Lens suggestion (another what lens should I get) Sorry!

First off, yes sorry this is yet another what lens should I get thread. Only because I've done some research and I'd like to get some feedback.

A little background..
I mainly am interested in portrait style work, and recently made the jump from crop->FF and am thoroughly enjoying it. My current setup is the following

5DII
85 1.8
50 1.4
50 1.8

The 50mm FL is redundant I have 2 lenses covering this. I honestly don't mind switching out the 1.4 to give me some value towards a wider FL. I like the nifty and my copy is nice, so I can keep that.

I am planning/taking a trip to nyc in April and have already read this thread..
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1238890

So this is where I'm at.

A) For my trip, I'd like to get a lot of the scenery and not only portrait style shots of my gf this whole trip.
B)because I can never get wide enough and or close enough with my current setup and this would be a step towards solving one of those issues.

-I won't be buying any L glass, I'm a college student.
-After owning a zoom lens which was a crappy copy of the tamron 17-50 (on a crop). I can say I enjoy the primes I own right now, minus the disadvantage of not being wide enough.

So I'm debating a used copy of the following
-35mm f/2
-28mm f/1.8
-Sigma 30mm f/1.4 (nvm only for crop bodies)
-Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 (I'm afraid my budget won't allow the newer version of this lens as an option)

Let me know what you guys think

The Sigma 30 1.4 is a crop only lens. If you can push your budget to $900, you can get the Sigma 35 1.4 which fits on FF and is an absolutely amazing lens. If you can't, then the 28/1.8 should do the job. I am not very familiar with the 24/2.8 so can't really say much about it. I do know Sigma also has a 24/1.8 available which seems to have quite wildly varying reports on quality.

Dont buy Sigma. Major quality control issues.

I like inexpensive glass, too. I use cheaper stuff when I can. I had the old 24 2.8. It was not real sharp until f/4 and smaller. I picked up the 28 f/2.8 and it is very good wide open. It sharpens up a bit at 3.2 and is excellent at 3.5. Nice lens. I have seen several reviews of the 28 2.8 that say it is as sharp in the center as the 28 1.8 at equivalent apertures. The 28 1.8 is reviewed to be (I don't have one) a bit soft wide open. It does focus faster and more quietly. I can attest to the 'buzziness' of the 28 2.8. It is distracting to the shooter, at first. Nobody else will notice it. I don't think any prime lens is worth $900, but I am just a hobby shooter. Just in case you think I am a real CHEAPO, I do have some better glass; the Σ70-200 f/2.8 OS, the 15-85, and the 100-400L. I don't use primes a lot, hence my choice of the less costly ones. I sold the 200 2.8L and 135L because I didn't use them enough to justify that kind of money. I get more use out of my zooms.

take a look at the new sigma 35mm f1.4.

photosurgeon wrote in post #15632366
Dont buy Sigma. Major quality control issues.

I must have gotten lucky. My Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 OS HSM is sharp wide open, focuses fast and is dead-on accurate in AI-Servo. It also focuses just fine on my 60D, 5D, Elan 7NE. I don't have my T1i anymore, but it worked fine on that, too. It is no Canon 2.8 II, but it isn't $2300 either.

I have the 24/2.8 on my 50D and I really like it. Sharp enough and renders well. So if you see a bargain one I wouldn't hesitate. There are plenty of choices in 35mm if you go manual focus. I use a Carl Zeiss Jena 35/2.8 which I really like and there are loads more choices. If you are a student you could get quite a few good manual lenses for the price of the 35/1.4. A full bag in fact.

photosurgeon wrote in post #15632366
Dont buy Sigma. Major quality control issues.

Do yourself a favour and don't listen to the troll.

TSchrief wrote in post #15632387
I like inexpensive glass, too. I use cheaper stuff when I can. I had the old 24 2.8. It was not real sharp until f/4 and smaller. I picked up the 28 f/2.8 and it is very good wide open. It sharpens up a bit at 3.2 and is excellent at 3.5. Nice lens. I have seen several reviews of the 28 2.8 that say it is as sharp in the center as the 28 1.8 at equivalent apertures. The 28 1.8 is reviewed to be (I don't have one) a bit soft wide open. It does focus faster and more quietly. I can attest to the 'buzziness' of the 28 2.8. It is distracting to the shooter, at first. Nobody else will notice it. I don't think any prime lens is worth $900, but I am just a hobby shooter. Just in case you think I am a real CHEAPO, I do have some better glass; the Σ70-200 f/2.8 OS, the 15-85, and the 100-400L. I don't use primes a lot, hence my choice of the less costly ones. I sold the 200 2.8L and 135L because I didn't use them enough to justify that kind of money. I get more use out of my zooms.

I can't justify spending that kind of money either, I'm trying to build a well rounded kit of gear while still in college.

That's solid info, I'm going to look into the 28 FL in that case

Ilovetheleafs wrote in post #15632391
take a look at the new sigma 35mm f1.4.

I have seen shots its stunning, just pricey.

TSchrief wrote in post #15632402
I must have gotten lucky. My Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 OS HSM is sharp wide open, focuses fast and is dead-on accurate in AI-Servo. It also focuses just fine on my 60D, 5D, Elan 7NE. I don't have my T1i anymore, but it worked fine on that, too. It is no Canon 2.8 II, but it isn't $2300 either.

I am definitely open to owning off-brand lenses not that these are so off-brand anyway but I believe there is quality in other manufacturers of glass as well. My tamron was very soft most of the time but I did get some use out of it. Will I buy it again? Hell no. I am not writing off non-canon lenses because of that experience though. I've also never owned a sigma lens.

les24preludes wrote in post #15632434
I have the 24/2.8 on my 50D and I really like it. Sharp enough and renders well. So if you see a bargain one I wouldn't hesitate. There are plenty of choices in 35mm if you go manual focus. I use a Carl Zeiss Jena 35/2.8 which I really like and there are loads more choices. If you are a student you could get quite a few good manual lenses for the price of the 35/1.4. A full bag in fact.

I am open to that, and I don't want to sound like a rookie. It's been difficult manual focusing so far on my own lenses (I blame it on my bad eyes) but its really because I don't practice it often enough.

Just so you know I took 4 years of photography with my h.s. and shot an old Minolta film camera. So I did use manual focus for that, just wish I knew what the hell I was doing the first two years

If you are going down the road of off-brand lenses, look at the Tokina 19-35 f/3.5-4.5. I think it is sometimes referred to as the 'plastic-fantastic'. I picked it up for a song with a film body. It is pointless on APS-c bodies, but is simply fantastic on full-frame. I have a 5D. The lens has to be stopped down to look really good, but what zoom doesn't? Some on FM say it is near as good, IQ-wise, as the 17-40L. I don't know about that, never had a 17-40L. It doesn't focus really fast, but that doesn't matter much to me when shooting at f/8 to f/16. It is another really inexpensive option.

The 28mm f/1.8 seems to be selling for $400 used. That seems like a good buy.

First I'd suggest you keep the 50/1.4 over the 50/1.8.... You are likely to become more dissatisfied with the f1.8 lens over time, if it doesn't simply fall apart... image quality is okay, there's some but not a whole lot of difference between the f1.4 and f1.8 unless you know what to look for. Mainly, it's not as fast/accurate focusing as the f1.4 and not as well built. Using the 50/1.8 alongside the 85/1.8 and similar quality lenses, the 50/1.8's weaknesses will gradually become more apparent to you.

Next, I agree, you can't use the Sigma 30/1.4... it's crop only, so rule it out entirely for use with your FF camera.

Now, you are listing and considering wider lenses, which are far less applicable to what you say you are most interested in shooting: portraits. Yes, they have some limited uses (environmental portraits), but get too close for a portrait with a wide lens and you'll run into perspective distortions that make your subjects look rather silly.

On the other hand, a wider lens will be nice for scenery, landscapes, seascapes, architecture, etc.

From your list, I'd recommend the 28/1.8 as a lens with a nice combination of features. It's very compact for a Canon mid-grade/USM lens, even with it's matched lens hood. It's a nice "street photography" lens. Stop it down a bit for better corner to corner sharpness, or use it wide open for low light and live with a little softness in the corners.

The 24/2.8 is sharp corner to corner, but more than a stop slower than the 28/1.8, doesn't have USM, has a narrower focus ring and is a bit plasticky. It's a little better built than your 50/1.8, but not as nice as the 28/1.8.

The 35/2 is similar to the 24/2.8 in build and also lacks USM focus, but it's also got nice image quality and is quite compact. Main problem I see is that it's not much different focal length than your 50mm. Seeing how few lenses you have, I'd advise to get something a bit wider such as the 28mm or 24mm.

It's not on your list, but a prime I like on FF is the Canon 20/2.8. f2.8 is plenty fast on a wider lens like this. It's a nice scenic lens, but has limited use as a portrait lens, being so wide. It's a mid-grade quality build with USM, similar to the 28/1.8 and 85/1.8.

I know you mostly wanted to look at prime lenses, but for a wide angle you may want to make an exception and consider a zoom for the flexibility and versatility... I'd suggest the 17-40L. Good image quality, nice range of focal lengths, top build quality at a reasonably affordable price. I see a used one advertised nere in the POTN classifieds for $550.

photosurgeon wrote in post #15632366
Dont buy Sigma. Major quality control issues.

"User is banned from forums"

That pretty much says it all

I'de look at the 28mm F2.8 IS first, and if you can get it for a good price, go with that.

the 35mm F2 is another fun lens. I enjoyed it while I had it...