Wide Angle Lens recommendation for canon 70D (cropped sensor camera)

I am interested in landscape and have a 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens but finding it does not capture enough and would like to purchase a Wide Angle lens.

I am find ing the prices for the Canons too much and have started looking at 3rd party (Samyang, Tokina, Sigma etc)

Can someone recommend a decent lens

the ones I have started looking at are

Rokinon 14mm Ultra Wide-Angle f/2.8 IF ED UMC

Samyang 14mm Ultra Wide-Angle f/2.8 IF ED UMC

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX

I know Rokinon and Samyang come out of the same factory but are they identical lenses?

If anyone has any sample images of landscapes taken with a cropped sensor and any 3rd party wide angle lens I would love to see them

I am at some stage planning to go to a full frame camera and would like lenses that are compatible with both

Answer

There is actually an OEM Canon ultrawide zoom lens that costs less than all the lenses you're looking at. That is the EF-S 10-18 f/4.5-5.6 IS STM, which is the low-price alternative to the Canon 10-22.

Yes, the Samyang and Rokinon (and Vivitar, Pro-Optic, Opteka, Bower, Phoenix, Walimex, etc. etc.) are the same lens, and are optically identical, although not identical in outward appearance. However, Samyang's lenses are manual-only and do not perform electronic communication with the camera body. You have to manually focus, and manually set the aperture with the lens's aperture ring. You can only use M/Av modes because the camera body can't control the aperture. You have to use stop-down metering (i.e., the view through the viewfinder goes darker the more you stop down). The EXIF won't have any lens information (aperture used, lens name, etc.) in it. What you save in dollars, you will pay back in inconvenience vs. a lens that can communicate with your camera body.

You also won't have much luck in getting a lens that's ultrawide on both crop and full-frame because of the crop factor. While 14mm is ultrawide on full frame, it's the full-frame equivalent of a 21mm lens on a crop body. This is the single category of lenses where you would probably be much better off getting a crop lens, and then reselling it when you move to full-frame, because none of the ultrawide offerings for full frame are ultrawide on a crop (ok, maybe the Sigma 12-24), none of the crop ultrawides cover a full-frame sensor even if they still mount, and the crop versions cost quite a bit less.

The Tokina 11-16, btw, is a crop lens and will vignette on full frame up to about 15mm. That's why Tokina also makes the 16-28/2.8 for full frame.