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Best Walk around lens for 7D.

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Piotras09

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I need some advice. I just purchased a Canon 7D camera and am looking for one good walk around lens for it. I'm highly considering Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens.
Is this a good choice ??
Any other recommendations??
Any input will be appreciated.
Thanks
 
Maybe the l;enses that Canon packages with the 7D as a kit would be a good idea.

There's two of them to choose from

BAK
 
I have and love the 24-105 on my 40D (soon to be on my 7D). It works well for the sort of walking around I do typically outdoors in fairly open areas.

If I was walking around doing interiors I would look for something faster. Wider generally is better for things like architecture.

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I own both the 24-105 and 15-85. I own both a FF camera and cropper 40D. The 15-85 matches the 24-105L in both image quality and focal length on a crop body like the 7D. 24mm, however, doesn't meet my definition of "walk around" it is almost 40mm and you totally lose the wide end. Hey, I love my 24-105 but would never "walk around" with it on my 40D, just way too long.
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24-xx is never a good idea for walk around on aps-c. 24mm is 38mm equivalent and just not wide enough for many landscapes and group portrait shots. Besides there are many sharper and/or faster 15/17/18-xxx crop lenses you can choose from. 17-55 is the ultimate choice but even the 18-55 IS and 15-85 can match or better 24-105 in most ways. My recommendation is 17-55 if you have $1000 to spend on the lens.
 
I don't know what your specialty is but.....

I took a very wide range zoom on my last trip and last night decided to do some stats on my pictures and see which focal lengths I was really using on a typical day.

I found out there's a very good reason that so many lenses cover 17,-85, 15-85 etc. etc.

I only had only 8 frames above 80mm but 20 frames below 24mm.
When I got around water the number of long shots increased though.

If you can get your hands on a lens or camera that covers at least 18-100 and take a typical day trip this will give you the best information. Since no lens changes are involved you have no incentive to use or not use a particular focal length. This will tell you what kind of pictures you really want to take. You might be surprised.
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Vince
 
Piotras09 said:
I need some advice. I just purchased a Canon 7D camera and am looking for one good walk around lens for it. I'm highly considering Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens.
Is this a good choice ??
Click to expand...
Great lens for a 5D/5DII but too narrow as only lens for a 7D - you need the 16-35 to go with it. I travel with the 24-105 as default for a 5D, but the 16-35 for a 1DIII and that's only a 1.3 crop!
Piotras09 said:
Any other recommendations??
Click to expand...
15-85 has to be up there for the weight and range ... given the high ISO capability of the 7D, probably don't 'need' the 2.8 lens and better off with the bigger range.

If I was using the 15-85 as #1 lens, I would consider throwing a 70-200f4 in the backpack for the odd times I wanted something longer.
Piotras09 said:
Any input will be appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...
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Beauty is only a light switch away ...
http://www.clarkfamily.com.au
 
I have just got a 1dsmk2, and also have a 40D. I have the 17-55 for the 40D and the 24-105 for the 1ds. However, I have started to use the 24-105 on the 40D. Very nice lens. Realise I don't shoot 17mm wide most of the time, and longer than 55 mm quite a bit of the time, and would highly recommend it on a 1.6 crop. Also works well on the 1ds. Only wish the 17-55 had the same build quality. Unless you shoot a lot of landscapes, get the 24-105. Its actually still pretty wide at 24mm.
 
I have the 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM lens. Although it is relatively large and heavy, the pictures are sharp, image quality is great, and it works well in low light situations. It is an excellent general purpose lens.
 
15-85 for its zoom range. In decent light.
17-55 for its lens speed. Good in low light.
 
John A Clark said:
Great lens for a 5D/5DII but too narrow as only lens for a 7D - you need the 16-35 to go with it.
Click to expand...
I have found that pairing the 24-105 with the (lightweight) 10-22 gives you pretty good coverage from very wide to medium telephoto. Maybe throw in a 1.4X or 2X teleconverter if you want more reach without packing another large $1K lens?

As much as I am attracted to the 17-55, I know that I would find it too short for a single lens package.

No personal experience with the 16-35.

The suggestion to do a little walking around in your typical environment with your existing lenses and/or a wide range zoom to see what you typically need is a good one.

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I would suggest a lens witch at least covers the 17-55mm range or more.
However with the introduction of the 7D the system Canon offers is unbalanced:

The 7D is a ruggedized camera I would like to own (I own a 50D), however Canon does not offer EF-S lenses that satisfy the needs of the 7D. Current EF-S lenses have a quality that is comparible with e.g. 500D. 24-105 would be a nice walkaround lens with sufficient quality, but the coverage on the wide-end is not enough.

With the introduction of the 7D Canon indicates that APS-C is also for more serious photographers. So to make it worth to buy it, Canon should also offer lenses that I would indicate as EF-S-L , being high quality lenses (optical and build quality) for APS-C camaras. Even a camera like the 50D is worth a betterf EF-S lens than available to day.

Conclusion: when you now look for a 7D consider to buy the cheaper 50D (or eventually a 500D) with EF-S lenses, or the more expensive 5D with a 24-105 L-type lens.
 
Frans,

Are you aware that the EF-S 17-55 is an EF-S lens that uses "L" glass? That is why it also has an "L" price. It is an amazing lens.
 
That's right. Optical the lens is OK. I own one myself.

However the build quality is by far not that like e.g. the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS. The plastic EF-S-17-55mm has not only a big aperture for light but also for dust and moisture. Using such a lens on a 7D makes the expensive sealing features of the 7D almost useless.
 
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