Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Fujifilm X | FUJIFRED
I recently had the opportunity to shoot with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Fujifilm X, courtesy of the Houston Camera Exchange. They loaned it to me for about two weeks to see how I liked (now love) the lens. I can honestly say when shooting with it, it felt like I had recaptured that magic I felt when shooting with the sigma art 35 1.4 way back when I was shooting with the Nikon D800. The creamy bokeh and the tack-sharp images coming out of this lens were wild to me, but the significant part of this lens is that it's made in Japan and under $500 US dollars. The Fujifilm XT-4 combed with the Sigma 1.4 look aesthetically pleasing. The bill quality of the sigma 30 1.4 is excellent, actually pretty superb for a third-party lens. The hood on the lens is built with rigid plastic that you know won't break after a couple of minor bumps, and I won't say drops because I didn't do that.
I'll be honest with you guys and let you know this is my first lens review ever, so bear with me if I don't touch upon all the typical info that camera gurus handle. This review will be more based on how usable this lens was in my workflow. I am a commercial and portrait photographer who shoots events from time to time. So I will let you know how this lens fits into all three ecosystems of photography.
I brought my loaner lens along to an editorial-type shoot at Wild Cat Golf course down here in Houston, Texas. This is where I found out I really like the 30mm focal length; in the Fujifilm world, 30mm is actually a 48mm, which we can just say is 50mm. I haven't shot at that focal length in over 10 years, but it instantly felt right. I could create excellent isolation of the subject but still have enough width to capture the beautiful sign we had in front of us. The colors coming out of the lens seemed accurate to control and had a nice bit of contrast in them.
My only problem that day was that the lens got stuck in the mount from time to time; it was almost like the lens didn't fix, but I'm pretty sure that was a more me thing. Overall in a commercial setting, the lens is just fine.
I shot some lifestyle portraits for my friend's clothing line A Herd of Bison. We went out during the sunrise and captured some great stuff. During this shoot, I discovered the lens's ability to focus on a subject at a pretty close distance. This allows you to get within two feet of your subject, which I was never able to do with my other 50mm lens. You can get pretty close and create some great portraits before the distortion kicks in.
The lens firmware didn't have any bugs I was aware of, so the lens autofocus could keep up with Fujifilm XT4, but in low light, I noticed that the autofocus hunted a tad bit more on the lens side of the sensor. I don't know if that was my thing or a lens thing.
The Cons: This lens is that sometimes the lens was hard to mount, that may have been my individual copy, but the first couple of times, it stuck. Also, the focus hunted a tad bit in the dark; it was similar to the Fujifilm XF23m first version when it came to hunting in low-light situations. The build wasn't bad but if you're used to the full metal feel you get from Fujifilm lens, it's not there, buddy.
The Pros: The overall pros of this lens are the price and ability to get pretty close to a subject to create great bokeh and separation, and the size. The contrast coming out of this lens is amazing as well. I can see this lens as a daily carry for a lot of different photographers.
Who is this lens for? This is for a commercial pro who is at a 10,000-dollar gig and your newbie street photographer. I don't see any limitation in this lens, and overall, Sigma has made a great product that man people will enjoy. Thanks for tuning in, and if you would like me to review another lens, let me know in the comments.
Thanks -Fred "Fujifred" Agho