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12/02/2006 06:49:33 PM · #1 |
Ok, my last set of the day. I have the Tamron 17-50, which I think is an excellent lens and a Sigma 28mm f1.8 for low light and some close up stuff as it's mag ratio is 1:2.9. I borrowed a buddies Sigma 30mm f1.4DC, which I know is an excellent lens and wanted to test all three.
In terms of sharpness, I think Sigma 30 is a bit sharper at the center but like Photozone's test shows, suffers from corner softness. Since the Sigma 28mm is for FF, both the Tamron and the 28mm seem to have sharper conrers. The 30mm seems to have light falloff till past f2.8 as well, again noticably more than the other two. Shooting against the wall shows the Sigma 28 with most CA. Testing for flare shows the 30mm to have the worst, with lots of CA as well. Even when stopped down to f4, the 30mm seems to have lots of it. Tamron fared the best in terms of CA control and contrast.
Lastly, I tested for Bokeh by using the widest aperature and shooting my moonie at the minimum focus distance to throw the background out of focus. The 28mm by having such as short min. focus dist. had the best bokeh, followed by Sigma 30mm and then Tamron.
Pictures are uploading as I type.
//tomyi.smugmug.com/gallery/2000895
Comments welcome.
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12/03/2006 06:06:33 AM · #2 |
I have the 30 and yes, it has some corner softness (mine is not so bad), there is indeed vignetting (that I correct for with PT-lens).
You forgot about the distortion, which is noticeable with the 30. I correct for that with PT-lens and the profile for a Contax SLR with a 28mm Zeiss Distagon.
In favour of it: It is sharp as heck and has great contrast, right from f/1.4. I really do not mind to use this one wide-open, unlike my Nikkor 50 f/1.4 and 35-70 f/2.8. Both these Nikkors are soft and lack contrast at their max aperture.
Focus of mine is very fast and accurate 95% of the time. Some people have problems, because there is sample variancy.
I haven't encountered CA much with it and certainly not beyond f/2.
It is in fact my most favorite lens and I use it 50% of the time. My 2nd fav would be the 70-200 VR, followed by the 50, the 35-70, the 12-24 and the 18-70 in that order.
Here are some fullsize samples from it, mounted to a Nikon D70.
And here are some recent samples for what I use it for, altough downsized to 800px or less (mix of pbase and dpchallenge):
   
  
I like the paintings and the ones from the State Russian Museum for example are hard to find without visiting the museum. So I photograph them when a museum allows me to, without flash, just shooting with a very large aperture and high iso. The 30 is great for that.
But also for everyday street scenes. Very flexible and very good.
Message edited by author 2006-12-03 06:07:04.
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12/03/2006 12:23:29 PM · #3 |
Overall,
I think the 30mm f1.4 is an excellent lens. It does have soft corners, but for a low light portrait type work that this lens seems to be intended for, it's a fine lens. I'm surprised in terms of sharpness the old 28mm did so well. It's less contrasty than the other two though. The thing that bothers me about the 30mm f1.4 is that it's min. focus distance is rather far.
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