recommendations (glass)

sturisoma

sturisoma

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Summer
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hi guys

I can (at last) afford some decent glass but I am a bit confused about the options.

I currently only have the kit lens and a 75-300 4/5.6 for my 50D (well I do have a nifty 50 too but it's broken).

I am not fussed about whether I get an L lens or not. My needs are:

1. versatile
2. excellent optical quality
3. fairly light (walkaboutable!)

#1 is important because I don't stick to a particular subject, although I would say that my camera is used least for sports & landscapes and used most for buildings (inside and out), urban settings (street photography and monuments/sculpture) and nature (animals, flowers, trees). I also dabble in a bit of studio work and I like long exposure stuff. I quite fancy trying out portraiture too.

so in my head I'm thinking of the following (I have listed my -ve points for each). My budget is around £700 max and I usually go for 2nd hand with warranty options (ie not a private seller on ebay).

a) 40mm 2.8 pancake lens (no -ve points)
b) 17-55 2.8 (there's no price difference between this one and the L version c) but this is a faster lens so maybe better in low light depending on optical quality, although this one is said to have the optical quality of an L lens)
c) 17-40 4 L (see b) )
d) 24-105 4 L (ribbon cable weakness and the most expensive one here for an L lens with a known weakness, but the most versatile)

If I chose not to go for d) then I could get a) and one of b) or c)

*sigh* I can't decide. My 70-300 suits me fine for tele stuff, and I'm not sure I need a really wide lens. I do love my kit lens but I feel like I need better quality but in more or less the same range.

please give me the benefit of your experience :)
 
Hi Summer,

I use the 17-55 on my 60D and the 24-105 on my 5D, both are brilliant lenses imho. I have tried the 24-105 on the 60D and although it is very good it's not wide enough for me to be considered versatile enough (although others will disagree no doubt).

For a cropper I'd go 17-55, (however it also suffers the ribbon cable weakness). If anything, since having the ribbon cable replaced and reassembled by the good people at Colchester Camera Repairs, it's better than my 24-105.

I'd question the versatility of the 40mm, although I've never used one.

What aspect of "versatile" is most important to you? For some it's the focal range it covers, for other max aperture makes a lens versatile. What is it you're looking for?

Sorry Summer, I've just put my phone away and read your post properly. It sounds like the 40mm and 17-55 are what you want (it sounds like you've figured that out yourself :-)).

Darren
 
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hmmm, well, I think I mean versatile as in when I'm out and about (my camera goes everywhere that I go) and I see something I want to photograph, then I'd like to be able to do so without having to swap lenses, and I'd like to be able to carry one 'does most stuff' lens with me. At the moment my kit lens does this job. I'd only really use the tele if I was specifically going to shoot far away stuff, like at an air show e.g. And I'd only really use the prime if I was specifically going to shoot indoor low light stuff like a gig. Hope that makes sense, although I get the feeling that I'm heading towards a) with b) or c). The LCE near me has a 17-50 Tamron in but I'm not sure about a non-canon lens I guess.
 
As the 17-55 is 2.8 (and has excellent IS) would the 40mm give you any more than another lens to change?
 
lol, yes I think you're right. It really helps to get your thought in order by sticking it in the forum though. And I guess I was hoping for some warts and all opinions and experiences of the lenses I'm thinking about :)
 
Okay then!

the 17-55: got my 17-55 used to replace a 18-55 IS 2 kit lens for my 60D, once purchased it was rarely off the camera. Although I love the lens (despite the ribbon cable replacement) it did make me realise how good the kit lens is!! If I could have used it on my 5D I probably wouldn't have got the 24-205.

Good point:
very sharp
good IS (I've hand held at 17 mm at 1/4 sec)
F2.8

Bad points:
heavy
Can get dusty
no weather sealing (never worried me that much)
Pricey? Some may have sigma or tamron recommendations that are just as good?

24-105: I got it with my 5D and it's on the camera most of the time. It gives me the same thing on the full frame 5D as the 17-55 gives me on the cropped 60D.

good points:
Nice and sharp
good IS

Bad points:
F4
Not wide enough on a cropped sensor (perhaps?)

Hope that help. Can't comment on your other options as I've not used them.

Darren
 
Thanks Darren that is helpful. I did read something about the dust with the 17-55.
 
EF-S 15-85, fantastic lens. I've recently purchased my second and have also had two 24-105's. Much prefer the 15-85 on a crop body and would even choose the 15-85 over the 24-105 on a full frame body if that was possible.
 
28-135? Plus a prime for wider stuff?
 
17-55. From what you've said, it's the obvious choice - and a good one. Don't worry about dust. Even if you get a bit of that (and all extending zooms are prone to dust) it's very unlikely to make any difference to performance, and either way it's easy to get cleaned. You can even do it yourself in 20 minutes, as I did (google it).

Don't get anything else until you've used that for a while, then only buy one lens at a time to prevent expensive mistakes :thumbs:
 
okay so I got the 17-55 from LCE. I also picked up an Olympus tele lens for my E-510 for £60 :D The 17-55 is a lot bigger and heavier than the kit lens which will take some getting used to. They had a pancake for £200 which was tempting but I resisted because the 17-55 should cover me for that range as Darren said. Now I just the rain to cease lol

thanks for all your help people :)

:clap:
 
sturisoma said:
okay so I got the 17-55 from LCE. I also picked up an Olympus tele lens for my E-510 for £60 :D The 17-55 is a lot bigger and heavier than the kit lens which will take some getting used to. They had a pancake for £200 which was tempting but I resisted because the 17-55 should cover me for that range as Darren said. Now I just the rain to cease lol

thanks for all your help people :)

:clap:
Click to expand...

Sweet :thumbs: Class lens. Treat yourself to a lens hood, for protection mainly.
 
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