A Walk Around Venice with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4

Sigma's "contemporary" series is well-known by photographers worldwide as being comprised of high-quality lenses at a great price, with the 56mm f/1.4 being hailed as one of the best portrait lenses available for crop-sensor mirrorless cameras. Its 30mm twin, however, is equally as impressive, and pairs perfectly with a M4/3 body for a lovely slightly-longer-than-normal focal length.

So with a trip to Venice around the corner, I dusted off the EM5 mk2 and took to the Italian streets to see what this lovely little lens could do.

First off, let's get the technical things out of the way.

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN is offered in Canon EF-M, Sony E, Fuji X, and M4/3 mounts (maybe more to come?). It's got a metal body and 9 elements in 7 groups with 2 aspherical elements, which leads to a dense-feeling 260-280g depending on the mount (270g for M4/3). It has a 52mm filter thread surrounded by a bayonet for an included lens hood, the LH586-01, which I lost somewhere a long time ago but never really needed anyways. The M4/3 version I have here has a diameter of 64.8mm and a length of 72.1mm. A dense and compact lens that feels solid and premium without being heavy.

The AF motor is snappy, there is no optical image stabilization so you're relying on IBIS, and it has a rounded 9-blade aperture that keeps bokeh round and smooth even as you stop down to f/5.6. It's currently available for $399CAD, $340USD, or 340€ (or thereabout) so it's a lens that doesn't break the bank and promises a LOT in return. How does it do?

Build and Handling: 7/10

What can I say, the lack of any weather sealing does take away from the truly premium build quality a little bit, but the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN is truly built solid. The body is all metal and the whole lens feels comfortably dense. Not heavy, but it has a good weight that screams 'premium" every time you touch it. The focus ring is thick and smooth, with good resistance; not too floppy, not too sloppy, not too tight, just right. That said, you will rarely need to touch the focus ring as AF performance is fast and accurate even in dim environments. Using this wonderful little piece of optical engineering really makes me sad that Sigma has effectively abandoned the M4/3 mount.

Alternatives?

In the M4/3 world, the main competition for the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN are mostly ~25mm lenses:

• Lumix 25mm f/1.7 - quite a bit cheaper and lighter, a tiny bit slower. Good optical quality. Lovely little gem.

• Olympus 25mm f/1.8 - No particular benefits other than size. Much smaller, a touch slower, excellent quality, similar price-tag.

• Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 Summilux - significantly more expensive but beautiful quality and weather sealing!

• Olympus 25mm f/1.2 - the price can make it a bit difficult to breathe, but you do gain half a stop of light, a manual focus clutch, weather sealing, and a bonus function button!

• Olympus 30mm f/3.5 and Panasonic 30mm f/2.8 Macro - slower, but you do get macro capability so if you're after a ~30mm prime I guess these should at least be mentioned.

• Yongnuo 25mm f/1.7 - Its cheap but that's about it.

Image Quality: 8/10

Sigma sure knows how to build lenses. Wide-open at f/1.4, the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 is sharp enough for regular use in the centre of the frame, with the corners slightly soft until around f/2.8, though in a pleasing way. Wide open its quite hard for even the best AF systems to nail focus, not to mention it being an incredibly bright aperture to work with in sunlight. The depth of field rolls off softly and bokeh is quite creamy with none of the "soap bubble" effect that reviewers often hate on (I honestly don't mind it). The rest of the usual optical imperfections like vignetting, flares, and fringing are well-controlled; the only time they showed up in a significant enough way to be noticeable in a shot was some purple fringing when wide open at f/1.4, in areas of incredibly high contrast. One slider in any decent raw developer will fix that right up. Otherwise, its smooth sailing.

Who is it for?

That's the real question here; is this lens for you?

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN is for you if you want a normal to (very) short telephoto lens for everyday general use and some portraiture, but don't want to creep into the 45mm+ territory because you feel the framing there is just too tight. You want something that's incredibly high optical quality, brighter than f/1.8, and can autofocus, but also don't want to spend money on "extras" such as weather sealing and buttons on the lenses.

If this sounds like you, then you may have to check the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN out.