What affordable lens should I buy for landscape photography?

[WorldView]

Hi there!

So after hours and hours of looking for the most ideal lens that matches my criteria, I am quite lost at what lens to choose.

Some background info ( it's quite a story so if you haven't got the time please scroll down, there my question is written down in one sentence )

I am ( I guess ) an advanced amateur photographer and I've had a Canon eos 1100D for several years now; it has been a great camera for me to learn the basics of photography but I can feel the need to upgrade. Unfortunately, my wallet disagrees and after looking for an affordable camera - which, at this time, is a dream I cannot turn into reality yet - I realised that it isn't all about the camera ( although a good quality sensor is definitely important ) but a lot of the picture's quality comes from the glass in front of it; and so, I started looking for a lens that would greatly improve the quality of my ( landscape and architecture, but mainly landscape ) pictures in comparison to my standard 18-55mm IS kitlens.
Because of my APS-C camera, I will need a pretty wide angle lens.
But now I'm lost! I found several lenses that piqued my interest, from Tamron and Sigma and Canon itself, but there were so many reviews for so many different situations, camera and uses, I decided to call for help on a forum. And then of course the Canon Forum would be the best place to look for a satisfying answer!

So, what lens would you recommend if the camera is an APS-C ( Canon eos 1100d ), if the budget doesn't stretch further than €500 ( $566 USD ) and if the main purpose would be landscapes, if possible: close-up photography and architecture, for example; colourful cobblestone streets in an Italian village - now you also know where I'm going on my next holiday 😉

I hope you can help!

[ebiggs1]

"Because of my APS-C camera, I will need a pretty wide angle lens."

Not necessarily so! A lot of people think that they need a very WA lens to shoot landscapes.  Maybe you do but maybe you don't.  Whatever you are shooting depends on the conditions and situation.  Not some arbitrary classification that people assign to a lens.  Landscape equals wide angle?  Your 18-55mm is already a WA lens with a 28 to 85 approx. focal length equivalent.  So using that train of thought, it is a landscape lens.

You need to choose the lens on your requirements not just a, "You must use a xxxx for landscapes." concept. People that tell you that really don't know what they are talking about. I, too, regard Canon lenses as the choice, go to lens, but current third party lenses work well on Canon cameras very well.