Buying new lens 17-40 or else?

RussellZ wrote:

I've seen so many reviews on lenses and lost any hope of committing which one to get.

Ideally I want lens that's good for everything but those do not exist. This is why I need your help picking something that works best for me. I would like lens to be able to take landscapes, some night shots something that can take on vacations (walk around lens) defiantly want wide angle lens. This is why 17-40L is something I’ve been looking at for a long time. However then, I came across 16-35 2.8L II, 17-55 f2.8 IS and EF 20mm 2.8 USM

Right now I have Canon T1i with 50mm 1.8 prime and two kit lenses 18-55 and 55-250. Since T1i is getting old I've been thinking about getting Canon EOS 70D (later this year, which most likely I’ll get with kit lens 18-135). But that’s in the future. I want to get new lens that I can take on upcoming vacation (in 2 weeks).

Can you please suggest what best to take that won’t be an overkill on T1i or 70D.

Please help!

Short answer is "else". The 17-40 wasn't extremely shart on my crop body. For the vacation you need a possibly "long" zoom - so you don't need to change lenses continously which can be very odd walking on the street.

The 17 40 is to short on the long end.

If yu don't need a very fast lens (i.e. f2.8) then I would definiteely go for the 18 135 stm which is reasonably sharp and long enough. A good compromiss would be the Sigma 17 70 f2.8-4 "C" which is a very sharp lens, but only "half" so long than the previous one, however it is twice as fast.

At the end you have to decide what is more important to you (reach: long zoom or that the lens ist fast: aperture).