Sigma DC 30mm f/1.4 EX HSM

Best lens for the Nikon D40. Simply amazing. Using a Nikon D40 (arguably the most bang-for-your-buck DLSR on the market today), lenses are limited--especially autofocus fast primes. One thing that is great about Nikon cameras is that you can use lenses from 40 years ago on today's cameras. Problem is, Nikon (purposefully?) disabled metering on the D40 so you have to do manual everything with their old primes. But it's totally worth it. However, Sigma stepped up and made this lens which is not only affordable (msrp $429; ebay ~$300) it's a freakin' f/1.4! At 30mm, this translates into roughly a 47mm lens on a DSLR meaning this is basically a fully autofocusing, very fast 50mm lens. I slapped this lens on and was snapping shots within moments. You should set the "exposure compensation" to -0.7 though as Sigma lenses tend to over-expose. Shooting at f1.4 is just awesome, especially with AP. Bokkeh is very smooth on this lens with the 8-bladed diaphragm. In fact the bokkeh is one of the best I've seen on a lens. Pictures are sharp as they get and the size of the lens is nice and stubby. In short, if you just got into photography or you want a really good fast AF prime lens, the Sigma 30mm is fantastic. However, you do have to worry a bit about Sigma's QC, but I lucked out with mine--just try to get a warranty with yours though. Hopefully Sigma will come out with other AF primes. Sure, they are no where near as nicely built as old Nikkor's (metal and glass..ahh!), but shoot...it just works and the build quality is pretty darn good. Unless you have a really good reason, I'd avoid the Nikkor 35mm f1.4. It costs as much, if not more, but the quality is not nearly as good as the Sigma and the Sigma meters and AF's (even on the D40). Much better value. This lens finally fulfills my collection now, all of which I highly recommend if you want fast primes: - Sigma 30mm f1.4 (AF) - Nikkor 55mm f1.2 (Mk.6; manual) - Nikkor 85mm f1.4 (manual) - Nikkor 180mm f2.8 (manual)

A favorite lens of mine This is a surprisingly good lens! I had read in some reviews that this lens can have some issues with autofocus but I have not experienced this at all. In my hands, the lens focuses quickly and accurately even in very low light situations. It produces beautiful images with great detail, color rendition, contrast and bokeh. Prior to getting this lens, I was using a classic Minolta manual focus f1.2 50mm as my low-light fast lens. While this lens can produce nice images on my Olympus E-510, my focusing in low-light situations with the tiny viewfinder was hit or miss. The images from the wide-open Sigma lens are slightly better than those from the Minolta (sharper with more contrast) and autofocus in low-light situations is a HUGE advantage. Should you ever need manual focus, the Sigma has a nice MF switch and smooth manual focusing. Its general build quality is excellent and is comparable to that of a Zuiko High Grade Lens. If you enjoy flash-free low light photography, shallow depth of field, and nice bokeh, you need this lens!

sigma 30mm f/1.4 ex dc hsm Decided to buy this lens due to wanting to try one out, I make a hobby of trying different lens and cameras, and I wanted another lens for my D60 and D3000. This is an awesome lens for low light situations , I haven't had an opportunity to try it outside yet but I think I will probably prefer a zoom lens outside, it has fast smooth quiet focus, I prefer it over a nikon 50mm f/1.4, the photos inside are sharp and it takes beautiful upclose face portraits. There is really nothing that I dislike about this lens except the price. I don't feel everyone needs one but it is a really nice lens. It also looks all business like. Haven't had a chance to try nikon 35mm but can't believe it would be better than the sigma.