Best Canon walkabout lens

I had a 24-105 L, a great all round lens.....:)
 
Looking at used lenses - is the 17-85 £100 better than the 18-55 IS (£65)
for another £15 I could get the sigma 18-50 f2.8 which would presumably be better still.
 
I like the 24-105 f4L as a walkabout lens on FF and crop. I got my lens with a 5D2 body as a kit but it spent at least half the time on my 7D. I recently got a Sigma 24-70 f2.8 HSM to go with my Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS MkII and with that combo it's almost made my 24-105 redundant but I wont sell it as it's such a good lens. It's got a great reach on a crop body though and gives great IQ as well.
 
I have had the original Sigma 17-70mm for over five year and am still very happy with it.

It is a good range, roughly equivalent field of view to 24-105mm on a 35mm frame. A minimum focussing distance of a few inches, an underrated feature in a general purpose lens. And a maximum aperture of f/2.8-f/4.5, which is quite useful on a lens with variable range as it gives more flexibility in low light, but when stopped down is still reasonably wide.

The only downside is the focussing is a bit slow, but the current model upgrades this by adding an HSM motor, as well as stabalization, and a wider f/4 aperture at 70mm.

I have made 20x30" prints with this lens and an 8mp Canon 30D and they look great. I would definitely recommend it as an option. It is almost half the price of the slower Canon 15-85mm, and for me that aperture makes it difficult to justify despite the greater range.
 
Bendihossan said:
EF 28-135 is pretty good glass for your buck but if you can spare it look for a used EF 24-105 f/4 L IS USM, that's the Canon walk about lens :thumbs:
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Love this lens. My favourite walkabout lens.
 
Oh, and on my 550 I use the 18-200 EF-S..
Cracking combination in my very amateur opinion.
 
Carlm90 said:
I'm about to invest in a new camera and I'm wondering what lens I should buy to be my general walkabout lens. I am looking for a lens and I don't really have a budget for it so please try to offer a scope on the amount that I could pay and the amount that I could find comfortable. I want to carry one lens about most of the time and will be looking to capture a shot quickly with quick auto-focus. The camera I'm likely to invest in will be a Canon 550D. Should I add £50 to the body and get a 50D instead? Anyone tell me why I should and should not do this? I'm not a big video user.

I hope you can help recommend something.

Carl
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In answer to your 1st question, the 50D is a better camera than the 550D, but the ergonomics are also slightly different as well, with the 50D being the slightly bigger camera. Personally I prefer that, the controls are easier to access and it feels more comfortable to hold.

As for a lens on a cropped body, it depends what you really want from it.
The hyperzooms 18-200mm just don't deliver better than average performance. Canon 17-85mm has a very usuable range but similar performance to the 18-55mm kit lens, but for double the $$$. 24-105mm f4 or 24-70mm both very usuable lenses, but not on a crop, both designed for Full Frame (I agree with Hoppy), again with the 28-135mm you lose the wide angle performance, but then again do you want this?

The 2-3 lenses to look at are the canon 15-85mm or 17-55mm, both very good lenses or the tamron 17-50mm.
 
canon 15-85 is a very nice lens but sometimes a little short
i have gone for the canon 18-135 stm lens for the type of pictures i take
 
I choose the 18-135 on my 50D, I wanted a 1 lens solution for a Holiday.
 
Been using the 15-85mm with my 7D for a couple of years now and not felt the need to upgrade/change it for another "walkabout" range lens.

Admitedly it can be a little short ocasionally and an extra stop or two of light might be useful now and then but overall it's a very versatile and sharp lens for around £500-£600 :)
 
My last holiday in Sardinia, I took my compact Samsung EX1 and my Canon 50D with a 24-70L and a 10-22mm. The 10-22 never got out of the bag. The 24-70 was great, but a heavy lump. I actually used the compact more! There were one or two occasions I wished I had a longer zoom. Make sure the weight is comfortable, though. Lugging a hefty camera is no fun.
 
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As good as my 24-105 f4L is, I agree with Hoppy, it is not suitable for crop. I would not even think about using it on crop, its range is just stupid on crop sensor. Not forgetting the massive amount of distortion at 24mm, which makes it even more unsuitable on crop.

17-55 f2.8 IS gets my vote, although not L lens, it is a solid lens that performs very well. IS helps a lot for video.

When talking about walk-about lens, the kit lens have the right idea of the range you should be aiming for. Thus whichever lens you buy, should be an upgrade to the kit lens in range and aperture. So 28-80mm for full frame and 18-55mm for crop.
 
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