Comprehensive 'what lens' thread, im really stuck deciding, help needed!

combat squirrel

combat squirrel

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REALLY struggling to decide on a good walkabout lens with pretty good image quality (at least to the level I have now). The issue is im forever changing lenses as the current lenses are just about the 'wrong' focal length for me.

Camera is a canon 40D

Current lens line up:

Sigma 10-20 - great wide angle lens, useful for landscape

Tamron F2.8 17-50 (currently in repair), awesome image quality and low light capability, HOWEVER I dont like it stops at 50, I always want abit more, up to 70/80mm would be useful

Canon 55-250IS - Mines a excellent example with FANTASTIC IQ, great bargin. HOWEVER its not quite wide enough, I often end up swapping frequently between this and the tamron. I do really like the IS on this lens, IQ also, I SO WISH it was 24-250 or something .

IDEALLY I wish someone would make a 17-100 F2.8 (f2.8 throughout the focal length) but no one does.

So a good walkabout lens is needed, iv been all through the mill of different lenses, of whats available ideally a canon 24-105L glass F4 IS, but its silly money (£600-ish) , I broke my choices so far down to:

1) Tamron 24-135, apparently fantastic IQ (up there with 17-50 almost), also works on full frame, reasonble £300 ish price.
2) Tamron 18-250, perhaps the ultimate walk about lens in terms of focal length for a crop sensor, HOWEVER no IS (madness at anything more than 120mm-ish), apparently not so bad on the IQ considering, but ill say it will be lower than my current canon
3) Sigma 18-200 OS, currently ranking high in my possibilities list, OS (love image stabalisation now iv had it on the canon 55-250), great focal range, nice price at 280.
4) New Tamron 18-300VC, EVEN BETTER focal range, probably better than the sigma at 200, has VC, not sure about IQ as of yet, apparently its pretty good of the very limited feedback iv seen, HOWEVER very pricey at over £400


Far out 'other options' are:
Sigma 24-70 f2.8 and canon 17-85 f4-5.6

however I dont think the 70 would quite cut the focal length im after (ideally abit over 100), WHAT would you do ? any help would make this decision alot easier, why cant any make a 17-100 f2.8, hehe

In the future I intend to buy the sigma 150-500OS lens for my telephoto stuff, so its this middle range im abit stuck on

If money/tech was no object:

canon 10-22
17-70 F2.8
70-200 f2.8 IS
150-500OS

EDIT:

Also now considering the Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Mk2 ahhhh to much info,lol
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Another body?
 
So you're looking to spend another, what, £300 on a lens because you don't like swapping lenses? Its unlikely you'll find a lens that has as good-a image quality as the Tamron and the Canon combined, especially not with a huge focal length that combines the two.

I would say spend the money elsewhere. You have a fantastic lens lineup, why bother getting another one that combines 2 lenses as a compromise in quality?
 
Nearest lenses in terms of foacl range are Sigma 17-70mm and Canon 17-85.

Not the fastest lenses but unless you need low light ability or shallow DOF then either would do the job.

Sigma 24-70 f2.8 a good lens, but i found it not wide enough for city trips !

What you need is a 24-105IS on a 5d FF body !
 
as soon as I saw your thread I though sigma 17-70 and reading it through I still think 17-70, it's not the fastest at the long end but the image quality is excellent and it's not very expensive.
 
The 24-105L if it's within your budget is an ideal walkabout lens for general shooting.
 
For me it would (and possibly, will) )be the Sigma 18-200 OS, should cover most focal lengths when walking and light to boot. :)
 
pxl8 said:
The 24-105L if it's within your budget is an ideal walkabout lens for general shooting.
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I see this all the time and I know that I couldn't live with 24mm at the wide end on a crop sensor, but I guess it depends on what you shoot.
 
a1ex2001 said:
I see this all the time and I know that I couldn't live with 24mm at the wide end on a crop sensor, but I guess it depends on what you shoot.
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True it might be a little long on a crop but at least you won't suffer from the extremes of distortion that the wider options bring.

I recently sold my 17-40 because although it was a cracking lens I was using it around 24mm anyway so people didn't look like they'd fallen into a black hole :LOL:
 
Ended up going for the Canon 28-135mm IS 3.5/5.6 IS, seems about the job and is an EF lens for when 5D MK2 is out ;)

As great as the current lenses I have are, there very heavy to all carry around if im nipping out, or on holiday,im off to greece soon and those 'day' trips where ill b mooching around towns with the mrs, id rather a small lowepro shoulder bag and AT MOST 2 lenses, ideally 1, so this is why ill take this lens :)

If im on a proper 'photography mission' walking coastal paths or whatever, then obviously ill load up with all lenses in my tamrac 9 rucksack.
 
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