Sigma 30 or 50mm 1.4 Which one?

I'm going to get one of these two lenses but I'm not sure which one. I use a 7D and the lens will be mainly for portraits. I'm leaning towards the 30 because of the camera crop factor but I've seen and heard great things about the 50. I'm not sure if there is any IQ difference between the two to make a difference. Any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'd say that 30mm is to short for portrait work and the 50mm would be a better choice.

The 50 to 85 range on a crop is better for portraits.

IQ is great on each. Then it's just up to you to decide which focal length you prefer. Check out the lens sample archive subfolder for this section. Excellent examples for what each can do.

Ide definitely get the 50mm

BTW, on my 1.6x crop I find it slightly shorter than 50mm.. I'm not exactly sure why. I actually find it just a little short.. well, comparing it to my 50 1.8. When I look into the viewfinder and then glance out again, I find everything within my viewfinder just a tad bit smaller

I just ordered the 50 1.4 yesterday from Abe's of Maine ($449 with discount code and free lens cleaning kit)..hopefully it will do me good without having to return it back to Sigma for calibration.
Ron

Sounds like the 50mm is the way to go. I was just thinking that with the 1.6 crop factor that the 30mm would be like the 50mm on a FF and a better option.

Thanks for all the replies.

that 50 is a much better lens, and sigma knows it there making lens to resemble it and it works great as a portrait lens, the only down side is people like me dont want to shoot portraits there kinda forced on the 30mm and what ive seen first hand and in person the 50mm is far superior in IQ and build

tmalone893 wrote in post #10057372
Sounds like the 50mm is the way to go. I was just thinking that with the 1.6 crop factor that the 30mm would be like the 50mm on a FF and a better option.

Thanks for all the replies.

It is similar, but 50m on a full frame camera is generally too short as well.
50mm on a crop and 85mm on a full frame is more the general approach for portrait.

tmalone893 wrote in post #10056589
I'm going to get one of these two lenses but I'm not sure which one. I use a 7D and the lens will be mainly for portraits.

In my view, a better lens for portraits is actually the Sigma 70 f/2.8 macro. The output is much like Canon's great 85mm: beautiful bokeh and razor sharp images.

"Portrait" is too general. What kind of portrait? Environmental, full-body, half-body, head & shoulders, or a headshot?

30mm can get you a half-body while keeping you far enough away for a flattering perspective. 50mm can do head-&-shoulders. You'll need 85mm+ for headshots.

toxic wrote in post #10058434
"Portrait" is too general. What kind of portrait? Environmental, full-body, half-body, head & shoulders, or a headshot?

30mm can get you a half-body while keeping you far enough away for a flattering perspective. 50mm can do head-&-shoulders. You'll need 85mm+ for headshots.

Probably half to full portraits. I already have a 85mm as well as 28-75. I'm working in a small home studio and usually I'm around 40mm on a crop for full body. Another reason I was leaning towards the 30mm.

tmalone893 wrote in post #10058573
Probably half to full portraits. I already have a 85mm as well as 28-75. I'm working in a small home studio and usually I'm around 40mm on a crop for full body. Another reason I was leaning towards the 30mm.

for half to full portraits i say get the Sigma 30mm. Although I think the Sigma 50 would be considered the more versatile portrait lens over the 30mm it will be hard to get full portraits with the Sigma 50 on crop. With the Sigma 30mm you can always crop to get a tighter look to the shot to get that half portrait look. And because you already have a 85mm prime it makes more sense to get the Sigma 30mm in your case I think.

50mm is what you need to make pleasing portraits of the 7D

tmalone893 wrote in post #10058573
Probably half to full portraits. I already have a 85mm as well as 28-75. I'm working in a small home studio and usually I'm around 40mm on a crop for full body. Another reason I was leaning towards the 30mm.

Yeah, I think 30mm would be better. And like JayStar said, 85mm pairs with 30mm better than 50.