Which lens?

[Daniel Browning]

I recently bought a 500D/T1I with the standard 18-55mm lens, then later purchased a 50mm f/1.8. I'm very happy with both of these purchases, Although i find that the kit lens now spends a lot of time in my bag.

Excellent!

if i was going to buy either of the other 2 lenses i would also by some extenders to give me some degree of macro capability.

Since it sounds like you will get a lot of use out of macro, and you're comfortable using prime lenses, so I suggest you go for a dedicated macro lens. I prefer the EF-S 60mm f/2.8, which is more inexpensive, but the 100 is excellent.

The question is, Would the 24-105mm or the 17-55mm prove to be vastly more useful than the 18-55mm kit lens?

The 24-105 is in a whole different category than the kit lens, because on your camera it's a "normal to full telephoto" zoom, whereas the kit lens and 17-55 are "wide angle to short telephoto" zooms. For me, the 17-55 is a more useful range, but some don't ever shoot wide angle.


The 17-55 has the advantage of a fast f/2.8 f-number: that is very different from the f/4 on the 24-105, but it's worlds apart from the f/5.6 on the kit lens. Furthermore, the image quality is fantastic, especially for a zoom. be Not to mention the fact that in the range where they overlap (24-55), the 17-55 has far superior image quality (almost as good as the 50mm f/1.8, and even better in some ways). But even with all that, I can't say if either lens will be vastly more useful than your kit lens, because it just might not be the focal length you want to shoot.


Personally, I have a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, because the I.S. and other features of the Canon 17-55 was not important enough to me to spend the extra $600, and the Tamron is every bit as sharp.

Would i be better off saving my money and going for the macro lens and perhaps looking at a telephoto in the future?

Most folks use a "normal" zoom like the 17-55 or 18-55 for a lot of their photography, but everyone is different, and so far your kit lens has stayed in the bag. A telephoto lens is pretty important for me, personally, so I would want to have something, even if it was more inexpensive to use while I'm saving up. The Sigma 70-300 APO MACRO is the cheapest option, but the Canon 70-300 IS makes a great value if you can afford it.

I realize the answer to these questions will vary from person to person but as i have never used any of these lenses and many of you have, I would greatly appreciate your views.

Something you might consider is to rent a lens for a week and try it out. I used to get rentals from the local photography place for hundreds of dollars, but now I do lensrentals.com for less than a third of the price. Great way to try things out without committing to a purchase.


Have fun with your new gear!