sarahsboy18 said:
Good point... That being said, on a 1.6x crop like the Rebel or 20/30D the 50mm technically is right around the equivelant of 85mm on a full frame camera...
Yes, thats true...and I love the 50mm and you cannot beat the f/1.4 price on those lenses. I guess I will have to wait to actually have both the 50mm and 85mm (should have soon ordered it ages ago) to see which gets used more.
sarahsboy18 said:
As far as Sigma lenses... I don't personally buy them... but I am kind of a Canon snob... that's just me. I know other guys that do and love them.
Bottom line munch, and I'm sure Odin_aa will agree, it is really a matter of personal taste. You just have to hit the local shop and try a few out and see what works for you.
I have owned one sigma lens, the 105mm macro. It hunted for focus and was too slow and noisy for me. Photo quality was decent and I agree with Sarasboy on everything and will repeat some of it ...
I currently only own Nikon lenses, I do have a 12-24mm Tokina on order which is supposed to be a superb lens. B&H will ship it today, so I would guess it will be in my hands NLT Sat/Monday and will let you know my thoughts on it.
Tokina as a third party is supposed to be "tops" then I think Tamron then Sigma. However they all have lenses that are considered better than others, for instance the Tokina 12-24 is 1/3 the price of either Nikon or Canon's equal and supposed to have the same Color/Contrast/Sharpness as these. Any time it is possible to go to a camera shop and throw one on your camera take a few shots then go home and look at them, when using the lens focus on something that has vertical changes and something that has horizontal changes to see if it opertates in what you find to be acceptable standards. Ideally if you have a large camera shop, you could even try more than one brand under the exact same lighting and settings to compare at home.
If its just a hobby, why go into debt...although show me a cheap hobby I have never had one.