Walk around prime lens for crop sensor

Hello everyone!

I'm looking for a standard walk around prime lens for my crop sensor camera (Canon).

I already own a 50mm lens and as far as i know i have to decide between a 35mm and a 28mm lens now. (Please correct me if i'm wrong )

Although i read a lot of articles and seen several videos i can't decide between those two...

Which one would you recommend me to buy or should i get a completely different lens?

The 24mm 2.8 STM should be released and day now. I expect it will quickly become the defacto Canon crop camera walk around prime lens.

The 35mm f/2 IS is on my 70D almost 80% of the time, and pretty much only removed for my 70-200.

Its a great lens, can't say anything bad about it.

Inka Qhapaq wrote:

Hello everyone!

I'm looking for a standard walk around prime lens for my crop sensor camera (Canon).

I already own a 50mm lens and as far as i know i have to decide between a 35mm and a 28mm lens now. (Please correct me if i'm wrong )

Although i read a lot of articles and seen several videos i can't decide between those two...

Which one would you recommend me to buy or should i get a completely different lens?

If you want to get as close to a 50mm/full-frame field of view as you can, you have two good choices in the Canon lineup. The 28/1.8 has an approximate 45mm field of view on APS-C. The 35/2 is approximately 55mm. The latter is a new lens, simply spectacular, and includes IS, as well. The difference between f1.8 and f2 is absolutely negligible. You won't find many used 35/2 copies around, but you will find plenty of used 28/1.8 copies at half the price.

If I didn't already have the 28/1.8, I'd certainly be looking at the 35/2. More modern in every respect, well-built, stabilized... what's left to consider?

I've got the 28 1.8, nice lens.  Wide on my 6D, normal on my 7D, works like a champ and cheap on the used market.  Heard awesome things about the 35 as well, but for a prime, the 28 is very good.

SystemAgnostic wrote:

The 24mm 2.8 STM should be released and day now. I expect it will quickly become the defacto Canon crop camera walk around prime lens.

I didn't know about that one yet, but it looks like a perfect lens for me. Thank you!

First of all thank you for your opinion! 

Another user mentioned the new EF-S 24mm 1:2,8 STM lens that will be available for around 180€/$225.

When i had to choose between the 24mm and the 35mm which one would you recommend me to take?

Well, the 24 hasn't been released yet, so we won't have any ideas as to its performance.  Wait for it to be released and then check the reviews.  As a rule of thumb, I wait a while on new products to see where the chips fall and give the manufacturers a chance to work out the bugs.  It will probably be similar to a 40mm pancake in terms of optics and build and the 40 is highly rated.  A couple of things to consider, 24mm on a crop is close to a 35mm of a full, so you will have a widish/normal field of view.  2.8 is not a very fast aperture on a crop and the bokeh would me more in line with a f/4 on a full.  The 35mm will be closer to normal field of view, has a faster aperture and is image stabilized.

There are some excellent crop sensor zoom options!  Don't be afraid to look into that territory.  Quality crop zooms are far cheaper than the ff equivalents.  Sigma's 18-35 f/1.8 is simply amazing and one-of-a-kind.  It is the fastest zoom I've ever seen and super sharp.  It's like having wide to normal primes in one!  Then there is the Canon 17-55, it's f/2.8 and has IS... the best part is you can pick up a good used example for only about $600.  I had the Sigma 17-70 for a while and found it to be a good performer, if a little soft at the wide end.  The Tamron 17-50 is also reported good and dirt cheap used.

So far i only had two kit zoom-lenses. (Never used a quality zoom before).

However, i was robbed in Bolivia this summer so i had no camera/lenses until i bought a Canon 7D MKI some days ago. (It took me weeks to decide between 70D and 7D )

So i have to buy myself a complete new equipment. And since i am a little tight on budget right now i thought i'll get myself 2 prime lenses until i can afford a quality zoom. And isn't shooting with prime lenses improving one's photographic skills?

Sadly the Sigma is very expensive (850€/$1.000), Canon (670€/$835) and i would not like to spend more than 750€/$950 on lenses right know, except there are very good reasons.

I enjoy 24mm on crop for walk around (7D user here), but I also keep the 40mm in my pocket (small, easy to have in pocket)...

although sometimes even 24mm is not wide enough.  Lately, I have been using 5D (original) with the 24mm for walk around, with the 17-40 with me in a small bag - seems to suit me the best.

I've been using the 35mm f2 non-IS for several years and I like it a lot - certainly too much top spend the money on an F2 IS when I've already got this one.

However, I am buying the 24mm f2.8 EF-S...

Wow! Thank you so much Jonathan for this great summary!

I'll definitely get the Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM. It has very good reviews and also you say that you are loving it.

This lens comparison sheet helped me a lot, so thank you again!