Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

i bought this lens last year before going to England. I kept it on my xti practically the entire time I was there, except for the architectural shots I took with my 10-22 wide canon lens. This prime lens provided very high quality shots with a beautiful bokeh. For the price, i have no right to give this lens less than a 5 star rating; and for sigma to produce a lens with a nice professional matte feel and size- this one is hard to beat. I'm still startled by the amazing clarity and sharpness in my images- it's better than real life to be honest.

This lens is extremely sharp at f1.4, which is of course the whole point. The problem I have with this lens is the Chromatic Aberration at f1.4 is very strong. I was not able to remove it using Lightroom 2, by this I mean moving the sliders all the way to either direction. This mostly occurs during strong contrast situation, like for outdoor portraits in harsh sun. I did not want to have to put up with the CA from the lens and the slow focusing despite the HSM, so I sent the lens back.

The build quality was very good though.

I've read a lot of good things and seen a lot of images taken by the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens, so I decided to get one from Amazon. First copy I got was no good. It was out of focus on both my Canon 20D and 350D. So I returned it immediately, and thanks to the good return policy of Amazon, it was no hassle to do so.

I ordered another one. It was fantastic. All I've read and seen about it was true. Now I could take low light pictures without dreading the noise at high ISO with fantastic bokeh to boot and without paying an arm and a leg for the Canon equivalent.

Lots of glass, which makes the lens a tad heavy. Depth of field is impressive. I haven't experienced the focusing problems that some other people have described. Overall, this is a great lens for relatively dark and/or indoor lighting. As expected with f/1.4, the bokeh is just gorgeous.

I was 0 for 2 with the Sigma 30mm bought at Amazon. Got the first one, focus was terrible. I mean the only thing I could get in focus on my xti was a shot outside at f/8 and infinity. I tried to focus on my birdfeeder at 30 feet and was really blurry (with plenty of shutter speed). Inside was a little better but completely unacceptable compared to my 50mm f/1.8. Sent it back and got another from Amazon. A little better inside. The focus was not so horrible that I could actually tell that it was front focusing. Things that were in focus were very sharp (only a couple of shots of things I wasn't focusing on). Outside I still couldn't get a clear focus on the bird feeder. Oh well, Amazon was great though. No problems with the refund.

Got my Canon 28mm f/1.8 (at B&H) and all of the tests that I did with the Sigma showed that the focus was right on. Taking pictures of my baby girl was hit or miss just like my nifty fifty, but at least I can take sharp pictures of inanimate objects at close and far ranges. Unfortunately, that was not possible with the Sigma 30s that I had tried (on my Xti).