Which Lens?

[Josh Gibson]

Hey Guys!

I've just changed systems from Canon to Sony, and have an a6500, and I'm looking at two different lenses. One is the sony 50mm 1.8 OSS. The other is the Sigma 30mm 1.4. I mostly do filming, and I don't currently have a gimbel, so was wondering which one you would advise?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Which one to advise for what? Is the obvious answer.

They are very different. As you are coming from a full-frame system (?) remember the crop factor, for a start. The 50mm will feel like a 75mm, and the 30mm will feel more like a "standard" lens.

Although it is so much wider, one thing I like about the 30mm is that I can get in closer. My avatar was photographed with the Sigma 30, fairly close up, in a dimly lit room.

The 30mm is a better general-purpose lens. You'll spend a lot more time walking backwards with the 50mm.

I have both lenses, and an a6500. I take stills, not video. This is about all I can tell you. Except to ask you to provide others with more information so they can give you better answers.

[Josh Gibson]

Thankyou for your reply. So I have a few wedding gigs coming up, and I need lenses for filming purposes. So the reason I am looking at the sigma 30 is because of its sharp quality with the f/1.4. But equally...the 50mm has OSS which could be really helpful when paired with the IBIS of the a6500 for filming.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Well, as I said, I don't know about filming (Sometimes my wife tells me to video something, and I realise I've almost forgotten that my camera even does video!) so talking to me is of very limited use to you ? but...

I spent more than a decade since my last "real" camera occasionally waving a P&S about. I forgot the photographer's discipline of holding a camera properly --- I'm still re-learning all that stuff! And I got older, clumsier and less steady-handed as well. I used an a6000 with a manual 90mm lens, and found it very hard work. Updating to the a6500 IBIS was a great relief with that lens, and with the Sony 85mm (no OSS) that I use a lot now. I never had that problem with the Sigma 30mm: I could always hand-hold, even badly. You should have no difficulty at all. Especially with IBIS. Maybe IBIS+OSS is more relevant with three-digit-mm telephotos.

There is one thing where the 50mm beats the 30mm for me, and that is auto-focus. In low light, the Sigma will occasionally hunt, backwards and forwards, around the focus point. The Sony 50 never does that: if it can't focus it simply fails to focus. The a6500 autofocus stuff all works with the Sigma 30, but it works better with the Sony 50. This might just be a factor of focal length: much easier to grab a face, or even an eye, when it is much bigger in the frame.

Which brings us back to square one: you must first decide which focal length you want. They really are very different.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Thad E Ginathom

[Wally The Confused]

As far as I know, this is the only lens, Sony advocates for video  ?

I have no idea, since I only do stills !

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/camera-lenses/selp18110g

That should sort you out !

Good Luck

WTC