A good piece of Glass

Hello. A Newb here; be gentle with me. I have a 60D and have learned an awful lot by reading this forum. One thing that has impressed me is the consensus that you must put good glass in front of it.

I have around the £500 range and wonder; if you were buying one lens at that range and do the camera justice, what would you go for?

Would it be a wider angle than the kit lens or something in a moderate telephoto? (I already have a nifty fifty)

Thank you in anticipation of your advice.

The EF-S 15-85 or EF-S 17-55 would be excellent lenses to start with. I suspect the 17-55 might be a little out of the price range.

It depends entirely on what you want to use the lens for.

Do you want a general purpose lens? Get something like the canon 15-85mm 3.5-5.6

Do you want a standard length fast prime for low light shooting? Get something like the sigma 30mm 1.4

Do you want a fast zoom lens? Get something like the sigma 17-50 2.8 or the canon 17-55 2.8!

Hello and welcome. My most used lens is the 17-55 2.8. It keeps amazing me in terms of IQ and versatility. On your budget, go for a second-hand one, you'll have tons of fun with it.

Oh, and it is also not the dust-magnet it is called out to be sometimes. When I started out I also got the Canon 55-250 and a Tamron 90. I sold these two after a while because IQ was not up to the 17-55. It made me buy the 70-200 II

Also, VERY nice lens for the money is the 85 1.8, it is an amazing portrait lens.

To start, I would go for the Canon 17-55 2.8

Cheers

Hi and welcome, my choice would be the 17-40L buy secondhand great piece of glass.

I just got my 17-55...and after a quick trip to Canon to adjust it because it was missing focus like crazy, I am now pretty happy with it. It is crazy sharp wide open, focus is (now) quick and dead on, and it's fast with a good focal range.

It depends in part on what you are trying to shoot though, do you want a general purpose walk around lens or something with reach?

Thanks everyone for the comments. I suppose i should have said I am looking to replace the kit lens with something of better quality and the 17-55 f2.8 seems to be well enjoyed by many.

Keyan, I would want something for general purpose. But while we are on, what could I expect to get that has a bit reach to it?

Haswell wrote in post #13976693
Thanks everyone for the comments. I suppose i should have said I am looking to replace the kit lens with something of better quality and the 17-55 f2.8 seems to be well enjoyed by many.

Keyan, I would want something for general purpose. But while we are on, what could I expect to get that has a bit reach to it?

If you want cheap, get the 55-250, picks right up where the 17-55 leaves off.

If you want less cheap, get one of the 70-200, either the f/4 with or without IS, or if you have deep pockets, the 70-200 f/2.8 mk II is considered one of the best lenses ever made.. Or if you want really long reach and a huge zoom range the 100-400L is a very nice lens. I borrowed one from a friend for a day and it was fantastic for well lit outdoor use.