I'm primarily a landscape photographer, so I've been concerned that my Canon EF-S 18-55mm (300D kit lense) is sharp enough at 18mm. I did a lot of research, using Fred Miranda and especially PhotoZine.de websites. Fred Miranda's site is based on the user-experience of photographers, where PhotoZine is more technical/test based.

Basically, it came down to the best wide angle lens I could get for less than $400. Initial research of lenses came down to these three:

• Canon EF 20mm f2.8
• Sigma 20mm f/1.8
• Tokina 17mm f/3.5 AT-X pro

Each lens reviewed really well, with minor pros and cons to each. Unfortunately the street price of the Canon was a little more than I wanted to spend, so it came down to the Sigma and the Tokina. They scored identically at PhotoZine.de. The main difference was the fact that the Sigma had a 82mm filter thread, which is a huge jump in price for any filters. The Tokina had a more modest 77mm.

So after many nights of flip-flopping between the two, I settled on the Tokina and ordered it from Adorama, who had a decent price (I called them to see if it was in stock, and the quote on the phone was $30 cheaper than their online price, so that was pleasant to find.

I was bored so I thought I'd verify that I had made the right decision, so I did some sample shots, same view, tripod-mounted with a cable release. The results are below:

Which would you pick? Top or Bottom

Well if you picked the top of the two sets, you're with me. Unfortunately for me, that's the Canon EF-S lens. Which means I have a lens to return to Adorama. Here are more comparisons: