Alright I made up my mind! I finally bought the 17-55 2.8 after a lot...and then I mean A LOT of thinking :P


Again I will publish the pros and cons which I believe are truly important. Oh and...thank you all for your fantastic comments and help.


I will write everything that I change in BOLD, so super black so you can spot the differences. Unfortunately I couldn't take my testpictures from the store, because I forgot to bring my own camera I sure tested both lenses and here are my findings:


Hello everybody.


About a week ago I decided to sell my tamron 17-50 2.8, because I was tired of it. I liked the imagequality but the longer I used it the more I hated the af performance, speed and accuracy, especially in low-light and or party-environment.


Now I got another dilemma. I can't decide between the canon 17-40L and the 17-55 is usm. I hope you can help me with my choice. I will use this lens as a standard walk-around lens on my 50D next to my 70-200 f4 and my 100mm 2.8 macro. I shoot a lot of outdoor sports and nature.


I will note the pros and cons of each lens and I need you to back it up or change them. I come from Europe, so my English might not be as good as you probably are used to. My apologies for that matter.


17-40 f4 L:


Pros:


-costs 130 euros less then the 17-55


-L build quality The build quality really is good, the lens really feels great in my hands. Looks and feels real strong, almost unbrakeable.


-Very nice color and contrast


-internal zoom


-EF so upgradable to FF, although I don't really plan this for near future


Cons:


-sharpness: I hear a lot of different opinions about this matter. Some say the 18-55 kitlens even outperforms the 17-40. That's hard to believe for an L lens. So I hope you can clear this for me. I really like detail and sharpness. I'm used to watching my photo's at 100%


My experience with sharpness was really good. I tested the lens and I thought it was as sharp as it could be at f4 with slight improvement stopping down. I watched my photo's on a 24" screen so I could see a little difference between both lenses, but the 17-40 sure was sharp enough!


-It's "only" f4. I don't really shoot a lot indoors, so I don't think it will be a major issue. For indoor use, this really is an issue.


-I thought of another con unfortunately. The background blur. At 40mm zoom, with a maximum aperture of f4 and a minimal distance of 0.5 meter, the DOF still is pretty big. I don't think you can make an object really explode out of the picture using the DOF.


-Anathor CON, the zoomring is really small! And it's just in front of the camera's body. So fast zooming in and out was kinda tricky for me. I'm used to the 70-200 and the tamrons 17-50 zoomrings and this is quite a difference let me tell you that. I'm not really small, 1.95m(6"6) so you can imagine my hands aren't the tiniest there are and the zoomring of the 17-40 really made me sad. I'm sure you can get used to it, but I don't think I will ever see it as a positive detail on this lens. If you count this detail to build quality, the build quality isn't as good as it looked before.


-No IS, I know I don't really need this feature, but for people making the same choice, this is really a thing not to forget. Especially when you shoot in automatic modes where shuttertimes aren't as controllable as in (semi)manualmodes.


17-55 2.8 IS USM


Pros:


-f2.8 so 1 full stop of light extra


-IS, although I don't really see the need for IS. I mainly shoot sports and don't need IS to do that.As I stated, for me it isn't such an issue because I mainly shoot sports, but when you shoot indoors, familymatters, architecture etc etc this is a really really nice feature. I managed to shoot sharp at 0,3 sec and that's just by testing it for like 10 minutes. Of course you don't want to shoot sports with that kind of shutterspeed :P


-Fast and accurate AF, due to 2.8 extra performance.


-15mm extra zoomlength. 40-55mm Not only that but also the 0,35m focus-distance helps a lot. The closeupperformance of this lens is a lot better then the 17-40's.


-Really sharp? This I can admit. Although the 17-40 is sharp as well, sharp enough for most of the pictures you will make with it, the 17-55s sharpness is really good. I watched my photo's 100 percent cropped and an 24" screen and I thought it was sharp enough to zoom in even more and still have a good image.


-Good colors and contrast





Cons:


-130 euro's more expensive I think it's worth it.


-not really flare resistant Can't say, but with the lenshood on I don't thnk this will be a major issue. Perhaps with landscapes with (in)direct sunlight. But for landscapes only I would choose the 17-40 anyways. And I'm sure that the 17-40 isn't 100% flare resistant as well.


-Dustproblems? I hear people complaining and people saying they used it for more then 2 years without any noticeable dust inside the lens. I think this dustproblem is just the fact that people who have the issue complain and people who don't have the issue (probably a vast majority) do not complain, so you end up hearing only the complains. It sounds to me that this " dustproblem" isn't really that bad for most of us.


-IS, since I don't see it as a necessary need.For a lot of people it is a nice feature so I will make it a pro.


-Indoor AF? Tamrons indoor low light AF performance was really bad haven't tried it out yet, but I'm sure this will happen with even the most expensive lenses around.


-Hunting for focus in bad lighting conditions. (Counts for the 17-40 as well, maybe even more)





This is what I can think of right now. If I decide to buy the 17-40 f4L I probably will buy a 50mm 1.4 prime later this year, since I save a few euros on this lens. I have had the 50mm 1.8 but I really don't want that one again. Horrible AF and it got stuck to my brand new 50D, so I could return it immidiately when I bought it. Don't want that drama again.


I hope you can help me out with this one. All thoughts are welcome. Thanks already and greetings from the Netherlands


Price 17-55 =769 Euros = 1143.81 US Dollars


Price 17-40 =629 Euros = 935.57 US Dollars