A beginner with high aspirations

[mikehillman89]

First off, Welcome jeustace!


And yes you did bark up the wrong tree! There are so many 24-70 vs 24-105 debates here! Just joking!


It's a tough one to decide, but obviously depends on what you plan on doing more of.


If you plan on being indoors more often then the 2.8 may work better for you than the 4.0. If you however plan on getting a flash as well then perhaps the IS and extra range is worth the sacrifice of one stop. If no flash is in your future and you plan on being indoors often then I would suggest the 24-70mm just for the additional stop.


My 2cents.


Cheers,


Mike

[Jon Ruyle]

If you plan on being indoors more often then the 2.8 may work better for you than the 4.0.

Rather than indoors vs outdoors, I would say the question is moving vs non-moving. For moving objects, the f/2.8 gives double the shutter speed, and thus allows pictures in half the light. But for non-moving objects, the IS gives a two stop advantage (three stops for the IS, minus one stop because of the f/4) thus allowing hand-held pictures in 1/4 the light of the f/2.8.


For portraits in good light, I would prefer the faster lens for the option of a narrow DOF, especially on a crop body.


The 24-105 IS is truly amazing for hand-held night photography.


I guess that settles it


I agree with John- I would think again about how soon I plan to go full frame. If it is a far off idea, you might consider getting the 17-55 f/2.8 IS, then selling it when you get the full frame camera.

[Lars]

I agree that the best choice would be 17-55mm + 85mm. I have the Tamron 17-55 (far much better than the canon kit lens) and a crop sensor (400D) and use the 17-55 almost all the time. If I had the money, I would probably go for the canon version with IS, but my experience with shooting kids (with camera [:P]) is that fast lens is more important than IS. Remember that the IS does not stabilise the kid, only the camera. So if I had to choose between 2.8 w/o IS and 4 w IS, I would go for 2.8 without.


Also, I see a lot of people being extremely satisfied with the 7D, which has crop sensor. If you are not 100% sure that your next body will be a full size, I suggest 17-55. Anyway, if you choose Canon's top quality lenses, I am sure you will be satisfied whatever you end up with.