Which lens would suit me best?

EF-s 18-135 with the "nano" focusing motor.
Not a ton of money, and surprisingly good.

SD19194 wrote:

Hi. I'm a beginner with about a year of experience. From the start I've had a T7 with the Canon 50mm f1.8 EF. Great lens, but on the crop sensor T7, its quite zoomed in and not ideal at all for random group shots or any landscapes. So I'm looking to purchasing a new lens. The thing is, I'm big into sharpness and while I'd like to save some cash, I'm also willing to pay for something if it's truly worth it.

I've heard a lot about the budget Canon 24mm f2.8 pancake lens, but I've also read it only goes so far as far as sharpness goes.

For a whopping $600 or so more there's the top of the line-ish Sigma 24mm 1.4 Art lens, but it would be a little hard for me to justify that purchase unless maybe it really is that special?

Lastly for around the same price but actually a tad cheaper there's the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 Art Lens which would give me more versatility which I love, but seeing as how its a zoom lens wouldn't I be giving up some sharpness? Currently I can actually get this for $505 refurbished

Get a used Sigma 30mm F1.4 ART. Should be around $300US. Sharp at F1.4 and very sharp at F2.8.

The Canon 24mm F2.8 STM is plenty sharp too.

Aoi Usagi wrote:

SD19194 wrote:

Hi. I'm a beginner with about a year of experience. From the start I've had a T7 with the Canon 50mm f1.8 EF. Great lens, but on the crop sensor T7, its quite zoomed in and not ideal at all for random group shots or any landscapes. So I'm looking to purchasing a new lens. The thing is, I'm big into sharpness and while I'd like to save some cash, I'm also willing to pay for something if it's truly worth it.

I've heard a lot about the budget Canon 24mm f2.8 pancake lens, but I've also read it only goes so far as far as sharpness goes.

For a whopping $600 or so more there's the top of the line-ish Sigma 24mm 1.4 Art lens, but it would be a little hard for me to justify that purchase unless maybe it really is that special?

Lastly for around the same price but actually a tad cheaper there's the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 Art Lens which would give me more versatility which I love, but seeing as how its a zoom lens wouldn't I be giving up some sharpness? Currently I can actually get this for $505 refurbished

Get a used Sigma 30mm F1.4 ART. Should be around $300US. Sharp at F1.4 and very sharp at F2.8.

The Canon 24mm F2.8 STM is plenty sharp too.

Thanks for the reply and suggestion. That Sigma 30mm 1.4 ART really does look like a new possibility for me. Goes for around $420 though (can get it used for $300) and doesn't have IS. Also, since I do have a crop sensor camera, the highest I think I really should go is 24mm as I want to have a focal point acceptable landscape shots which I enjoy shooting.

I'm starting to lean heavily towards this 18-35mm 1.8 ART. No IS there either, but to have 18, 24 and 35 all in one camera and according to reviews still be sharp as hell, it seems like the best of all worlds. Can anyone else vouch for this lens?

Mintychocs wrote:

SD19194 wrote:

Aoi Usagi wrote:

SD19194 wrote:

Hi. I'm a beginner with about a year of experience. From the start I've had a T7 with the Canon 50mm f1.8 EF. Great lens, but on the crop sensor T7, its quite zoomed in and not ideal at all for random group shots or any landscapes. So I'm looking to purchasing a new lens. The thing is, I'm big into sharpness and while I'd like to save some cash, I'm also willing to pay for something if it's truly worth it.

I've heard a lot about the budget Canon 24mm f2.8 pancake lens, but I've also read it only goes so far as far as sharpness goes.

For a whopping $600 or so more there's the top of the line-ish Sigma 24mm 1.4 Art lens, but it would be a little hard for me to justify that purchase unless maybe it really is that special?

Lastly for around the same price but actually a tad cheaper there's the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 Art Lens which would give me more versatility which I love, but seeing as how its a zoom lens wouldn't I be giving up some sharpness? Currently I can actually get this for $505 refurbished

Get a used Sigma 30mm F1.4 ART. Should be around $300US. Sharp at F1.4 and very sharp at F2.8.

The Canon 24mm F2.8 STM is plenty sharp too.

Thanks for the reply and suggestion. That Sigma 30mm 1.4 ART really does look like a new possibility for me. Goes for around $420 though (can get it used for $300) and doesn't have IS. Also, since I do have a crop sensor camera, the highest I think I really should go is 24mm as I want to have a focal point acceptable landscape shots which I enjoy shooting.

I'm starting to lean heavily towards this 18-35mm 1.8 ART. No IS there either, but to have 18, 24 and 35 all in one camera and according to reviews still be sharp as hell, it seems like the best of all worlds. Can anyone else vouch for this lens?

Just be aware of the limitations of the AF system of the Canon T7 and the 18-35mm Art lens.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by limitations?

Mintychocs wrote:

The T7 has a 9 autofocus points tightly grouped in the centre of which the middle one is the most accurate. As the 18-35mm has a narrow depth of field at maximum aperture you have to take care with focus and recompose. Alternatively if you are able to use the live view mode this is more accurate and you have a larger area to cover your AF however this will probably be slower.

Forgive me but I'm not sure I completely follow about what you are meaning by "recomposing". I have been using my Canon 50mm at f1.8 most often (narrow depth of field) and the AF has been decent. Nothing supersonic fast but its ok. Should I somehow expect the Sigma 18-35 to be significantly slower to focus at 1.8?

SD19194 wrote:

Forgive me but I'm not sure I completely follow about what you are meaning by "recomposing". I have been using my Canon 50mm at f1.8 most often (narrow depth of field) and the AF has been decent. Nothing supersonic fast but its ok. Should I somehow expect the Sigma 18-35 to be significantly slower to focus at 1.8?

If you have been using your current gear and are accustomed to it, I don't think you have any issues using the 18-35 or the 30 for that matter.  As far as speed, Sigma's HSM AF system is quite fast and probably comparable to the micromotor in the 50/1.8 I and II.  The STM version might be a tad slower.  Just keep in mind that some Sigma lenses require some AF Micro Adjustments, which I believe the T7 does not have as a feature.  That being said, some Canon lenses need AFMA too.  Sigma does offer a USB Dock for this purpose, but its another accessory you must purchase (and sometimes doesn't mitigate the problem completely).  If you are into landscape photography, you would be stopping down anyways, so it may be a non issue.

Aoi Usagi wrote:

Just keep in mind that some Sigma lenses require some AF Micro Adjustments, which I believe the T7 does not have as a feature. That being said, some Canon lenses need AFMA too. Sigma does offer a USB Dock for this purpose, but its another accessory you must purchase (and sometimes doesn't mitigate the problem completely). If you are into landscape photography, you would be stopping down anyways, so it may be a non issue.

I have been starting to hear about this a bit more now as I continue to read about the 18-35mm. I can't even fully understand it, really. So I would pay $600 for a lens and it might not be good to go for my T7? I wouldn't have the first clue how to adjust/calibrate a lens and if I'm being honest (without sounding lazy) I'm not too keen on trying something like that.

guinness2 wrote:

SD19194 wrote:

Aoi Usagi wrote:

Just keep in mind that some Sigma lenses require some AF Micro Adjustments, which I believe the T7 does not have as a feature. That being said, some Canon lenses need AFMA too. Sigma does offer a USB Dock for this purpose, but its another accessory you must purchase (and sometimes doesn't mitigate the problem completely). If you are into landscape photography, you would be stopping down anyways, so it may be a non issue.

I have been starting to hear about this a bit more now as I continue to read about the 18-35mm. I can't even fully understand it, really. So I would pay $600 for a lens and it might not be good to go for my T7? I wouldn't have the first clue how to adjust/calibrate a lens and if I'm being honest (without sounding lazy) I'm not too keen on trying something like that.

Don’t get discouraged. If the lens is not an old second hand one but a new one, it has the latest firmware and you don’t meet this problem.

If it is old, you need the dock to update the lens firmware.

You can also update the camera firmware from Canon web pages, additionally.

Thanks. Interestingly enough, I emailed Sigma about this and they responded by saying there would be "No need to do any calibration"

But my question is - do I buy one new from Amazon or do I buy new directly from Sigma. Ironically of course, the Amazon one, sold from a company called "Digital Village", is $80 cheaper.

SD19194 wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

Don’t get discouraged. If the lens is not an old second hand one but a new one, it has the latest firmware and you don’t meet this problem.

If it is old, you need the dock to update the lens firmware.

You can also update the camera firmware from Canon web pages, additionally.

Thanks. Interestingly enough, I emailed Sigma about this and they responded by saying there would be "No need to do any calibration"

But my question is - do I buy one new from Amazon or do I buy new directly from Sigma. Ironically of course, the Amazon one, sold from a company called "Digital Village", is $80 cheaper.

I suggest you read this thread on DPReview regarding AF issues . You will see that some members do have issues with Sigma AF regardless of whether it new or used or latest firmware or not. The other member that said you won't have any issues with a new lens (not second hand) is incorrect. I bought my Sigma 30mm ART new, and it needed AFMA and my 70D's AFMA adjustment only fixed the issue on some occasions, so I had to buy the USB Dock.  There wasn't any updated firmware for this lens to fix autofocus.

If you are set on buying the Sigma, you can buy it from any authorized dealer in your country. It will be warranted in your country as long as it is not an grey market item.

Aoi Usagi wrote:

SD19194 wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

Don’t get discouraged. If the lens is not an old second hand one but a new one, it has the latest firmware and you don’t meet this problem.

If it is old, you need the dock to update the lens firmware.

You can also update the camera firmware from Canon web pages, additionally.

Thanks. Interestingly enough, I emailed Sigma about this and they responded by saying there would be "No need to do any calibration"

But my question is - do I buy one new from Amazon or do I buy new directly from Sigma. Ironically of course, the Amazon one, sold from a company called "Digital Village", is $80 cheaper.

I suggest you read this thread on DPReview regarding AF issues . You will see that some members do have issues with Sigma AF regardless of whether it new or used or latest firmware or not. The other member that said you won't have any issues with a new lens (not second hand) is incorrect. I bought my Sigma 30mm ART new, and it needed AFMA and my 70D's AFMA adjustment only fixed the issue on some occasions, so I had to buy the USB Dock. There wasn't any updated firmware for this lens to fix autofocus.

If you are set on buying the Sigma, you can buy it from any authorized dealer in your country. It will be warranted in your country as long as it is not an grey market item.

Thanks for all the info. Appreciated.

Idk but the entire thing just rubs me the wrong way. Here I am looking to spend nearly $700 on this somewhat high end lens yet we have all this talk of how it might not be ok and I might need to get some USB dock, if it doesn't work consistently just "send it back", Sigma is telling me it’ll be fine yet im reading from real users that it probably won’t be and will need AFMA, etc. If this were a $100 lens thats one thing, but at putting out $700 I have to be honest its not very appealing.

With all this talk, I have to ask since im still new to this world…. Are Sigma lenses considered slightly less desirable than let’s say Canon, Fuji and other well known brands lenses?

SD19194 wrote:

Thanks for all the info. Appreciated.

Idk but the entire thing just rubs me the wrong way. Here I am looking to spend nearly $700 on this somewhat high end lens yet we have all this talk of how it might not be ok and I might need to get some USB dock, if it doesn't work consistently just "send it back", Sigma is telling me it’ll be fine yet im reading from real users that it probably won’t be and will need AFMA, etc. If this were a $100 lens thats one thing, but at putting out $700 I have to be honest its not very appealing.

With all this talk, I have to ask since im still new to this world…. Are Sigma lenses considered slightly less desirable than let’s say Canon, Fuji and other well known brands lenses?

Canon lenses will almost always be guaranteed to work on Canon bodies, same with Fuji lenses on Fuji bodies.  Third party lenses don't have this guarantee.  If fact, some of Sigma's film era lenses (Canon EF mount) do not work properly on modern digital Canon bodies (camera body gives an ERROR message and aperture doesn't stop down) because of a Canon firmware update.  This was not really Sigma's fault, and they did address it with some kind of fix (probably firmware update in which you needed to send the lens to Sigma).  However, this fix was for a limited time and they do not accept older lenses anymore.

At one point in time, Sigma lenses were considered inferior.  However, that is not the case anymore.  The problem is Sigma offers far more APS-C lenses than Canon.  And they are extremely well made and extremely sharp, for what seems to be a bargain price.  Sigma has no competitor with their 18-35mm F1.8.  Same with the 30mm F1.4.  Canon has a 28mm F1.8 and 35mm F1.4.  The 28mm is inferior and the 35mm is so much more expensive.  That is why some of us live with the occasional AF miss.

Sigma reverse engineers Canon AF protocol and they use existing Canon lens data to fill in the protocol data in their own lenses.  This is probably why it sometimes has issues with AF.  We don't hear as many AF issues with Sigma lenses on Nikon bodies.

If possible, try to test a copy of Sigma's lens with your camera and see how it performs.  Some shops will have a sample lens, or if a friend owns one, even better, and borrow it for a day or too.  If these are not possible, you could purchase the lens and return it, if you do see issues.  This is time consuming, but at least you know what to look for.

guinness2 wrote:

Thanks you to correct me from your experience.

What I said is more a rule of thumb, when pairing 3rd party lens with Canon body.

Still, to the OP, don’t get discouraged, if it works inconsistently, just send it back.

The same I did with an excellent Tamron 17-50 2.8 or what. Pity, Tackle sharp lens otherwise.

I completely understand.

Aoi Usagi wrote:

At one point in time, Sigma lenses were considered inferior. However, that is not the case anymore.

The only negative I've read about the 18-35mm (aside from the obvious, its weight) is that it lacks a bit of character and that sometimes the images may end up looking flat. Any truth to this in your opinion?