Hello everybody! I had just bought my Canon XSi during the beginning of last week and I have been out shooting a lot of pictures and well, I plan on making a purchase for a glass under $500 around February/March. I have been doing a lot of research on a great review site www.the-Digital-picture.com because they have reviewed almost all the glass that Canon carries.

Throughout my shooting experience from last week, I found that I kind of need a telephoto, so I can zoom up close on things but again, I want something that's wide. I know that the 50mm will be one of the glass that has to be in my bag and so, that may/may not be my first priority glass to buy. However it's the cheapest I can get which may alter my decision by buying that one first.

The glasses I've been having my eyes on are the:
28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM // ~$400
17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM // ~$450

I've heard that the barrel distortion on the 28-135 is really really noticeable in pictures. I haven't seen it for myself, but I really do want to see how the IQ is for the 28-135. Though, in my opinion, the 17-85 seems like a cheaper version of the 24-70 (but doesn't have great IQ, sharp focus as the 24-70 does).

What do you guys think I should do?