30-35mm prime for Canon on a budget

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I have a Canon 20D which is fine for me, I bought it with the nifty fifty and then bought a 28-105 Canon zoom. I found the nifty great for indoors stuff etc but on the whole a little long, the pentax 50mm 1.4 on my spot is much more like what I want as a general fast walkaround lens. So I guess I'm looking for a 30-35mm fast prime for my canon. I tried my Pentax M42 35mm f3.5 and like the length, it could just do to be a bit faster for in door stuff where this will get a lot of use (and AF would be nice).

Don't was to spend too much, say £200-300 limit and I'm happy buying second hand, I'm aware of:

Canon 35mm f2.0

Sigma 30mm f1.4

Do Tamron, Tokina or anyone else do anything worth a look and what are peoples general thoughts on suitable lenses in this sort of length.
 
I've got the sigma 30, but tbh haven't had much of a chance to use it yet.

It's a bit soft wide open, but the bokeh and contrast are really nice. I also haven't had any focusing issues either.

The other option is the canon 28 1.8 which to me is a lot more useful on a crop than the 35.
 
I have the 35 f/2. Nice lens, very sharp, but a bit plasticy and still maybe a touch too long for some situations. No USM either so its a bit noisy and doesnt always focus in low light.
I had the sigma 30 1.4 on a Nikon mount. It was very nice, well built, quiet and quick to focus. Quite big and heavy though, but any 1.4 will be I guess.
 
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I have the Siggy too and find that it's quite sharp at f1.4. I've had no issues with it. It comes with a case and a lens hood too.
 
On full frame, at least, the 35 f/2 is a great lens for the money. It gets a lot of use on my 5D.
 
The 35mm f2 feels a bit too much like my 50mm f1.8 for build aftef looking in town. Anyone compared the Canon 28mm f1.8 and Siggy 30mm f1.4? they seem to be near the top of my hit list at the moment.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I have the 35 f/2. Nice lens, very sharp, but a bit plasticy and still maybe a touch too long for some situations. No USM either so its a bit noisy and doesnt always focus in low light.
I had the sigma 30 1.4 on a Nikon mount. It was very nice, well built, quiet and quick to focus. Quite big and heavy though, but any 1.4 will be I guess.
Click to expand...

This 100%. Excellent IQ, shame about the body (I'm paranoid about the spindly focus ring). It is a little long a lot of the time though so I'd suggest the 28 f/1.8 instead if you have the money. The Sigma is supposed to be good but it looks very soft on the edges, which depending on what you want to use it for could be a killer.
 
"The Sigma is supposed to be good but it looks very soft on the edges,"

Nupe, I've never seen that, not unless it's a wide aperture shot and you've focused on something in the centre and then the edges have to be "softer" as anything there is going to be further away and therefore out of the dof but if you stop down to an aperture that should give you enough dof to be sharp in the corners it is.
 
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I have been looking for a wideish angle fast prime and I have settled in my mind that the 28mm f/1.8 ie the best bet. Having said that I am looking at full frame but equally to use on my 50D. Apparently you don't nave to stop it down too much to get a nice Sharp image. I have no problem cropping I'm slightly to get the required fov. Certainly better wide then too constrictive.
 
More reading and thinking (and comparing 35 and 28mm manual lenses on the 20D) I'm leaning towards the 28mm f1.8...

BUT to throw a spanner in the works

I did consider I could approach the wide angle another way: sell the 20D and pool the cash from that and what I would spend on the 28mm f1.8, then push that cash into a second hand 5D Mk1 body, which should give me better low light performance than the 20D and my 50mm lens will give me the FOV I want the 28mm to achieve.

Thoughts please?
 
Another recommendation for the sigma 30mm 1.4, if I could have kept it on my 5d I would have. It's definitely not soft wide open:

4888869330_dc89c27578_b.jpg


2.2
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