Spoiled rotten

UGH! What a difference six months with ultra premium glass makes.

I have always loved the 17-85 IS USM, and I really mean it. I did however acknowledge its weaknesses from 17-24mm though and today they came back to bite me. Very different story compared to the tack sharp drool inducing look-n-feel of the 24-105 on 5D.

It may be time to retire the old EF-S workhorse.. this lens has served so faithfully and done the job so many times - usually more than good enough - but now as an L owner, I am beginning to understand the subtle differences.

To those who have never been to L land.. be content, just as I was! This lens is a tremendously versatile and competent piece of kit and it WILL serve you well. Happy is the one who is content...

To those who have already been... well tough luck folks, I guess you and I will now forever be paying a lot more for our glass! The difference is BLOOODY obvious once you've tasted the good stuff!

L fever

Lightstream wrote in post #2199213
The difference is BLOOODY obvious once you've tasted the good stuff!

Yes - My life is also over. My last EF-S were sold on ebay and the 4th L arrives tomorrow. There's no turning back.

They say that once you've had L you'll never go back. Sure, that doesn't rhyme, but it's true

What a burden to carry

I've spent so much in the past 2-3 years, its not even funny, especially since I'm a college student!! All about finding the best tools to compliment your skills though.

Guess you are diving deep into that 5D realm. Congratulations.

i love L glass, L glass loves me. My wallet however does NOT like me.

Note to prospective lens buyers: Before you start freaking out, here in this thread we are discussing the difference between good and great, so don't worry too much about it if you have not been spoiled as we have.

I used to never notice things like CA, resolving power, corner sharpness and all that. In fact if anything I should be biased towards the 17-85 because I like it so much.

I used it today to take an environmental portrait of a friend, and we wanted to pack in all the clutter so I went wide, and we were indoors so 1/200 max sync and f/8 on manual with E-TTL 430EX straight up off the ceiling. Normally, a couple of stops down and this lens should shine, well, it's ok, it's not FANTASTIC. As acknowledged, the 17-40 does better at this FL. drat I should have brought it...I was thinking about it, then did not in the end because I thought 40mm may not have been long enough to do portraits even on the 350D that I was taking. After today I realize the key distinction between ENVIRONMENTAL portrait (where you want to go wide to show the subject in their environment), vs mugshot.

I KNOW the 350D's sensor is capable of more, the 60 macro spanks the pants off my L lenses, so the 17-40 would have shown a definite benefit here. I used to think that the 17-40 on crop cameras is a waste and that it should really be used on FF to realize its true destiny, but now I'm realizing that there is a lot to love about it, too.

I don't think it's L, I think it's picking the right lenses out. The Canon 100mm Macro, 50 1.4 and 85 1.8 are all great lenses (I only own the 85 1.8, but I have heard amazing things about the other two and seen amazing photos taken with them), and they are all non-L.