 28mm with vignetting..
anyway hope to see a video explaining
Thanks
YOU ~ ROCK ! !
For the a6000, what advantage will it give me over using Sony's 3.5/5.6 16mm-50mm lens?
It's sharper and has a brighter maximum aperture (better bokeh and lowlight performance).
+Loloho.Photo how is the focusing
I think he covered that in the video - a bit slower than native Sony lens.
Hi I'm having such a hard time deciding which one to buy... Im between the 19 and 30. Any ideas? id mainly use it for portraits/landscapes and some general group shots.
+Varun Trivedi if you want to take flattering photos of people, the 30 is probably your best bet. The 19 is great but it is wide - actually it's a very similar focal length to that used in many cellphones. The 19 is quite versatile (better for landscapes) but not really suited for true portraits.
Varun Trivedi get the sigma 30mm 1.4 sharpest apsc e lens
is there a big drop in AF tracking performance against Sony lenses ?
razorree I honestly haven't noticed a big difference. I've shot with the 16-50 kit and the Sony 35 1.8, and as far as AF focusing speed and tracking, they really aren't much different from both the 19mm and 30mm 2.8 from Sigma. I have shot on both the a5000 and a6000
nice bag
I'm torn between this lens and the 30mm f1.4. I want it primarily for video actually.
Old Cameras me too, what did you decide?
Still torn :)
Same here man and I also want it primarily for video. I'm leaning towards the 30mm f1.4 being the better choice but this one probably isn't bad either. By the way, nice channel.
get the sony 35 1.8 if you are using it for video. oss and better autofocus makes it a no brainer.
I ADDED A RUBBER FOCUS RING ON TOP OF THE METAL FOCUS RING, IT LOOKS BETTER AND FEELS BETTER
I wrapped my 30/2.8 ART;s barrel in friction tape
I have a Sony 50mm ...so should i get the Sigma 60mm, 19mm or 35mm? for day to day shoot. thanks
+Rezaul Karim Arif Don't get the 60 - although a fine lens, it would not give you much over your 50mm. The 19 would be a good (and inexpensive) choice that owuld make for nice variety with the 50. The Sony 35 is good for video thanks to the OSS. Stay tuned for my review of the new Sigma 30mm f/1.4, which will be posted next week. It may yet prove to be the best of all.
Thank you. waiting :)
4:10 - real dreamy
i love my sigma is super sharp