Canon 28/1.8 or Sigma 30/1.4 for Rebel XT

[GeneGene]

Thank you very much for all the suggestions. I just purchased a Rebel XT from BHPHOTOVIDEO.com.

Now my question is: Should I get a canon 28/1.8 or a Sigma 30/1.4 if I would like to buy a standard lens for my Rebel XT? I prefer canon 35/2, but it is kind of hard to get it currently.

Thanks
Gene

[Sheldon N]

I'd hold out for the 35mm f/2. There's one on Ebay right now...

The 30mm f/1.4 is a little pricey, and a lot larger than the other two lenses. It's also a reduced frame lens (no full frame or film compatability).

The 28mm f/1.8 is a little hit and miss for optical quality, the one I used was pretty soft until you stopped it down quite a bit. It's also a lot more expensive than the 35mm.

An alternative lens might be the Canon 28mm f/2.8, good optical quality, similar build as the 35mm f/2, and quite inexpensive.

[Craig Arnold]

It really depends on what you want the lens for.

By all accounts the 35 f2 is an absolute dog on AF speed and accuracy.

The 28 f1.8 on the other hand is blisteringly fast. There is also the effective focal length conversion - do you prefer an EFL of 45mm or 55mm?

I wanted a fast  lens that I could use indoors and in poor light without flash - essentially a snapshot lens. The 28 f1.8 fits the bill very well. The build quality is excellent and the USM gives very fast and accurate AF. I also much prefer the wider angle of view for indoor work.

If my budget had been able to stretch I would have gone for the 24L f1.4.

Is the 28 f1.8 soft at wide apertures - particularly in the corners? Who cares? It only matters if you're using it as a wide angle on a FF camera.

On a crop camera this is not a landscape lens, it's a normal lens, at f1.8 your DOF at close distances is very thin anyway, I have plenty of soft pictures, but usually the fault is me not focusing in the right plane, if I nail the focus it's plenty sharp enough.

I have no experience of the Sigma but I use the 28 f1.8 with my 20D and I have a couple of friends who do the same. We all love it.

[jcarlin]

I've used the Canon 35 f/2.0 and Canon 28 f/2.8 and have been pretty pleased with the 28.  A note on both of these lenses, they won't focus as fast as the USM primes. The 28 is fairly slow for a normal prime (the higher ISO speeds of digital cameras might make this less of an issue for you).

John

[Peter Jon White]

I'm very happy using the Canon 28mm f/1.8 on a 5D. The corner softness is only an issue if you're shooting flat subjects at full aperture, since with a cropped sensor the lens is sharp corner to corner by f/2.8. with my larger sensor, I need f/5.6 to get a test chart sharp corner to corner. But I don't shoot test charts all that often. ;-)

For all around shooting performance, I find the lens to be very close if not identical in performance to my 35 f/1.4L. I pick whichever lens has the better focal length for the subject. I never say to myself, "Oh, I need to use the 35L here 'cause it's sharper in the corners". ;-)

[GeneGene]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I actually ordered the sigma lens, and just received today.  One reason I bought a Canon camera is the performance at high ISO. Therefore, the large aperature of the sigma lense is very attractive to me. I have not tested the lens yet, and I would not. Frankly, I do not care much about its performance at 1.4, because all I need is decent pictures in 5X7 prints. I guess I should go out and start shooting!

I was hesitated at the beginning to buy the sigma lens because it is designed for APS-C format cameras. But I do not think I am going to upgrade my Rebel XT in 10 years unless it stops working. So it is not a big issue for me any more!

Happy shooting!
Gene

[benInMA]

I'm a very happy Canon 28/1.8 user too.  I owned the f/2.8 model and sold it to get the f/1.8 model and I've never regretted it.

You're never going to be shooting near/far landscape style compositions with the lens at f/1.8 so the corners have been a complete non issue.  Subjectively it has good color & contrast and nice smooth bokeh.

It's great for indoor handheld stuff, candids of people/groups, etc..

As a "normal" lens on a 1.6x body you want all the speed you can get to help control DoF, etc..

It is noticeably better then my 17-40 f/4L @ 28mm IMO.  Noticeably less distortion, better color, constrast, corners, etc..  though less so then the distortion.