Which lens?

[tmorterlaing]

OK so I know there are separate reviews and comparisons but Im indecisive and am hoping for someone with a bit of experience with a few of these to come along and say 'you definitely want THAT one.'.

OK, so here's a bit of a follow up for anyone who stumbles across this in the future as well. In my quest to buy a good walkabout lens I bought the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 to have a play and have sold it 3 days later. Whilst the image quality is sharp, there's more to a lens than this- I didn't like the colour reproduction, the lack of IS meant it's difficult to use at 70mm, the f2.8 wasn't a good enough difference for me to not have to slow the shutter a lot indoors.

The Bokeh was OK- but I was expecting more at 2.8, especially compared to the bokeh quality on the Sigma 24-70 on a friend's Nikon. Also the build quality, whilst I had been warned, really WAS bad. And I mean, in comparison even the £70 kit lens (18-55)- whilst the 18-55 feels too light and plastic, at least the zoom is smooth and the focus, whilst oversensitive, is easy enough to use. And it has IS. The 28-75 felt clunky to zoom (and trust me I'm NOT picky about stuff like that- it almost felt sticky, like I was fighting to zoom the last few mm). The focus was OK, but felt so... 'plastic on plastic', like cheap. So as a trade off, the 2.8 wasn't worth it.

So now I'm back at square 1- although at least the Tamron's been eliminated. Please can someone decide for me!

Best high quality walkabout lens for Canon 7D:

Canon 24-70 f2.8L (although at the price point I'd have to make do with my 18-55 for another month, which is a factor and IS seems reasonably important above about 65mm?)
Canon 18-55 f2.8 IS (worried about lack of range yes yes I KNOW about the 1.6 crop factor).
Canon 24-105 f4L (worried about low light/ less shallow bokeh- but this seems the strongest competitor)
Sigma 17-70 f2.8-f4 OS (Price is good- lens experience though? Almost scared of another third party lens now Anyone know how it compares to an L in terms of IQ?)

Also to add- I don't need a super fast lens for low light, but DO like the idea of getting nice bokeh/ shallow DOF if possible. is the f4 on the L ok for this?

-any other suggestions
pls help!

(PS sorry for the long post haha)

 

[AndyFin]

Hi tmorterlaing,

All though I use a 24-105mm (on a 5D Mk I) and love it to bits, I truly believe the EF-S 17-55mm is the best option when used as a general purpose lens on the 7D. Offering the most suitable range, but crucially the f/2.8 aperture teamed with the IS makes it one of the most usable wide angle zoom lenses in low light.

I know this lens the cheapest place to by this in the UK is Park Cameras or ABC - Digital Cameras. Out of the two I use Park on a regular basis so would probably go there.

Here is a link to the product on their web:

http://www.parkcameras.com/3980/Canon-EF-S-17-55mm-f-2-8-IS-USM.html

 

[Mike Jackson]

If you're struggling to take shots at 70mm without IS you need to look at your technique. Look at your stance and how you're holding the camera. The general rule of thumb for getting a steady shot is to use a shutter speed of 1 over the focal length. If you take into account the crop factor you shouldn't need to shoot any faster than 1/120.

Also walk about lens is a term that is bandied about but very misleading as far as I'm concerned. I generally use my 70-200 as a walk about lens. I've been told on numerous occasions that this is not a suitable walk about lens but it depends on what you are looking to capture and where you are walking about. If you are in an urban environment you probably want something fairly wide but I tend to walk about in the woods so want something longer.

 

[travellingcello]

Out of those i would say the 17-55 is the best high quality walkabout on a crop.