just one lens

I went to Ireland in May (and Paris, but I'm trying to forget that horrible part of the trip). I took my 30D and the 17-85 IS Canon lense. Shot over 2000 pictures, and not counting my lousy composition skills, only had 3, yes 3, non-keepers. Its a great lense, but not perfect. I'm even at this moment posting & asking for suggestions on an even better lense for general walkaround - if it exists.

Happy hunting - with your lense that is...

Dave

after all of the reading and advice, i decided to get the 28-135. my initial impression is that it is great, although a bit heavy for the 400D. i may have to get a new grip. it's such a hard decision choosing one lens (i will probably still buy the 50/1.8 though). here was my irrational progression of thinking:

tamron 17-50
kit + 50/1.8
18-85IS
tamron 18-200
17-40/4L
50/1.8 +85/1.2 (the store was out of the 85/1.2 or i might have done this)
and finally, 28-135

pretty shizophrenic, i know. it is a difficult decision picking one lens. i was also really close to the 17-40L, but the $700 price was tough to cough up, and if the wife ever found out i'd be a dead man. plus, i really want more reach than 40, although it was still tempting. mostly, i plan on using 30-100 or so- i'm sure some will say that i should have chosen the 18-85 then, but the guys at the local store talked me out of it. so right or wrong, i chose the 28-135. we'll see how it goes. thanks again.

The 28-135 IS is suppose to be a good all purpose lens (same league as the 17-85 IS). I think there will be times you will want wider so a cheap solution would be to look for a used kit lens (which will get you by until you can talk the Mrs. into letting you "invest" in a 17-40 L).

Plan on picking up the 50 F1.8 sometime over the next year. It is a "no brainer" for those of us on tighter budgets.

Enjoy your new gear!

If you only have one , thats the best! Range, 17 is nice and wide, and IS.

Here's a nice 400D system:
400D
10-22
24-105 or 17-85
100-400 w 1.4x

Covers everything in 3 lenses, and 1 TC, so the 17-85 is a good start.

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Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/jackcnd/favorites

Good to not feel like a pingpong ball any longer, eh?

Have fun shooting!
R2

ps. My good buddy has the 28 - 135 and it is a nice versatile lens.

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Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

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It's a quite good lens and the IS helps a lot. You can always complement it later with wider lenses, portrait primes and and and ...

Get 50mm 1.8. You will not be using it for a long time, maybe a year or so, but it will teach you everything you need to know about photography (composition and DOF, for example). After using it for a while, you will start asking why my pix are not good, why they are OOF, you will have aha! moments, you will start looking at things you take pictures of in a completely different way. Then you will start craving a wide lens (or a telephoto lens - depends on you) and your next purchase will be a more expensive lens which will let you to further explore your creative potential and you will know that this is THE lens you want.

Good luck.