New kit lens for crop ánd/or fullframe

[Vegetable]

Hey TDP,

I am having a very hard time choosing a new general purpose lens. I currently have a Canon 1000D (or Rebel XS) with the 18-55 kitlens and the 55-250mm zoomlens. The AF on the kitlens is broken, sadly, which is why I want to buy a new lens to replace this one. However, it must be noted that I am able to use my dad's 5D as often as I want, since he has been using a 5D Mark II for quite some time already, which is why it is difficult for me to choose between an EF lens or an EF-S one.

I am currently studying at a university so I am not very rich and will not be able to spend much money on, for example, a new 24-105mm L lens. However, I have been looking around for affordable lenses, also 2nd hand, and there are some that caught my eye. I would like to share my thoughts on the options and would love to hear your thoughts on what you would recommend, also.

EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM lens (2nd hand): No IS, small focal length, fixed but small aperture, sharp and L-quality built. I can use this for FF ánd crop.
EF 28-70mm f/2.8L USM lens (2nd hand if good deal): No IS, good focal length but not very wide, fixed and large aperture, sharp and L-quality built.
EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM: IS, large focal length but not very wide, small aperture, not quite sharp in the corners on FF. This lens was not recommended to me, but what do you guys think?

EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM (2nd hand): IS, great focal length, pretty good image quality and decent build quality. However, not able to use on FF.
EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM: IS, great focal length, fair image quality but very cheap - I could buy maybe one or two primes to add in the future.

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF: Long name, but great image quality for its price. I could also buy something extra here, such as a 85mm prime.

What do you guys think? I know I am somewhat vague but that is because I have so many choices for both full frame and crop! Would it be wise to go for full frame because the 5D is far more superior to the 1000D? Or would the lenses on it be too low quality (such as 28-135) for its price, so I should go for a crop lens? I could buy more with EF-S lenses.. but oh.. all the possibilities confuse me!

[andnowimbroke]

Does he let you borrow his lens too? And if so, buy a focal range that would compliment his arsenal.
Don't be afraid of getting good used EF-s lenses. They can be resold for little loss.

[Vegetable]

He does let me borrow his lenses. He has the EF 24-105 f/4L and EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO lenses, so if I were to 'complete' his arsenal with my own input, it'd be the 17-40mm one. However, I plan on going abroad for several months next year, so I doubt he would let me borrow them for such a long time.

[andnowimbroke]

You might not want to take expensive lenses with you abroad even if you did buy them. The Tamron is supposed to be a good lens, but often hunts in low light even though it is a 2.8 lens. Kinda loud too in case you're trying to take pics in a church. Don't worry about stabilization on that range. Most people can drink four cans of caffeine-infused soda and still fire off crisp shots at 17mm. The plus side of getting EF-s stuff is you can genuinely offer up your lens for him to use knowing he can't use them.

[FastGass]

For EF my choice would be the 17-40mm so you can compliment your dads 5D and still have a decent lens for EF-s, but IQ wise it won't be a upgrade from your kit lens. Second would be the 28-70mm, this lens will be a upgrade in terms of IQ but the zoom range is not ideal for 1.6 crop bodies.

For EF-s I would choose the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, great IQ with fast aperture. Second the 15-85mm, the 17-85mm's IQ is not very good.

Just my two cents,

John.

[PatrickH]

Here's a thought, why not pick up another 18-55 kit lens and save the rest for your time abroad?

If you are set on making more of an investment at this stage I'd probably lean towards the 17-40mm.

Since you and you dad are both into photography and there are already two full frame cameras in the house, I'm going to guess that sooner or later you will go in that direction.

At home do you use the 5d more than your XS?

Do you find that you could use something wider than 24mm when you are using the 5d?