Hey and welcome to the forums.


To your question - it's one of the most difficult questions in photography I believe.


Few months ago (about 6 months) I've been in a very similar situation as you are facing right now, with the only difference being my smaller budget.


Before I say a few words regarding the lens, I though I'd suggest you to buy a 50D instead of a 7D. Yes, the 7D is better and I'd trade my 50D for a 7D in a heart beat if someone (somehow) would like to make such a trading with me [], but since you are on a budget, I suggest that you put the ~$700 price difference toward either more than 1 lens or a better lens.


Now to lenses - currently my only lens is the 17-85. I picked it up rather than the suggested above Tamron lens since Bryan (if memory serves) wrote in his review that the Tamron AF accuracy and speed are not that good - check his review as I'm not 100% sure he said exactly that so go and check for yourself. Also, it doesn't have a fast and quiet USM motor nor does it have FTM (full time manual) which is bad for me as I might turn the focusing ring without switching to MF first.


IQ-wise, people here and on other places have said before that the Tamron 17-50 IQ is superb, and some claim that it's even sharper than the Canon 24-70. So, I suggest that you at least read a few reviews and consider the Tamron as well and see if it's good for your needs - maybe it is... (but it's not for me at least).


It's really hard to pick a lens from your list, really hard - but there is one lens in that list that unless for some reason you really really need it, I'd let it go. It's the 24-70 - I've once held it and it's big and heavy as a cannon (Canon? [:P]). It also lack the IS and "a little bit too many" people had problems with this lens even though it was a brand new one.


So far, if like me, the Tamron is not good for your needs, we are left with 3 lenses: 17-85, 17-55 and 24-105.


Sometimes I really wish I had the IQ of the 17-55. Two things though about it make me think twice before considering this lens:


1. 55mm is too short for me most of the time - but if you plan to have a 70-200 soon maybe it won't bother you. Remember though that switching lenses takes time too.


2. For a $1000 lens, I'd expect it to be built like all the other L lenses - metal and not cheap (or expensive) plastic. I keep all my equipment safe and secure, but I still would like to have rugged and well built lenses rather than the plastic toys. Toys are for kids, not for $1000's equipment. But then again, I'd expect a $1000+ body to be FULLY weather sealed but somehow it's not... I guess Canon marketing guys don't agree with me on that one (I wish you burn in hell damn marketing guys - j/k of course [:P])


And #1 and #2 above lead me directly to the 24-105 *L* - which is long (105mm), (should have) great IQ since it's an "L", has IS, pretty fast aperture and has a great build quality.


What's the biggest downside in the 24-105 IMO is the wide end - 24mm on a 1.6 camera body is simply not wide enough for many situations.


Few things regarding the 17-85: sometimes it's IQ and/or slow aperture simply suck. With that said, MUCH MUCH more times it's IQ make you say "wow, I've never thought that a $500 lens could shine like that".


I highly recommend that you read this: Shooting with Canon’s Best Walk Around Lens!


And even though that I haven't had a chance to shoot with other walk around lenses, I'm almost sure that the name of the above article is the best way one could use to describe the Canon EF-S 17-85 lens.


Last thing: I know that it's VERY wrong to judge lens/camera according to small pictures we see in the web, but yet I thought I'd share this... unless you plan to have really big prints (bigger than 23x15 inch [~60x40 cm]), consider the below 2 pictures. One was shot with a 40D + 17-85 while the other was taken with a 5D mk2 + 24-105.


First picture: Landscape Photography – Grand Old Cypress


Second picture: Rainy Day Photography – Always Something to Shoot


Try not to read the Exif info of each picture at first. I could post the 2 pictures directly here, but I don't want to do that without permission from the photographer so I posted above 2 links to his blog posts with the 2 pictures.


That's it for now, there are still a lot of things to say. I told you all the important things that I think you should know and might be interested in. Now go and read more reviews and do more checks and tests. Also don't forget to do a very important thing - go and try those lenses in your hands with a camera body. Either go to a camera shop, barrow from friends or rent.


Good luck and happy shooting! [H]