Name 2 must have lens on a crop body...

nikesupremedunk wrote in post #12221026
18-55 IS and 55-250 IS

+1 if there is no specific agenda, add nifty fifty to the pair to make 3 must haves

My favorites with my old crop were: 10-22mm & 60mm macro

A mid-range zoom with a constant f/2.8 aperture (Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS or 17-50mm f/2.8 TAMRON either VC or non-VC)

AND

A telephoto zoom around 70-200mm or 300mm with IS (70-200mm f/2.8L or f/4L IS or 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS or even 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS)

I use the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses on a 7D and a 40D for virtually all of my general and travel photography..

See my China galleries at http://rpcrowe.smugmug​.com/
These were shot entirely with the above two lenses on a 30D and a 40D.

70-200mm f/4L IS

IMAGE LINK: http://rpcrowe.smugmug​.com …GNGR#869470225_​ehxvk-A-LB

IMAGE LINK: http://rpcrowe.smugmug​.com …GNGR#869468439_​9Wj5P-A-LB

If you are only going to have 2... The 17-55 and 70-200 (probably the F4 IS). I would be hard pressed not to have a fast fifty though.

Depends what I would be shooting. If I wanted more wide/general use: Tokina 11-16 and Canon 17-55. If I wanted long/general use: Canon 17-55 and 70-200 f/4 IS. Take my advice with a grain of salt (total newb).

Runner up: Sigma 30 1.4 or maybe Canon 50 1.4.

Canon 10-22 and Tamron 17-50/2.8 -for me-

I agree with gasrocks otherwise.

nikesupremedunk wrote in post #12221026
18-55 IS and 55-250 IS

this is what I have along with a mark 1 version of the nifty fifty 1.8 I got on ebay. Seems to take care of my needs. Most of my shooting is outdoors on sunny days and despite my research I have yet to come to a definitive answer to a lens that is going to provide considerably sharper or better results then these two at prices that don't kind of scream 'insulting' .. the canon 15-85 is a contender but in my opinion somewhat overpriced for what it is, and the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM is on my short list but will it really provide sharper results in outdoor shooting then the kit lens? The sigma is most likely to be on my buy list for warranty, build quality, and features for the price.

Canon 17-55 is also on my short list but also imo overpriced for what it is. Reviews don't suggest a far superior image quality, especially when raw shooting and post processing with adobe lightroom are factored into the picture... and like I said, I shoot landscape on sunny green warm beautiful days. Might be useful to have the F 2.8 for shooting severe storms though.

I don't care too much about build quality.. these kit lenses seem well built enough to me but I'm not spoiled by the old style lenses being a newbie.. I like the light weight of the plastic construction actually. As long as their mounts don't break leaving me having to send the camera in to fix, like some reviews had happen with the 50mm mark 2 1.8, which is why I bought the mark 1.

Ultimately I think that down the line they will end up putting image stabilization in the camera bodies at some point, which means a good investment lens would be one without IS, the best investment lens on the market at this point is probably the 70-200L non IS for the price. I may pick one of them up at some point. I can't see them ever going down in value. I'd get the F4 obviously. I find I'm not using the 55-250 range as much as I thought I would. Most important to me is to have a good 15-50 ish range lens without breaking the bank... taking the law of diminishing returns into account. Maybe a good 10-20mm lens to add to the mix too.. gonna have to research that one.

The two that you use the most to get the job done.

the two best lenses you can afford,,,, "got glass" it will hold its value...... and your pic's will reflect it,,, - that's just me -

17-55 and 70-200

pdrober2 wrote in post #12223256
17-55 and 70-200

The two lenses I started with and the two I still use the most

Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 & Canon 24-70 f/2.8L

patrickf117 wrote in post #12219015
To all POTNr's...what would be your choice?

I don't know what's "must have" as this can vary from photog to photog. But after all the lenses I've used, the ones that have stuck for me (for APS-C) are:

ZOOMS:
Tokina 11-16 f2.8
Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS
Canon 70-200 f4 IS

PRIMES:
Sigma 30 f1.4
Canon 85 f1.8

For $3000 (give or take some as I bought my Canon lenses used but like-new condition), you won't find better IQ and overall performance than these five lenses IMO. Very happy with this combo.

Oh, but you said two...I missed that

If I had to chose just two...

24-105L and 70-200 f/2.8 II.

17-55mm and 70-200mm 2.8 non IS if cash was tight otherwise the 17-55mm and the 70-200mm 2.8 IS II