Which walk about lens for a Canon 40D ?

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Subaru_WRC

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I currently have the Canon 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS as my walk about lens but ive been reading conflicting articles where some say its a very good lens for the money and others say that it gives poor results at the short and long ends of the focal length. I`m not experienced enough yet to gauge whether my current lens gives great results, they look fine but someone more experienced could pick faults if you know what i mean.

People seem to be rating the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 as a great walk about lens that gives pin sharp results, i`m basically new to photography so i`m not as experiences as the majority on here.

If i changed to the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 what would i lose over the Canon 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS ?

I couldn`t justify the cost of the L series lens just yet as i`m not a good enough photographer to go to that expense, i`m looking in the intermediate price range for a very good walk about lens if their is one that betters my current lens.

Any input will be appreciated.
 
Are you happy with the photo's you've taken :shrug: if you are, why change for change sake :shrug::shrug:
 
andyred said:
Are you happy with the photo's you've taken :shrug: if you are, why change for change sake :shrug::shrug:
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As you know everyone thats into photography is always trying to better their results within their budget even if their current results look ok, if my current lens can`t be bettered within that sort of price range than thats fine i`ll stick with it. Its just good to hear from people that have owned the lens that i currently have now and have moved onto something else and to find out their opinions.
 
17-55 is rated by many as an excellent lens - nearly L quality for 1.6 sensor...it is great but also costs - add this to the 70 -200 and you have killer kit. Of course these are all now more expensive than a few months back:bang:

I would save and get the best glass you can.:thumbs:
 
Thanks for the input so far, any other offerings would be good on a walk about lens in the region of 17-85mm or round about that sort of area ?
 
I was in exactly the same boat
I had a nice cheap but sharp 28-105 lens but it wasn't wide enough for being a tourist, so I went back to the kit lens!
then...bought the 17-85 IS thinking, what a great lens
however, it does distort hugely at 17mm wide, really obvious if you put the straight edge of a building next to the frame edge.

so I looked around and settled on a 17-50 f2.8 tamron. cheap as lenses go and handy for alsorts at f2.8.
ideally I'd splash out on the Canon 17-55 IS
L glass is just too expensive and I need the f2.8 for my bits and pieces.

a friend of mine rates his sigma 10-20 as a walk about lens :)
if you get a lens that's 28mm as it's widest, when walking around being a tourist, you'll really notice how narrow it is for snapping buildings, and views etc
 
Hi. I suggest you keep the lens you have untill you gain experience. You will then know exactly which lens you need.
Believe me this chasing quality before you know what you are doing can be a costly buisiness, you have a decent camera and a good lens already, take pictures, learn, and enjoy.
 
DUNKS said:
Hi. I suggest you keep the lens you have untill you gain experience. You will then know exactly which lens you need.
Believe me this chasing quality before you know what you are doing can be a costly buisiness, you have a decent camera and a good lens already, take pictures, learn, and enjoy.
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Well said. I echo your remarks:clap:

I learned by starting with a bridge camera, buying a 400D DSLR & kit lenses, replacing the kit lenses by buying the "classic" EF lenses which are billed as "really good value, really sharp" etc, plus a nifty fifty mk1, upgrading to L lenses and a Sigma macro and I'm now about to upgrade to a 40D:thinking:

In fact I'm probably only out of pocket on the bridge camera, and then only slightly but what a palaver!! I hope I still like photography 5 years down the line:wave::wave:
 
It sounds like you guys do not know about the lens correction software incorporated into Canon's DPP Raw processor. It comes free with all Canon cameras (ie you've already got it) and, apart from being a really good Raw processor, it also corrects common lens aberrations such as CA, distortion and vignetting.

And as you have found, the 17-85 has a bit of all of those. Just click on your lens and the jump in quality is really impressive. The 17-85 is perhaps the best walkabout range you can get, and with this custom image enhancement the quality is very high indeed.

I think this software is unique, and it works really well. Every Canon lens is covered and if it is not with your version of DPP, the upgrade is a free download from Canon Europe. I think the 17-85 is covered in v3.4. All you need to do is shoot Raw as it doesn't work with JPEGs.

You can see what it does here:
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/canon_17-85_4-5p6_is_usm_c16/page3.asp
 
andyred said:
Are you happy with the photo's you've taken - if you are, why change for change sake
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:plusone:

Subaru_WRC said:
... if my current lens can`t be bettered within that sort of price range than thats fine i`ll stick with it. Its just good to hear from people that have owned the lens that i currently have now and have moved onto something else and to find out their opinions.
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I don't think this lens can be bettered at this price range, unless you consider a Stigma or Tamron.

My experience with Sigma was that 6 years after I bought mine (to use with my film Canon SLR) it no longer worked (no longer autofocussed, I should say) with Canon's new digital SLR bodies. It would perhaps have fetched £20 on eBay, so I just gave it away. Sigma offered me a discount on a new lens, but only against RRP when bought from them; since their lenses widely sell below RRP, the discount was worthless. I have a 20 year old Canon lens here that works perfectly.

When I've told this story before, people have told me that I make too much of it. "It was a cheap lens", "you had 6 years use out of it", "how long do you expect Sigma to offer support?". It's up to you whether you consider this a problem - for me, I don't think I'll ever buy Sigma again.

If you're happy with a Sigma or a Tamron, you may be able to get better optics. Personally, I think the Canon 17-85mm is a very good lens, and I have certainly had some very sharp images from it. Personally, I kinda like that blatant barrel distortion at the wide end, because it's characteristic of wide-angle lenses; to me it's kinda like a charming idiosyncrasy. I appreciate this is an unusual view, but as Hoppy says, you can correct it out.

If you can easily afford it, buy the 17-55mm f/2.8. Personally the only reason I plan to sell the 17-85mm some time in the future is because I'd like to move to full-frame (and so an EF-S lens is unsuitable).

Stroller.
 
Thanks for all the detailed replies and advice given, i didn`t realise that the software which came with my 40D would correct the known issues that the 17-85 IS lens has at the minimum and maximum ranges. I`ll stick with my current 17-85 IS lens based on most of the advice above, its a great lens, it was just the known issues at the minimum and max ranges that concerned me slightly but i know how to correct them now should they appear.
 
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