Your thoughts on Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

I just need a little push so tell me you love it and I'll buy it tomorrow. :-)
Seriously though, seems like a great prime lense with a perfect focal length and aperture.

Anyone with experience from shooting video with this lens and how does it work with ML? Does it report focus distance for instance?

Another thing, the focus ring on other Sigmas have a short span and some even feel loose (don't know the term). How is manual focusing on this one?

And how's the focal length? Is it an allround?

[Malcolm Debono]

You'll love it 

I haven't personally tried it, but many users swear by it. It's perfect for crop bodies since the focal length becomes near 50mm, and it provides a wonderful image when shooting wide open.

50mm (on 35mm sensor) lenses are considered as standard primes since they provide a FOV which is very similar to the way we see things, so it's a very good focal length to work with. The 50mm 1.8 is in fact one of my go-to lenses when shooting in clubs on my 5D2.

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

Thanks.

One thing I don't get is that the lens is made for cropped so from my pov the focal should be 30 but you say 50 which I've read on other sites. What gives?

And how does the Samyang 35mm stack up IQ wise (I know, no AF)?

[screamer]

Hi,
About the focal lenght, dosen't matter if it's made only for crop sensor, the focal lenght is always referred to fullframe. For example i have the canon 60mm macro, that is apsc only, and the real focal lenght with my 60d is about a 100mm.
About the lens, i don't have the sigma, but i think is quite good reading the reviews. and is AF
About the samyang, i have all their lenses, and i literally love it. I believe (but not shure, because never tried the sigma) that the samyang is more robust (all metal), and for shure is way bigger (really is a really big dude for his focal lenght). About shooting stills or video with the samyang, i can confirm that is a pleasure, especially at 1.4. The bokeh is phenomenal and the minimum focus distance is really near (but don't know where is the sigma one). In less word, the samyang 35mm 1.4 (and all the other samyang except the 24 1.4) the build quality is superlative, and the image quality is amazing, and not only for it's price. For example i have the 50mm 1.4 of canon, but the bokeh of sammy is way better (for my tastes). And not to mention the supersmooth superprecise focus ring, where samyang is a master, way better than the other manufacturers (at least for the lens that i have, but never tried a L lens ).

Here is some shots done with that lens:







and if you want to see other, and at bigger resolution (where you can see not only the fabulous bokeh but the nice detail in focus) here is a set on flickr dedicated to this lens

now it's up to your tastes, but if you think to use it for video purpouses, probably the samyang is a better choice, IMO
cheers

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

Thanks screamer. Beautiful pics.
The Samyang is famous. Seems a little big to me though.

Hi,
About the focal lenght, dosen't matter if it's made only for crop sensor, the focal lenght is always referred to fullframe.

Hmm, I didn't know this. That made the world of a difference to me. Thanks for clearing that out. 

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

Bought the Sigma during lunch today. Not overwhelmed by the center sharpness looking at the LCD. And the Chromatic Aberration is there.
Gonna do more tests when I get home screening every pixel with my 27 inches iMac. :-)
The 1.4 is nice though. :-)

[screamer]

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

Man, the DoF of 1.4 must be handled with care. Easy as hell to get out of focus pics.
Pixel peeping shows ok sharpness though.
A tri- or monopod is almost a must when filming though (no IS)...unless it can be fixed in post. Gonna have a look.

The AF has problems in lo-light.

[screamer]

Hey,
i have a precious suggestion about using fast lenses (more than 2.. A hint that is anyway valid for all the cameras and all the lenses, to have a little better focus managemente in shooting still using viewfinder.
Almost every canon camera. The default focusing screen on every camera is "a" type. For example canon 60d come out with ef-a focusing screen by default. The 5d MKII comes out with Eg-a.
And this screens are optimized for brightness. This means that on the viewfinder you don't really see what the sensor will take, but a brightened, less precise, version.
I changed the focusing screen on my 60d a week after buying my first 1.4 lens, because of a lot of problems in finding the correct focus with it. And now i have a ef-s instead of ef-a. And wow, this is really different. You have a more consistent visual preview of where is the slice of focus (the ef-a gived the impression of a bigger area in focus that the real one).
Of course this modification dosen't change the live view, or the quality of pictures taken, it's only about better seeing in viewfinder. A cons of this focusing screen is that you loose a little brightness, so, especially when focusing in lowlight situations or with very closed apertures in manual lenses, you can have some problems, but in my experience nothing serious. I found a great benefit, for a little amount of money (and you can change it by yourself, really simple task). And the less brightness disadvantage it's only matter of getting used, then all works better

[screamer]

and here is the link to a little guide from canon

and other manufacturers make his own focusing screens, one of the most famous (never tried but very tempted for the prism on 60d because canon dosen't made one) is katzeye

[weldroid]

Man, the DoF of 1.4 must be handled with care. Easy as hell to get out of focus pics.
Pixel peeping shows ok sharpness though.
A tri- or monopod is almost a must when filming though (no IS)...unless it can be fixed in post. Gonna have a look.

The AF has problems in lo-light.

Let us know to what extent it is possible to fix that camera shake in post!

[screamer]

If you use aftereffects, it has a powerful tracking tool that you can use for image stabilization. But you loose a part of footage, so for example if you have a 1920 video shaking, you can crop and stabilize to 1280. Sana it World pretty well.

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

Let us know to what extent it is possible to fix that camera shake in post!

Tried with the internal stabiliser in FCPX. It was awful and useless. AE is supposed to be better but I haven't had any luck with post stabilisation no matter what program or settings. For handheld video shots then you need IS to rid that pesky microstutter. A little wobbling adds to the cinema effect me think.
No IS means tripod or atleast monopod.

Done some sharpness comparison (stills) between the Sigma and my Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and I had to zoom in 300% before I could tell that the Canon was sharper. This was at f4 which is supposed to be the sharpest aperture for both lenses. So no major difference in the real world.

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

Hey,
i have a precious suggestion about using fast lenses (more than 2.. A hint that is anyway valid for all the cameras and all the lenses, to have a little better focus managemente in shooting still using viewfinder.
Almost every canon camera. The default focusing screen on every camera is "a" type. For example canon 60d come out with ef-a focusing screen by default. The 5d MKII comes out with Eg-a.
And this screens are optimized for brightness. This means that on the viewfinder you don't really see what the sensor will take, but a brightened, less precise, version.
I changed the focusing screen on my 60d a week after buying my first 1.4 lens, because of a lot of problems in finding the correct focus with it. And now i have a ef-s instead of ef-a. And wow, this is really different. You have a more consistent visual preview of where is the slice of focus (the ef-a gived the impression of a bigger area in focus that the real one).
Of course this modification dosen't change the live view, or the quality of pictures taken, it's only about better seeing in viewfinder. A cons of this focusing screen is that you loose a little brightness, so, especially when focusing in lowlight situations or with very closed apertures in manual lenses, you can have some problems, but in my experience nothing serious. I found a great benefit, for a little amount of money (and you can change it by yourself, really simple task). And the less brightness disadvantage it's only matter of getting used, then all works better

Been looking at them prismas before. My first camera, Minolta X300 had a split-image type and I loved it. However I'm concerned with the darkening of the viewfinder. My 600D has mirrors and not a prism so already there I have a more darkened viewfinder. With a 60D with the pentaprism it's another story.
I'll suck on it for a bit. Might test it. The katzeye with Optibrite is $160. I'll put it on my christmas wish list. :-)

[weldroid]

I'd definitely get something like that for a manual lens. I guess it doesn't help with video right? Also, as I have understood the 600D does not officially support this mod, so it would probably break the warranty...

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

I'd definitely get something like that for a manual lens. I guess it doesn't help with video right? Also, as I have understood the 600D does not officially support this mod, so it would probably break the warranty...

Just for optical viewfinder and not the LCD.
Don't know about the warranty. Canon posts instructions for replacing focus glass for other moduls so shouldn't be a problem as you always can restore.

[weldroid]

Tried with the internal stabiliser in FCPX. It was awful and useless. AE is supposed to be better but I haven't had any luck with post stabilisation no matter what program or settings. For handheld video shots then you need IS to rid that pesky microstutter. A little wobbling adds to the cinema effect me think.
No IS means tripod or atleast monopod.

I came to the same conclusion after switching off IS... seems in low light you either need to:
- use some plugin in post to fix noise
or
(use some plugin in post to fix camera shake or increase stability by adding support/weight)

When it comes to post, Boris Continuum features both, but so far I have found noise reduction more usable than camera shake smoothing... it does help a bit, but it can't get rid of that high frequency shake completely. Premiere CS6 neither, and it takes ages to analyze the footage.

Besides, I've been watching the show  called "The Shield" lately, lots of shake, tons of noise, brilliant acting and story, so who cares 

[he56ys5ysu7w4]

Neat Video for denoising. Highly recommended. They have a trial version. Limit: 720p with a logo but try it. It rocks and open ups higher ISOs.
Magic Bullets denoiser is another option. Haven't tried it though.

When it comes to shakes it adds to the cinema effect and you get that even with IS which is kewl BUT the microstutter that comes from handheld without IS is terrible and no smoother to date can remove it without "destroying" the clip. imho of course!

"adding support". That all those expensive smooth cam stabilizer toys do really.
Shooting with my HV20 my shots are shaky but when the wife shoots it's butter smooth - the camera is more heavy for her. :-)