SIGMA 30MM F1.4 CAMERA LENS
I am in no way a camera or camera lens expert but when I look to buy a new lens I always do my research first, so I thought it may be helpful to add my own review to the mix. For all the technical, professional stuff look elsewhere but to find out why I love the Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens and how I use it, read on…
My camera (Canon 600d) came with a kit lens and I later bought the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens for a reasonable £80. The 50mm is a good lens but is very cheap in the way it’s made, hence it’s low price point. It’s nice and easy to use if you want that blurred background, but because it’s 50mm you have to be really far away just to get your object in focus and in frame. I’m talking about being the other side of the room, so it’s really not practical. I found I couldn’t use it for filming because I couldn’t see myself in the view finder well enough and didn’t know if things were in focus.
The next lens I invested in was this one, the Sigma 30mm f1.4 and I think it was on Gemma’s recommendation. I wanted something that gave a nice depth of field (blurred background) but without having to have the camera really far away. It cost me around £300, so it was an investment but I’ve been incredibly happy with it.
What do I use it for?
Pretty much everything. I use it to take photos of my face as it focuses really well, blurs out the background and shows the true colours of my makeup. If I want the photo to be more about the lipstick I move the square on the screen to be on my lips and focus it there. I do the same for eyeshadow if I have my eyes closed. I find it works really well in low light and makes the photos look quite bright. It’s also great for filming and the last two photos above are stills from videos I’ve filmed using it. I film all my videos with this lens and I like it because all I have to do is focus with my remote and it automatically gives a really nice depth of field and looks great quality. Although playing around with the manual settings would get an even better effect, for me I need something really quick and easy, so I use it on auto and it works great.
How does it feel to use?
The focus point is quite strong so when it focuses on one thing, everything else looks out of focus. This means it’s not great to use if you’re taking a photo of lots of products as you have to chose to focus on one product. You’ll see in the photo above (with the NARS palette and Illamasqua blush) that the ‘Illamasqua’ text on the blusher is out of focus as I chose to focus on the blusher itself. When taking a photo of lots of products I use my kit lens instead. The Sigma lens is really heavy so I don’t use this when I’m out and about and it’s not very practical for carrying around in your handbag.
For filming, face shots and outfit photos this lens is great and I’d highly recommend it. I hope this mini amateur review helped you out in some way and I’d love to hear your camera lens recommendations if you have any!
