I told myself before the upcoming wedding that I have to shoot that I would buy what will probably be my last lens for a while, Canon’s EF 24-70 f/2.8L lens. I have a wide angle in my kit, and a medium telephoto (although mine is currently being repaired, it is absolutely great for flattering portraits), and a fixed 50mm prime lens. However, everything in my kit is fairly special purpose, which means I sort of have to know what I am shooting before hand and make sure I have the right lens on.
Canon’s best all-purpose zoom lens is the 24-70 f/2.8L. It’s from their professional series line, and it has overlap with both the wide angle and telephoto ends. It’s not cheap, running around $1500, but it’s the kind of lens you can leave on your camera body almost all the time. It’s fairly flexible range is perfect for something like a wedding, where you don’t necessarily have time to change lenses all the time.
A good pile of reviews for this lens can be found on Fred Miranda. I ordered it online from Alberta, so I’ll save myself the PST on the entire purchase (which would have been over $100).
The question now is what to do with my 17-40 f/4.0L. Sure, it has 7mm extra on the wide angle end, but is that worth keeping it around for? I’m not sure. I think I’ll definitely hold onto it for the wedding (since I’ll leave it on my full frame film body most of the time), but I’ll probably spend some time after the wedding debating whether or not to ditch it. It’s a great lens, but it has huge overlap with the rest of my kit now.
Duane,
that’s a great lens you are getting. Did you do any price comparisons off Craiglist? I had been looking myself and that lens you got was one of my top 3 finalists. I was heading off to a big European trip this summer and ended up settling on the telephoto Canon EF 70-300 IS USM lens. Had no zoom lens before and that baby, with the slide film I got, ended up with some great shots.
The reviews on FM are great. I couldn’t afford the L lenses at the time but the one you got now will replace the wide angle later on. But I think my fiance won’t be too enthused if $ ends up with my toys instead of the wedding. 😉
Best of luck with the Big Day.
Love the new intro screen!