Sigma 20-40, 24-60, 24-70, or something else?

I am looking for a wide angle lens. I had decided that a prime would be great

but maybe a good zoom lens would be nice too. I am definately still considering

a prime lens too, so any primes that can offer a good bargain will work, also

the main range I am looking to fill is 24-70 mm. I have looked and found several

reviews (really mixed results though) for the 24-70 f/2.8 ex lens. one review

compared it to Tamron's 28-75 f2.8 lens.. but 28mm is getting too not wide for me.

 

I have been recently drawn to sigma lenses because of prices/quality, and since

I need/want a wide angle lens, these are the options that are on the top of my

list right now.

 

my budget: is 3-4 hundred (US Dollars)

 

my use: I have a 20d and someday want to upgrade to a ff digital (so the digital

only lenses won't work for me). I like close ups and I like landscapes, but with

a wider angle lens available plan to experiment with more shots, you can

probably see what I have tried so far in my portfolio. the only wideR angle

stuff I have is from my 28-135 canon IS lens.. I definately want wider than that

(esp for a 20d)

 

my standards: I have and like the results from my 50mm f/1.8 canon lens.. it is

a nice lens.. and it was cheap! I have the 28-135 IS canon lens.. I am not

usually happy with some of the results you have to be too careful to get

anything good out of it, and it is slow (IS aside sometimes your camera or you

have to focus in darker situations. and what good is hand holding an out of

focus picture?). I like to pixel peep, it is a bad habit I know, but I can tell

the difference (even on my 20d's little lcd) when a picture is not going to be

sharp, for portraits I want to be able to see the folicles on the subject's

face! but lenses have their limits I know, and money will limit that even more.

 

SO I want reviews, thoughts, experience, all that,, links to better places to

look . on any of these three lenses, and/or anything comparable or better.

Please. BTW I like what I have heard about the 12-24 sigma lens and want to get

it someday too,, do you think I should get it first instead? also is the

difference between 24mm and 20mm significantly noticeable in how wide they are?

I am not very experienced with wide angle lenses.

 

Thanks for your time,

24mm on a 20D is not very wide, equivalent to 38mm on full frame. A 20mm lens is signficantly wider, but only equivalent to a 32mm lens on a full frame camera. On a 20D, real wide angle begins at around 17mm, so you may want to focus on those lenses. My Canon 17-40mm is real nice but more expensive than what you want to spend. Some people like the Sigma and Tamron 17-35 lenses, and you may want to check those out.

The only realistic full-frame option if you want a wide zoom for a 20D is the Sigma 12-24. All the others in this range are for the EF-S. However I should not rule out the EF-S versions. I bought the Canon 10-22 for my 300D then sold it again when upgrading to the full frame 5D. Good quality lenses do not lose value like the camera bodies do as the technology is only changing slowly.

 

I would look at the EF-S options but if you really don't want the that then I would look at the Sigma 12-24. I used this lens for a time and found it very sharp indeed. Mine had a slight variation in focus across the frame at full aperture but this disappeared when stopped down slightly and found it an very good lens. It is quite chunky and the front element bulges out which makes using filters a bit of a problem - but then they are aproblem on most wide angle zooms.