(using B+H prices, all of them are priced "with instant-savings" until Feb 4, )
Best of the Wide/standard zooms: 17-55 f/2.8 $1000
second-place, 15-85 $660
Best of 100mm macro: USM L $970 (imported version, or $885 for USA-version with instant rebate but out of stock)
second-place USM non-L $500
180mm: $1330
EFs 60mm: $385
MP-E 65: $885
Longest zoom: 100-400mm L: $1440
second-longest 70-300mm L: $1350
honourable mention: 70-200 f/4L IS: $1130 (but is that long enough?)
70-200 f/2.8 L IS: $2070 + 2x Teleconverter: $475, will get you to 400mm f/5.6, and it may serve you ok for macro too, but you've pretty much blown your whole budget by then...
So add up the 17-55, 100-400, 100 L IS macro, and you get $3400 plus shipping.
Substitute the 17-55 for the 15-85 gives you $3050.
Or sub the 100-400 for the 70-300 and you're at $3300
Or take out the 100 L IS for the 100 USM non-L makes $2930, for serious macro the MP-E 65mm will give you $3300 total
So you can get 2 lenses in 'best of' (depending on need, of course) and 1 in 'second-best' category.
But 'best of' depends on what you want.
The 15-85mm is 'better' than the 17-55 for focal-length range, that extra 2mm on the wide end makes a big difference, and if you've got a decent flash you won't notice the slow-aperture indoors as much as using natural-light.
Or the 70-300L is lighter and more compact than the 100-400 and has arguably slightly better IQ, it's just 100mm shorter.
And the 100mm USM non-L macro has better IQ than the L in places, but you have to use it wide-open (so near-0 DOF) for handheld macro, the Hybrid IS of the L makes a lot of difference with the smaller apertures you need to get any DOF at all at 1:1 macro.
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Originally Posted by Dr Croubie
