Buying a new lens. Thoughts?

I decided to purchase a new lens to somewhat cover all my focal lengths. I was getting by just fine with what I have, but I've been shooting more landscapes and the the 50mm just isn't wide enough all the time, especially with a crop sensor. Even with some of the portraits I do, I find myself having to back up too far. It's exhausting (or I'm lazy?) And I usually run out of room when I'm shooting inside.
I have a Sigma 28-70, but it's just too soft.
I kind of narrowed down my search to the 30mm range and like the following lenses:

Canon 28mm 1.8
Sigma 30mm 1.4
Canon 35mm 2.0

They all fit into my budget, but I wanted to get some feedback/advice from the POTN community before I pull the trigger. I open the floor to any comments, suggestions, preferences, etc...

When I had my crop, I had the Canon 28mm f/1.8 and did use it a lot. Great for almost anything. If you get too close with it, it does distort. I would stand back a bit and crop later. Absolutely a great lens. I found this lens too wide for full frame though, and sold it.

I would go with the 30/1.4 of those choices but if you want to do landscape and the widest you have now is 28mm, I would get the Tamron 17-50/2.8 non VC instead.

FEChariot wrote in post #15175443
I would go with the 30/1.4 of those choices but if you want to do landscape and the widest you have now is 28mm, I would get the Tamron 17-50/2.8 non VC instead.

I was thinking about that one too. I had it on my Amazon wish list.
This one right? ----> Tamron 17-50

I went crazy thinking about this and ended up with the Sigma 30. My main motivation was that I wanted something for low light and my 50mm was just way too long for indoors.

Reasons are:
1. Canon 28 - received a lot of reviewing saying that its not sharp.
2. Canon 35 - looked like a winner.. but I had a 50 f1.8 so this would of been a little too close in distance also I wanted as wide as possible. I also recently started shooting the 50 wide open and found the bokeh very busy and read that the 35 is even worse due to the 5 blades.
3. Tamron 17-50 or Sigma 17-50 was a good range but overlapped to much with my 15-85. Also after lots of testing realized that f2.8 vs f3.5 open or even f4 at 50mm is really not a huge difference for low light.

So I ended up with the Sigma 30mm and could not be happier.. at f2 its sharp and f2.8 it is sharper then any other lens I have.
Also in low light its great and lets me take shots that I could not normally. I also had an AMAZING bokeh.

Lexar wrote in post #15175603
I went crazy thinking about this and ended up with the Sigma 30. My main motivation was that I wanted something for low light and my 50mm was just way too long for indoors.

Reasons are:
1. Canon 28 - received a lot of reviewing saying that its not sharp.
2. Canon 35 - looked like a winner.. but I had a 50 f1.8 so this would of been a little too close in distance also I wanted as wide as possible. I also recently started shooting the 50 wide open and found the bokeh very busy and read that the 35 is even worse due to the 5 blades.
3. Tamron 17-50 or Sigma 17-50 was a good range but overlapped to much with my 15-85. Also after lots of testing realized that f2.8 vs f3.5 open or even f4 at 50mm is really not a huge difference for low light.

So I ended up with the Sigma 30mm and could not be happier.. at f2 its sharp and f2.8 it is sharper then any other lens I have.
Also in low light its great and lets me take shots that I could not normally. I also had an AMAZING bokeh.

Awesome thanks for the advice!
If you didn't already own the 15-85, would you have gone with one of the 17-50?

That's hard to say.. it depends what you need.

I upgraded from my kit lens 18-55 to the 15-85 because I wanted more range and faster focus. I usually use the camera for walking around, traveling, events, etc... I always felt that 55 was too short and kept wanted to swap lenses.
With the 15-85 I find the range perfect. I no longer need a UWA since 15 is great and unless I really want a zoom the 85 is perfect.

I realize everything in photography is a compromise
If I get a 17-50 I would still not have a real low light prime and I would likely switch more to a zoom and maybe even feel a need for UWA. (This of course is my opinion)
Lots of people are very happy with the 17-50 as a general purpose and say its better because its f2.8 and already has good enough low light and a good bokeh.

Landscape on crop = 10-22 for wider perspective
If your looking for a fast walkaround prime though get the sigma 30. It isn't as sharp as other stopped down but the performance nearer the wide open end is fantastic

The 28/1.8 is just fine on a crop camera. It's slightly soft in the corners wide open, but that only shows up on FF cameras.

The Sigma 30/1.4 is a good alternative, except it's bigger, heavier and an awful lot of them seem to need to go in for focus calibration or get exchanged. With a 60D, you don't have Micro Adjust, so can't make the adjustments yourself.

35/2 just isn't wide on a crop camera... and it's too close to 50mm.

Another lens you might want to consider is the Canon 20/2.8. I really like it on a crop camera, but use it on both FF and crop.

If you want wider than that, there aren't many primes... Probably will have to consider a zoom. The Canon 10-22 is excellent. The Tokina 12-24 is very nice, too.

The IQ on the 28/1.8 is excellent - it can easily be cropped to format as you wish. Many times I've shot a "fair" crowd/group shot and later in processing found a really good section (action/expression) for a crop pic. I guess that wouldn't apply to architecture.

You could also consider a good used 24 F/1.4L Mk I, if your budget suffices and you can find one. It is a great lens on APS-C, and the rendering is absolutely marvelous. Bokeh is very good too, especially for a 24 mm lens.

Other than that, based on my own experience, I would certainly also consider a 28 F/1.8. That is a little undervalued gem, IME.

Kind regards, Wim

The 35F2 is a fine lens, with excellent resolutions ...my most used lens.
AF is accurate and the lens is good at F2.
I use it on my 60D and T2i.