Canon General Purpose/Event Lens

inevitablyissie wrote:

MikeJ9116 wrote:

The EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 will fill your gap very well. I have used this lens on a 60D for several years and the combination has delivered a lot of wonderful photos. This lens delivers the IQ of many L lenses. Plus, the price point on this lens is very good right now. Much better than when it was initially released.

Keep in mind that an EF lens with a 24mm wide end is only 38mm on a crop camera. This will be very limiting to your shooting conditions, IMO.

It's good to hear your experience with that lens, it definitely sounds like a good option.

That is a good point about the crop sensor, could someone clarify whether EF-S lenses are affected by the crop as well? Because I was originally under the impression they were built around the crops, so a 55-250 is a 55-250 not an 88-400, but I've been told otherwise. I'm just a little confused...

Cameras with an APS-C sensor (aka crop sensor) is smaller than a full frame sensor.  The crop factor for the 60D is 1.6 which means the stated focal length of any lens (EF or EF-S) is multiplied by 1.6 to get the effective focal length on a camera with an APS-C sensor.  A camera with a full frame sensor has a factor of 1.0 or the lens operates at its stated focal length.  Nearly every lens for every camera is stated as being relative to a full frame sensor.  Sometimes the term "equivalent" is used to state the adjusted focal length after the sensor's crop factor is applied.  Basically, the smaller the sensor the higher its crop factor.

The 17-55mm operates like a 29-88mm lens on the 60D.  A 24-70mm lens operates like a 38-112mm lens on the 60D.  IMO, a 38mm wide end is just not wide enough for taking group shots in confined spaces.  As mentioned in other responses, it is better to have a wider lens because moving closer to the subject is almost always an option where moving farther away is not.  I am not a professional photographer but have shot several weddings and  for this type of shooting I would not want anything more (numerically) than 17-18mm on the wide end for a crop camera.

A 24mm lens on a full frame is considerably wider than 17mm on an APS-C camera.  This is why lenses of this range are EF mounts and mostly intended to be used on a FF camera.