General purpose, wedding, portret lens for 1.6 crop body!

[djdalibor]

I own EOS 350D kit, 430EX flash, tripod... looking for a good lens.


EF-S 17-55 IS USM is great lens, but now there is EF-S 15-85 IS USM.


Which one of these two are for me??? []


Thanks!

[Maleko]

Questions: Whats your budget?

[djdalibor]

1000$

[Maleko]

If you could dish out a little bit extra, why not go fora 24-105 L f/4 lens? Keep that lens for life for any body upgrade in the future!

[djdalibor]

24 on 1.6 crop (38.4)


Is it long for weddings, and general purpose?

[Maleko]

I use it for weddings all the time on my 50D 1.6 crop, never a major problem, just take another step back or two :P The quality of the lens wins it over by a miel for me, despite it being that little bit longer, but not long enough to say its a pain at all!

[nrdavis]

I own the 17-55 IS, and use it primarly for weddings on my 40D. It is, hands down, the sharpest lens I have ever used on a Canon Digital Body. 35mm equivalent of 27-88mm is a pretty nice range, and the IS is unbeatable.


I would argue against the 24-105L IS. 24 (38mm equiv.) is pretty long if it's going to be your workhorse lens. In my opinion, at a wedding you don't want to be messing around with f/4 lenses, they are way to dark to frame/focus through. The bright viewfinder is one of the best advantages of 2.8 lenses.


Pair the 17-55 with something a little longer like the 85/1.8 or 135 f/2 (or 70-200/2.8 IS down the road, maybe) and you'll have 95% of your shooting situations covered.

[Jayson]

You could get the Tamron 17-50 and the 85 1.8 right now with that budget. The tamron is just as good as the Canon 17-55 without the IS. I understand the IS is very helpful, but I couldn't pay the premium of $400 for it. See Bryan's review on the Tamron. The only note I would make on the Tamron, because I experienced this, would be to make sure you take a ton of shots in the first couple of days you get it. The reason for this is sometimes the Tamron's AF is not in sync with your camera. I had that problem and didn't test it well enough to start and now am working with Tamron USA on getting the problem resolved. I have read plenty of people do not have this issue and the lens is great. The noise from the AF isn't that bad and it focuses just as fast as the Canon.


Just my two cents.


Jayson

[jimgarvie]

I totally agree with this response. I use my 17-55 F2.8 on a 40D for weddings and it's my main lens. I back it up with both the 85 F1.8 and the 50 F1.4 for moody candids in low light but the workhorse is the 17-55. It is the sharpest zoom in this range I've ever used including the 17-40 F4L, the 24-105L and the 16-35 F2.8L.





Jim

[Maleko]

Interesting responses. I personally can't stand not having a range of 100mm for weddings, I feel way to limited, also shooting at f/4 is never a problem for me. I have a 100mm f/2.8 and a 50mm f/1.8 in my bag ready to use on an old 350D incase I need it, or I have an assistant with me.
But hey, each to their own, its what works for the individual that matters right?!