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.

From what I heard the older regular EF-S 18-135 is not very sharp, and newer STM version is better. Nevertheless EF-S 18-135 is widely regarded as a kit lens, usually more super zoom, more compromises.

If you will stay on crop for a while, get one of these EF-S zoom,

10-22

17-55/2.8 IS or third party 17-50/2.8. I bought Sigma 17-50/2.8 OS and I like it.

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 used to own it and it actually pretty sharp on my 60D (even little sharper than Sigma 17-50/2.8 OS). Unless you're going to move to FF soon you're better to get (EF-S) 17-5X/2.8 IS/OS/VC, one stop faster and better range. 15-85 has very ideal range and has 24mm FF eq WA that could be a big deal but relative slow in tele-side. 10-20 UWA zoom is a very sharp zoom.

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

50/1.4 is pretty nice.  I'd suggest you to get newer 28/2.8 IS, or 35/2.0 IS that not only much sharper but have 'IS' although much more expensive.

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.

In general it's true but not always.  Canon latest  zoom such as two F2.8 zoom are as sharp as many prime including L primes.  It's not harmful to collect some primes as they will also work on FF bodies if you move there.

Thank you in advance for feedback.