Good all round travel lens: Canon 400D

[roamingyak]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but please bare in mind that I really don't want to spend more than about GBP500 including the costs of filters etc. If I could only spend GBP300 I'd be just as happy ;-)

(I appreciate you 'get what your pay for' but for GBP500 you can get something that records and audio and video in full HD so these pieces of glass seemed priced to what people will pay rather than what they are worth ;-)

For anybody else looking like me, this site is quite good as it has pictures at all of the focal lengths:
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens Review
(click on the 17mm | 28mm | 35mm | 55mm buttons etc)

Actually the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens looks quite god apart from the GBP600 price tag ;-)

[teflon]

"Actually the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens looks quite god apart from the GBP600 price tag ;-) - roamingyak.org

Somebody mentioned an 18-55 kit lens earlier, which is more than capable, light and at a fraction of the price of the above lens. I believe it does macro too. There's always a danger of getting bogged down in numbers and perceived quality and forgetting the original purpose of the exercise.

You didn't mention the 'horrible' lenses you already have or what problems you've been having with them. Are they the kit lenses that go with that particular camera?

Pretty obvious where I'm going with that question.

[PeerG]

Originally Posted by roamingyak.org

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but please bare in mind that I really don't want to spend more than about GBP500 including the costs of filters etc. If I could only spend GBP300 I'd be just as happy ;-)

(I appreciate you 'get what your pay for' but for GBP500 you can get something that records and audio and video in full HD so these pieces of glass seemed priced to what people will pay rather than what they are worth ;-)

For anybody else looking like me, this site is quite good as it has pictures at all of the focal lengths:
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens Review
(click on the 17mm | 28mm | 35mm | 55mm buttons etc)

Actually the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens looks quite god apart from the GBP600 price tag ;-)

I have read only good things about that lens, but I find it too expensive. I read often that Sigma and Tamron lenses aren't as good as Canon lenses, but this one is supposed to be an exception: Tamron AF 17-50mm 2.8, I heard it is excellent.

The range is similar to the Canon lens you mentioned, it is equally fast and much cheaper. However, since I have the kit lens (which may not amazing but is definitely good enough for an amateur like me) I never considered spending money on a lens with the same range. People get carried with buying lenses (myself included). Things like composition are way more important than perfect sharpness in my opinion. Just make sure you have the focal length you need (and maybe one fast lens like the cheap 50 mm 1.8 if you like portraits).

[roamingyak]

"You didn't mention the 'horrible' lenses you already have or what problems you've been having with them. Are they the kit lenses that go with that particular camera?"

Yes, and the 18-55 lit lense is just awful.

Thanks for all of the feedback - the search goes on but feeling more comfortable about making a decision now...

[Dick]

This thread is too focussed (ha ha) on the gear.

All the gear and no idea

All the kit, and still sh.... well whatever

Its all about composition. I've been a professional sports snapper for 10 years and last year worked at a world championship swimming event. It was sponsored by Nikon and they flew in 4 or 5 of their very best snappers from Japan to showcase the D3 and a 600mm lens and so on.

The pictures were printed on the day and hung up around the media and were absolutely stunning, the work of geniuses.

And of course it got me thinking, " I've gotta get a D3 blah blah" which is just nonsense, it wasn't the great lens that took the pictures, it was the composition that made them stunning.

I would go mid range consumer zoom and spend a bit of time/money researching the type/style of photography that interests you and learn as much as you can about from a) books b) t'internet and c) practising over and over and really analysing your pictures to see how they match up against the work of others and what you can do to improve them

Have fun