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Blade47

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Hi everybody, this is my first time posting so go easy on me!

Basically I used to shoot SLR's but have never had the money to get into Digital SLRs. I am now in a position to buy one and have my heart set on the Canon 40d as I picked it up in the shop and fell in love with it straight away, especially in comparison to the 400d and the Pentax's. However my issue now is what lense to accompany it. I currently live in the UK but am about to go on holiday to Washington and whilst i am there am planning to drop in at the Penn Camera store and get myself the Canon 40d with lense at much lower prices than the UK! However, i'm not sure what lense i want, to start with i would like to get an all day everyday lense. I have looked at the current deal that Penn Camera store has which puts the 40d with the 17-85mm Canon lense for $1399. However I have also considered either the Canon L series 17-40mm (which is much cheaper) and the 24-105mm L series lense. I have read many reviews on websites that seem to contradict themselves! The key point for the L series lenses are the FF capabilities (so future upgrades of the body to a FF would make sense) and the build quality. I'm really looking for real users advice on whether the L series lenses are worth the extra money, or should i just stick with the 17-85mm. Also, on a sidenote do you think it is likely that the Penn Camera store would do a deal on camera+lens+memory card + filter? Or is this not something they would do?

Any advice would be gratefully received!
 
I own the 17-40 and have used it on crop cameras. There are newer lenses which are better optically than the 17-40: Canon 17-55, Tamron 17-50 to name a couple. These are for crop only though. The 17-40 is good optically, but it's narrow range makes it a bit frustrating as a walkaround lens. As an ultrawide on FF it's pretty good, although you need to stop down quite a bit to get sharp corners.

The 24-105 is a very good lens, though it's FL range is better on FF than on APS-C. On APS-C, it's a bit long on the wide end.

There are mixed reviews on the 17-85. I don't own this lens, but it seems to get mediocre reviews. It has a lot of barrel distortion on the wide end. It also has significant CA. It does seem to have good center resolution, but is fairly soft in the corners.

If I was just getting into an APS-C camera at this time, I would check out the IS kit lens. If this lens doesn't meet your expectations, you can go back and upgrade to something else. Otherwise, I would seriously consider the 17-55; if you ever switch to FF, just sell the camera body with the lens.

Best of luck,

Jon
Blade47 said:
Hi everybody, this is my first time posting so go easy on me!

Basically I used to shoot SLR's but have never had the money to get
into Digital SLRs. I am now in a position to buy one and have my
heart set on the Canon 40d as I picked it up in the shop and fell in
love with it straight away, especially in comparison to the 400d and
the Pentax's. However my issue now is what lense to accompany it. I
currently live in the UK but am about to go on holiday to Washington
and whilst i am there am planning to drop in at the Penn Camera store
and get myself the Canon 40d with lense at much lower prices than the
UK! However, i'm not sure what lense i want, to start with i would
like to get an all day everyday lense. I have looked at the current
deal that Penn Camera store has which puts the 40d with the 17-85mm
Canon lense for $1399. However I have also considered either the
Canon L series 17-40mm (which is much cheaper) and the 24-105mm L
series lense. I have read many reviews on websites that seem to
contradict themselves! The key point for the L series lenses are the
FF capabilities (so future upgrades of the body to a FF would make
sense) and the build quality. I'm really looking for real users
advice on whether the L series lenses are worth the extra money, or
should i just stick with the 17-85mm. Also, on a sidenote do you
think it is likely that the Penn Camera store would do a deal on
camera+lens+memory card + filter? Or is this not something they would
do?

Any advice would be gratefully received!
Click to expand...
--
Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/jon_b
 
Thanks for the advice! I think you are right, and i will probably give the 17-40mm a miss. I have read very mixed reviews of the 17-85mm, which does not fill me with confidence!

Is the kit lens that comes with the 40d any good? Everyone says that you should probably forget the kit lens and buy something a bit better, so i am surprised that you suggest getting the kit lens. The 24-105mm L series seems to get good reviews, so i think it's probably down to three options.

1) Get the 40d with the standard kit lens

2) Get the 40d with the 24-105mm L series

3) Get the 40d and get a "better" 17-55mm lens (such as Tamron or Canon)

Do these options sound reasonable?
 
There are a plethora of threads here about 17-55, 24-105L and 17-85 and cross comparisons. Do a little search and you will have enough to read for next few hours.

about your options:
1) go with this if you're on a tighter budget (~$500 savings?)

2) if you don't plan to shoot landscapes/or will get a wider-angle lens later. Will give you the most reach, albeit at higher cost and weight. Top quality in terms of make. Weather sealed. Not as fast as (3)

3) go with Canon 17-55 if you want the best combo in terms of IQ (it is sharpest, fastest, etc) but you get less reach than with (2) and more $ and weight than (1)
Blade47 said:
1) Get the 40d with the standard kit lens

2) Get the 40d with the 24-105mm L series

3) Get the 40d and get a "better" 17-55mm lens (such as Tamron or Canon)

Do these options sound reasonable?
Click to expand...
 
Blade47 said:
Thanks for the advice! I think you are right, and i will probably
give the 17-40mm a miss. I have read very mixed reviews of the
17-85mm, which does not fill me with confidence!

Is the kit lens that comes with the 40d any good? Everyone says that
you should probably forget the kit lens and buy something a bit
better, so i am surprised that you suggest getting the kit lens. The
24-105mm L series seems to get good reviews, so i think it's probably
down to three options.

1) Get the 40d with the standard kit lens

2) Get the 40d with the 24-105mm L series

3) Get the 40d and get a "better" 17-55mm lens (such as Tamron or Canon)

Do these options sound reasonable?
Click to expand...
You can check out lenses your self on this site:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=100&Camera=396&Sample=0&FLIComp=1&APIComp=4&LensComp=400&CameraComp=396&SampleComp=0&FLI=0&API=3

The 17-40 looks very good, and it has the added benefit of beeing able to go from beeing a good normalzoom on a crop to a very good ultrawide on a fullframe camera. I would not cross that lens of my list, it is also much better than any kitlens. A kit containing a 17-40 and a 70-200 is a very good place to start with a crop, and a kit that is easily upgraded to FF :-)

I would not buy a crop with a 24-105 as the only lens, 24mm is just not wide enough, so you need at least a kitlens too, to take care of the wide end.

Option 3 is a good one if you are not the type of person who gets the urge to upgrade every now and then, and will be sticking to a crop. Then I'd tell you to also get Canon's excellent and compact 55-250 to take care of the long end, and also to include Sigma's excellent 18-50 f/2.8 Macro in your considerations.

Option 4 is to get the " go anywhere do anything" lens, the Sigma 18-200 OS. Then you get the perfect hollydaylens, and you find out what focal lenghts you do most of your shooting at, and therefor where you need to invest in better glass, if you're not happy enough with only this lens :-)
--

 
I still use my old 10D, wich is a crop camera without EF-S compatibility, therefore I have a 17-40 as my "wide" lens. I also have a 28-135 but very rarely use it. Most of the time I go out with the 17-40L and a 85 f/1.8 or the 200 f/2.8L or the 35 f/2 with one of the two tele primes (unfortunately my second 35/2 is now broken so I am stuck with the 17-40)

On a 40D I agree with the other posters the 17-55 IS would be the best choice. combine this lens with a 85 f/1.8 and you have a great kit. I wouldn't worry too much about the incompability of the 17-55 with full frame bodies since you always can sell a good lens for a good price and buy a new one.

another approach could be the 10-22 lens combined with the 24-105L. The downside of this kit is that you might be switching lenses a lot.

Cheers,
Sharif
--
Sharif El-Hamalawi
http://www.el-hamalawi.net
http://www.pbase.com/sharif
 
Blade47,

If I had to do it all over again...

and just buy a 40D...

I will only get 3 lenses....

1. 35 L (best lens I have in my collection (please check my profile))

Why is it the best lens in my collection? I use it a lot! I like it better than the 24-70L...I just use my feet for zooming in and out. It's great for low light situations...very nice!

2. 10-22 this is for the crop bodies like the 40D...

3. 70-200 F4 IS L lens (this is an excellent lens)

That's it!

Danny Tuason :)
Blade47 said:
Hi everybody, this is my first time posting so go easy on me!

Basically I used to shoot SLR's but have never had the money to get
into Digital SLRs. I am now in a position to buy one and have my
heart set on the Canon 40d as I picked it up in the shop and fell in
love with it straight away, especially in comparison to the 400d and
the Pentax's. However my issue now is what lense to accompany it. I
currently live in the UK but am about to go on holiday to Washington
and whilst i am there am planning to drop in at the Penn Camera store
and get myself the Canon 40d with lense at much lower prices than the
UK! However, i'm not sure what lense i want, to start with i would
like to get an all day everyday lense. I have looked at the current
deal that Penn Camera store has which puts the 40d with the 17-85mm
Canon lense for $1399. However I have also considered either the
Canon L series 17-40mm (which is much cheaper) and the 24-105mm L
series lense. I have read many reviews on websites that seem to
contradict themselves! The key point for the L series lenses are the
FF capabilities (so future upgrades of the body to a FF would make
sense) and the build quality. I'm really looking for real users
advice on whether the L series lenses are worth the extra money, or
should i just stick with the 17-85mm. Also, on a sidenote do you
think it is likely that the Penn Camera store would do a deal on
camera+lens+memory card + filter? Or is this not something they would
do?

Any advice would be gratefully received!
Click to expand...
--
http://www.scandinavius.com/sweden/sesongs.html#anchor1139692
 
... a word of caution here: you do realise that a camera body purchased in the US will not be covered by warranty in Europe? Lenses have a worldwide warranty but for bodies the warranty is continent/region-specific.

Also, you will be liable to sales tax/import duty when you bring the camera back into the UK. It is a criminal offence not to declare it, with corresponding penalties (at worst you could have the item confiscated, face a stiff fine and even receive a criminal record - you are smuggling and HMCR take a very dim view of it these days).

So, saving a few "quid" might not be the bargain it seems at this stage.

Colin

P.S. Regarding your question, yes L series lenses are worth the extra money but you really need to be more specific about the sort of photography you intend concentrating on before anyone can give you specific advice. It sounds to me as thought the 70-200 L would your best bet.
--
http://www.pbase.com/accentor
 
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