Enjoy your new lenses, Brendan!


RE the 17-55mm 'dust issue', it seems clear that some people have experienced that. It might be a bad copy/bad luck issue. Mine is completely clean inside despite a lot of use outdoors and inside (and with pets, a toddler, and little time or inclination for cleaning, it's used in some pretty dusty environments). I do keep a B+W MRC UV filter on the lens (all my lenses, in fact) - that might be something for you to consider. Even weather-sealed L-lenses (except the superteles) require a filter to complete the 'sealing'.


Actually, Denise and I bothhave theEF 24-105mm f/4<span style="color: red;"]LIS - we both bought it after we bought the 17-55mm. Speaking for myself, I do find the 24-105mm focal range very useful, along with the weather-sealing. It's just that I often find the 17-55mm range and f/2.8 more useful. If you're only going to have one general purpose zoom, for a crop body the 17-55mm is a better choice, IMO. There's probably an element of seasonal timing there, too - late fall and winter are pretty dark in the northeast (and in the upper midwest and PA as well), meaning a lot of time indoors and wide apertures even outdoors. In my case, I'm also planning on a FF body in the foreseeable future - and my lenses shorter than 85mm were both EF-S mounts (although on FF, I might not be happy with the barrel distortion of the 24-105mm - that one will probably get sold in favor of a 24-70mm f/2.8L IS when/if Canon gets around to releasing one of those).


The EF70-200mm f/2.8<span style="color: red;"]L IS II is truly a great lens - good choice there, too!


--John