Lens Advice: 2 Mid-Level Primes or 1 L-Series Wide Angle Zoom

YardYeti wrote:

I have a Canon EOS 60D and the lens that came with it as part of the kit, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. I would like to start purchasing some additional gear as I will finally have some time to focus on learning to use this camera better. Through reading of books and a lot of posts on this forum, I have limited the list of lenses I am considering purchasing down to two choices. I considered a Telephoto Zoom, but since I can only afford the lower quality lenses in this class right now, I decided 135mm is adequate for what I shoot.

I generally just take candid’s of my children playing, or at events, and love to take travel photos (even when the travel is right around the corner. I do a lot of trail hiking and running and like to bring the camera to take shots of the remote locations. I am headed up to Maine soon with the family, and would like to purchase one of these options before then.

Choice 1: EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

I would not be considering this lens. Its showing its age. Apparently great colors and contrast and build quality, but lacking in the sharpness department. There are much better options for crop, and the 17-40F4 performs pretty bad on the corners on FF - especially at its wide end, and even when stopped down.

Choice 2: EF 28mm f/1.8 USM and EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

I would consider the newer Canon 24F2.8IS and 28F2.8IS over the older Canon 28F1.8 because it not a great lens and its not cheap. You are going to have a hard time finding a prime that is truly wide for a crop camera and I think the zooms are a better alternative for crop to cover the wide end.

Other primes to consider are the 24LF1.4, Canon 35LF1.4, Canon 35F2IS, and Sigma 35Art F1.4.

I have never used a prime lens, but it is my understanding that they are sharper, generally faster, and crisper then most zoom lens options. With the 1.6 crop factor of the 60D, the 28mm should be close to the traditional 50 and the 50 more like an 80. My question is would getting the two mid level primes be better then purchasing one wide angle zoom L-Series lens? My thought would be to get the L-Series zoom and pickup the 50mm Prime at a later time. But I would really like some feedback from more experienced users.

Primes are great where you want to get shallow DOF or have a lighter set up, and a 24mm and 50mm on FF is often all I need. However, many of the best zooms are very close to the best primes these days. Normal zooms like the Canon 17-55F2.8 (for crop) and 24-70F2.8mkII (for FF) are top notch zooms.

Thank you in advance for feedback.