17-85 Barrel Distortion

I am just about to buy a 400D and thought I would buy the Canon 17-85 as a walk-around lense. I like shooting architecture/street scenes, however after reading about the barrel distortion in the 17-85 would like other opinions on a more suitable lense. At the moment have a Pro1 and there is some distortion with its 28-135 lense which I can correct with Photoshop.

Yes, there's definately some barrel distortion on the 17-85 at the shortest focal length. If you're wanting to shoot architecture, the 17-40L might be a bit better but it still has a fair amount of barrel distortion at the wide end. The Canon 20 mm f/2.8 prime as well as the Sigma 20 mm f/1.8 prime both exhibit low distortion, and the Sigma 12-24 zoom is reputed to control distortion well also.

Thanks Tom - 17-40 looking better than 17-85 at the moment.

you will be able to correct barrel distortion with some success using PTLens. Personally I think the 17-40L while an excellent lens, is a little short as a general walkabout.