Camera Labs

I'm beginning to plan out a very nice birthday present near for the beginning of 2013 and given the time frame I'm opening my options to some more expensive glass for my T3i.

Currently I'm eying the following primes understanding that on my crop sensor these will put me in the 50mm range.

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM
Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0

Uses are going to be primarily photos and video of my young kids, hence why I'm leaning towards the USM/HSM models for quick AF. Also while I'd like the IS for video is it really necessary at this focal length?

I've seen some reviews on this site and others for both lenses but didn't find any directly comparing the two and on a crop sensor camera.

Please share any suggestions, thoughts, insights. All are appreciated.
Thanks,
-Kirk

Id choose the Sigma over all but the IS lens, because IS can be very handy while shooting video. Otherwise the Sigma is better (sharper and lets more light in) than the others.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

If it's about the movie mode I'd say yes. If you are taking photos: no, probably not.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

I had been leaning towards the Sigma given its price and performance. The discussion around the pluses of IS for video have me thinking that I may go for 2 lens upgrades. I think the Sigma as my walk around photo lens and then perhaps upgrade my kit zoom 55-250 IS II with a 28-135 IS USM which seems to be reasonably priced for a used lens online and knowing I can sell the 55-250 that will make it a better deal. Sure I may lose a little on the top end focal length but the addition of USM and a little larger aperture on the wide end would really make a difference. Probably the biggest gain with this choice would be the full time manual on the 28-135. The 55-250 was too slow to use AF when setting up video shots and MF wasn't the easiest to get rigth.

As usual just when I think I'm close to making a decision I learn a little more and go off in another direction. I think this may give some better overall results since the more I think about it I tend to do more video with the 55-250 than the std kit 18-55 I have.

Thanks again for your time and insight.

-Kirk