The New Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C…

Any time anybody comes out with anything photographically new, I get excited.  Whether it’s something I’m expressly interested in or not I get excited.  So when Sigma announced that they were coming out with a Sigma 30mm F1.4 for the smaller DX style image circle but it was for Micro 4/3 and Sony E-mount I was happy that the systems were getting some attention even if I had never intended to go look at this lens in a store.  And then, Sigma got ahold of me and asked if I wanted to try it out.  Of course I said yes and after a little bit of begging to the folks at Roberts Camera here in Indy they found a Sony A7s for me to use it on while I had it.  Once it arrived in the mail, I was ready to head into the unknown world of a Sony body with a Sigma lens.  What was I thinking.

(Sony A7s, AISO 100, NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C, 1/200th@F1.4)

To be honest I really didn’t know anything about the Sony A7s, nor would I ever have looked it up before being handed one in Robert’s downtown location.  I was surprised as to how compact the A7s was, and the Sigma 30mm F1.4 lens to mount to it was what I would consider to be a standard sized lens for the package.  First of all, the A7s was a great bad camera for this test.  It’s 12 megapixels and full frame.  Anybody that understands the Alphabet soup that goes along with this Sigma lens, knows that this lens is NOT made for a full frame body, so if you were to shoot full frame with it, you get this nasty vignette as shown below.

(Sony A7s, ISO 125, NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C, 1/250th@F1.4)

The A7s IS capable of being put into DX/DC mode, but the shots are only 5.1 megapixels like that.  This is good and bad.  It’s good because now I can see how the new Sigma performed, but my files are incredibly small.  That said, the Sigma killed it.  I wish all my F1.4 glass focused this fast, and this well on my Nikon bodies.

(Sony A7s, AISO 100, NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C, 1/2500th@F1.4)

The Sigma had zero trouble keeping up with moving targets even on AF-S(ingle).  The Continuous autofocus on the Sony seemed a bit ‘off’ to me, so I decided to just use the single focus and never looked back.  The camera was surprisingly hard to trick, even at F1.4.  All the shots I wanted in focus, were nailed and even the shots I decided I did NOT want were nailed.  Very few were out of focus for reasons other than my own stupidity and this shocks me because if you put my Nikon 24F1.4 or my Sigma 35F1.4Art on my one of my Nikon bodies, there is always a way to trick them into being out of focus.

(Sony A7s, ISO 50, NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C, 1/8000th@F1.4)

As it comes to sharpness technology has made it so that any lens needs to be sharp in order to make it.  The New Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C does not disappoint, and mounted to the Sony A7s it’s practically a dream combo since the A7s can practically see in any light.  Having never used the sony camera before this test I can tell you that I was quite impressed with how it handled the new Sigma lens, and in any light I could see this being a killer combo.

(Sony A7s, AISO 100, NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C, 1/640th@F1.4)

SO here is the rub.  I don’t shoot Sony.  I very rarely come into contact with a Sony camera.  I can tell you for 100% certain though that if I owned a Sony SLR, I would own the NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C.  It’s a dream combo.  Walking around snapping away in any light with almost guaranteed accuracy of the AF was incredible.  I’m not sure how much can be attributed to either the camera or the lens, but 100% sure these should go together.  Maybe Sony needs to work with Sigma on selling these 30mm lenses with bodies as a package deal because I can’t imagine using anything else being this good.  We will get to see if I’m wrong though, I’ve got something on the way that will put a Sony in my hands for a few more weeks once again.  Until then though, I dream of a lens like this 30mm F1.4 DC DN C that works as well on my Nikon bodies.  Consider the bar raised with this one.  More soon.

(Sony A7s, AISO 12,800, NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN C, 1/125th@F1.4)