I'm soo in love (70-200/2.8L IS and 24-105/4L IS)

I'm in the hospital now for a regular surgery (don't ask!) and a fellow wedding photographer friend o mine came by with two lenses I wanted to play with. She was supposed to bring a third, but her workmate who owns it didn't come to work, so it was left alone.

Anyway... I'm in this dark hospital room (sharing rooms with three other women) and it's dark outside, only lights in this room are the reading lamps. And I was playing with these two lenses to see what I could get away with, as I am shooting mainly weddings, I need something that can handle well during tough circumstances.

Well, the 70-200/2.8L IS was of course no surprise. Excellent lens and it did what it should do in the circumstances we had, as I wasn't shooting stuff that was directly *in the light* but more shadowy areas. The focus was just a tad slow finding its target, but it was SPOT ON. And I got sharp images at 1/25 second. No surprise there, just encouraged me to want this lens even more.

So what about the 24-105? OMG! It totally surprised me! Wide open, tac sharp. It had no problems focusing at all (and fast!). I was handholding at 1/5 up to 1/25 second and had sharp images (ok, not moving objects, but this is a room that's about three times darker than the darkest church I'll shoot in, so it means I will get away with faster shutter speeds, or lower ISO (as I was shooting in 1600).

I'm definately going to choose between the 24-105 and the 17-55 now. Between wide angle or a bit longer. That's the issue right now that I have to fight with.

I won't post any examples here, but pixel peeping was done and I was raving!

Thanks to Noiseware I could clean up my 1600 ISO iamges and it's just gorgeous. WOW!

I'm sooooo in love! (I hope hubby is not jealous)

the IS on the 24-105 really is something else. i love mine, tack sharp aswell.

You got 2 of the best Canon lenses out there. Congrats.

When I sold my car and took out a loan, I'll get these.

CyberPet, on your 350D, IMHO it is foolish to not have a true wide angle, 17mm minimum (FOV same as 28mm on 35mm film SLR).

There are many circumstances I have found myself in, where I need to capture a small group setting and my shooting space is limited. Example...cake cutting, everyone crowds the table so you have to be close in order to not have someone standing in between you and the cake, yet you want to capture B&G and also some of the on-looking guests

PS...Sweden with the wonderful attitudes toward healthcare and technology. I can't imagine U.S. hospital rooms with internet connectivity!

CyberPet wrote in post #2261996
I'm definately going to choose between the 24-105 and the 17-55 now. Between wide angle or a bit longer. That's the issue right now that I have to fight with.

Aw, just get them both Petra - you know you want to! ...Ann and I now shoot with these 2 lenses nearly all the time (Ann with 17-55/30D and me with 24-105/20D) and it would be tough to choose between them if we could only have one.

Hope your hospital stay goes to plan, and you're soon back out again.

Best wishes,
Rob

Petra,

Get a few "shots" of the nurses. Turnabout is fair play. (That's sort of a play on words.)

I hope everything goes smoothly.

The image stabilization is fantastic. It's definately helped me out over the past year. But then you have some nice lenses already... and with the range you currently have, the 24-105 IS would eliminate your Tamron.

CyberPet wrote in post #2261996
So what about the 24-105? OMG! It totally surprised me! Wide open, tac sharp.

How is the bokeh on this lens?

Couldn't agree more on this combo (check sig). Has made me 100% happy, especially since I don't have a need for a wide angle lens.

The bokeh on the 24-105 is pretty good, but the 70-200 2.8 is better and fits my portrait needs just fine......

Wilt, I have an old 20-35/2.8L that will serve me for a while longer until I find something else. I can't get both the 17-55 and the 24-105 and the 70-200. That's just not in my economy. I'd rather buy another body instead, as I only shoot with two now.

As this is not *my* lenses yet, I'm still debating on the wide angle aspect. But I'm glad that the IS issue set my heart to rest about the low light issues I'm always up to in the winters here up north and the f/4 had me worried for a long while. I love the extra reach of the 24-105.

Have no idea about the bokeh of the lens (who cares, it's the DOF that's important and at 105 it seem fine enough), not sure how much I'll use it for portraits, as I love to do them outdoors and then the longer lenses are more fun to play with.

Oh, and I wouldn't take photo's of the nurses, they'd kill me if I did.

As for internet connectivity... I have to hook up my computer through the phone lines and use a modem. So I'm blazing on at 44.6K right now. Yay!!

(Yes I miss my 10Mbit network at home)

In 4 hours I'll have surgery, so there's a few hours to kill. Thank god for laptops!

Wilt wrote in post #2262458
PS...Sweden with the wonderful attitudes toward healthcare and technology. I can't imagine U.S. hospital rooms with internet connectivity!

I was thinking that too!

Well for whatever reason you are there Petra, I hope you heal quickly and are back on your feet in no time!

(and the 24-105 is my favorite lens...truly rarely leaves my 5D...)

CyberPet wrote in post #2261996
I'm in the hospital now for a regular surgery (don't ask!) and a fellow wedding photographer friend o mine came by with two lenses I wanted to play with. She was supposed to bring a third, but her workmate who owns it didn't come to work, so it was left alone.

Anyway... I'm in this dark hospital room (sharing rooms with three other women) and it's dark outside, only lights in this room are the reading lamps. And I was playing with these two lenses to see what I could get away with, as I am shooting mainly weddings, I need something that can handle well during tough circumstances.

Well, the 70-200/2.8L IS was of course no surprise. Excellent lens and it did what it should do in the circumstances we had, as I wasn't shooting stuff that was directly *in the light* but more shadowy areas. The focus was just a tad slow finding its target, but it was SPOT ON. And I got sharp images at 1/25 second. No surprise there, just encouraged me to want this lens even more.

So what about the 24-105? OMG! It totally surprised me! Wide open, tac sharp. It had no problems focusing at all (and fast!). I was handholding at 1/5 up to 1/25 second and had sharp images (ok, not moving objects, but this is a room that's about three times darker than the darkest church I'll shoot in, so it means I will get away with faster shutter speeds, or lower ISO (as I was shooting in 1600).

I'm definately going to choose between the 24-105 and the 17-55 now. Between wide angle or a bit longer. That's the issue right now that I have to fight with.

I won't post any examples here, but pixel peeping was done and I was raving!

Thanks to Noiseware I could clean up my 1600 ISO iamges and it's just gorgeous. WOW!

I'm sooooo in love! (I hope hubby is not jealous)

Nice.... those lenses are THE ones you want to own!

If you ever get a chance to step up to the 5D, the 24-105 is breathtaking. This lens cured my 17-55 2.8 lust, took a while but it did. f/4 isn't the killer or deal breaker people make it out to be. I wouldn't shoot the 24-105 on a crop camera though, but that's just me. I almost never put it on the 350D, the focal length isn't right for what I do. Need a 17mm on the 350D at least.

Get well soon, more incentive to get outta the hospital and back on your feet shooting! Nice of your friend to bring you something to play with too!

Permagrin wrote in post #2264999
I was thinking that too!

(and the 24-105 is my favorite lens...truly rarely leaves my 5D...)

Same here, its a cracking lens!

I assure you, I'm not in hospital by free will, just to make sure I survive a while longer.

And talking about connectivity... you know how much they charge me for having a phone by my bed??? It's blood sucking!! Anyway... at a wooping 48K today (better connection now than earlier) I pay about $8 a day just to be allowed to have the phone, then i pay PER MINUTE I call. So no sitting on the computer hours and hours. *sigh*

I know... you all can start a collection for me and give me a 5D for Christmas, everyone tells me I should get one. But I want the lenses first!! So I've been a good girl, ate my porridge every day and I'm nice to both animals and my husband (oh wait, he could be seen as an animal). Yeah, I've been nice!

That is painful...the bill....

Good point about the glass, if you KNOW you are going to scale up to a 5D in the near future then you might want to pass on the EF-S stuff.