Black Elk Peak

The camera is a Sony a6000. It is, for me, an outstanding camera. Feature rich. Easy to use. I recently purchased a Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens. I did a great deal of research comparing this lens with the Sony 35mm f1.8. Many reviews with both pros and cons concerning each lens capabilities. The main capability difference for me was that the Sony lens has optical stabilization; the Sigma does not. However, I figured with the f1.4 lens coupled with the a6000 features that the Sigma would work for me. Plus the Sigma is $100.00 less than the Sony. This was not the tie breaker. If I thought the Sony would be better for me than the Sigma I would have purchased the Sony. The picture of the yellow flower is straight out of the camera. No LR or Photoshop; no tweaking. I believe this lens will be a keeper.

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MSW

looks good from where I sit!

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I find image stabilization is less important with the wider field of view lenses.
The rose looks great.

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

I too recently acquired a Sigma 30 f/1.4 art lens. It hasn't been off the camera (SLT A77) since. Soft at 1.4 and diffraction limited at f/16 but superb everywhere in between.

Black Elk Peak

This is not the Art lens. It is the Contemporary version. Not sure what the difference is.

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

Given my mistrustful nature, I find it just possible that the only real difference is the way it's labeled for marketing

Black Elk Peak

This is from the SonyRumors site:

Art lenses
Designed with a focus on sophisticated optical performance and abundant expressive power, our Art line delivers high-level artistic expression.

→ Large-aperture prime lenses, wide-angle lenses, ultra-wide-angle lenses, macro lenses, fisheye lenses and more

Lenses designed with no weight and size savings in mind. With the 24-105mm f/4 Art being a notable exception (more on this below), Art lenses offer a large aperture and/or are specialized. Additionally to Sigma’s examples, we can assume that tilt-shift lenses would go into this category.


Contemporary lenses
Featuring the very latest technology, and combining optical performance with compactness, our high-performance Contemporary line covers a wide range of needs.

→ Standard zoom lenses, telephoto zoom lenses, high-magnification zoom lenses and more

Since compactness is a goal, using smaller and less glass elements − and, subsequently, compromising on optical performance to some extent − is necessary. The 150-600mm f/5-6.3 variants, one Contemporary and the other Sports, show what it’s like to design two lenses with the same focal length range and aperture but with different quality goals.

Mechanically, Contemporary lenses should be just as good as the others (barring weather resistance in some cases). TSC material and metal parts are used, and as every Global Vision lens, they are individually tested.

Artistic versus technical? Still not sure what their sales pitch is. Each are very, very nice lens. Marketing???

Vaughan K.

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

Thanks Vaughan. Now I know that there are two distinct lines. My suspicions were without merit.

BebuLamar

They are definitely different lenses. Look different, weight different, size different, have different number of groups. Not saying which one is better as I don't know.