LensRentals compares old vs. new: Sigma’s 30mm f/1.4 lenses

When Sigma announced its new 30mm F1.4 DC HSM | A prime lens at the CP+ show in Japan earlier this year, the company superceded its existing 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM lens. While the two might seem similar at first blush, the newer model is a completely different optic, with a new focusing system and a more complex optical formula featuring nine elements in eight groups.

We've been curious to see how the new lens would fare. The earlier optic offered good center sharpness, but it wasn't without its foibles -- most notably issues with both auto and manual focus. A recent blog post from Roger Cicala over at LensRentals gives an interesting insight, comparing multiple copies of both new and old lenses side by side. Roger doesn't just look at sharpness, either -- he also gives an idea of how the two lenses compare in terms of build quality and manual focus accuracy.

For more details, hop on over to the LensRentals blog and see how the new 30mm f/1.4 Art lens compares to its predecessor.

 

Roger Cicala at LensRentals compared eight samples of the new 30mm f/1.4 Art lens against six copies of the preceding model. The duplication helps factor out sample variation.