# 17-50/f2.8 Sigma or 17-55 / f2.8 Canon



## amj (Jan 11, 2012)

Need some advise. I want to expand my glass options to cover the indoor low light pictures. Want to opt for no flash mostly. Currently, am using the kit lens 18- 55, which is decent but slow in indoors. My 10 - 20 / f3.5 does the job for landscapes. Btw, using a 60D. 
Please suggest any other option too.
Thanx..


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## MLeeK (Jan 11, 2012)

Canon first. Then Sigma.


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## davisphotos (Jan 11, 2012)

If you have the money for the Canon, absolute no-brainer. The color rendition, sharpness, AF speed and build quality of the L series lenses absolutely blows any other lens out of the water. 
That being said, if you don't have a flash, than get the Sigma and a 430EX, and learn how to bounce it, drag the shutter, and balance with ambient. When done properly, flash can look very natural and provide sculpting and directionality to your photographs. A lot of times, even if you have a fast enough lens to shoot without flash, the available light indoors is flat and boring, which means without flash, your photos will be flat and boring.


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## amj (Jan 11, 2012)

. That's another perspective!

I have a small flash , canon EX270 II. Will try what u suggested. However, wanted to do indoors w/o flash & a bit of bokeh...

Thanx buddy...


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## Big Mike (Jan 11, 2012)

davisphotos said:


> If you have the money for the Canon, absolute no-brainer. The color rendition, sharpness, AF speed and build quality of the L series lenses absolutely blows any other lens out of the water.



The EF-*S* 17-55mm F2.8 is not an L lens per say...but most who own it, do agree that it's on par with most L zooms, in terms of image quality.  Canon just doesn't give the L to EF-*S* lenses.  

I was faced with a similar decision and I went with the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 (non VC).  It was less than half the price of the Canon, and maybe 80-90% as good.  The Sigma is pretty new, I haven't read many reviews on it yet (nor do I know the price)...it's hard to comment.  There is a new Tamron as well, with VC, but it adds a fair amount to the price, over the one I had.  

If you really want to shoot in lower light situations without flash, then I'd suggest a much faster lens.  Check out the Canon 50mm F1.4 or maybe the Sigma 30mm F1.4.


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## amj (Jan 11, 2012)

My biggest confusion is on the fact that I want to go for a faster lens like 35/f1.4 which is just too expensive & also want to retain my flexibility of Focal length which comes with 17 - 55. Guess u can't hav best of both. 

Would look at Sigma 30/ f 1.4


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## analog.universe (Jan 11, 2012)

If you really want low light, I agree with the suggestions to go for a 1.4...

If budget is tight, there are a bunch of 1.8's that are more affordable.  Getting wide and fast and affordable together in a lens that's also sharp seems to be a challenge however.  Check out Welcome to Photozone! or LensTip.com - lens review, lenses reviews, lens specification - Lenstip.com to compare performance.


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## Beast95 (Jan 11, 2012)

amj said:


> My biggest confusion is on the fact that I want to go for a faster lens like 35/f1.4 which is just too expensive & also want to retain my flexibility of Focal length which comes with 17 - 55. Guess u can't hav best of both.
> 
> Would look at Sigma 30/ f 1.4



Hmm. There is a canon Prime 50mm f/1.8 lens for about $105. It is amazing for the price, and I own it, but it does have a few issues.. you could look up reviews if you want more info than I can provide, but I will say that if you want a cheap lens, this will work very well


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## belial (Jan 11, 2012)

Don't forget the canon 35 f/2.0. A decent lens although a bit of an old design


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## amj (Jan 15, 2012)

Thanx a ton for your inputs. Guess would look at Sigma 30/ f1.4
Cheers...


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## akrider (Jan 23, 2012)

Buy the lens that fits your needs.  Besides Canon lenses, Tamron and Sigma have an awesome array of quality glass.  No one will ever be able to tell you which lens you have used.  Take a photo with a canon lens and the same photo with the other manufacturer and have one of this camera gurus tell you which is which.  They never get it right, with a 50/50 chance.  I use Canon, Tamron and Sigma with superb results.


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