What lense to compliment my current gear?

well, it is that time of year again! X-mas bonus time and i am in toronto!

so it turns out i may have damagethe prism in my 40D from a nice hit, so using the eye piece is blurry but pics come out fine, and i use live view anyways %90 of the time.

what do i own right now...

• Canon 40D
  
• Canon 17-85 IS
  
• Canon 60mm Macro (if i can get a good trade in i want a 100mm + 60mm i got to get tooo close)
  
• Canon nifty Fifty
  
• Canon 430EX
  

I really love my 100-400L Not too big to travel with and provides lots of options.

nice range, i do wish i had beyond 85mm..lol i am lacking there and i do live in the side of a valley, i get lots of large vultures and some hawks flying around and i can never get good pics of them...

Well, what is the most you want to spend?

I think a telephoto lens would best compliment the rest of your equipment. If you are willing to spend $1200 CAD, that would give you two good options.

1. 70-200 f/4L IS - Extremely sharp lens with IS, but not as fast as 2.8 version
2. 70-200 f/2.8L - Fast, sharp glass, but no IS

If you need IS and not as much speed, I would go with option 1. If you prefer the speed of the glass over the IS, I would go with option 2.

There are a few fisheye lenses. the sigma and canon 15mm 2.8 are the most popular. If you just want wide, without fisheye, canon, sigma and tokina all ultrawide zooms, which are fantastic.
On the long end, again you have many choices. other than price, there are several factors the differentiate them, range, speed, IS, and size are the very obvious ones. If you are happy with your 17-85, any of the following lenses will give you at least as good of image quality.
70-300 IS, 700-200 f 4, or f 2.8, IS, or without IS, 100-400 IS, 55-250 EFS IS. All have pretty decent image quality. Look at your budget, desire for IS, and desire for speed vs size.

Mathiau wrote in post #6866937
well, it is that time of year again! X-mas bonus time and i am in toronto!

so it turns out i may have damagethe prism in my 40D from a nice hit, so using the eye piece is blurry but pics come out fine, and i use live view anyways %90 of the time.

Have you checked to see if perhaps you just knocked your VF Diopter out of whack?

mm, how would i check that Flying? since live view works, and i look through the viewfinder and still see, it is just blurred and does not clear when focusing, but taking a pics as said, they come out fine.. is seems like justthe view finder is out of whack

well i figure the less i can spend the better, but i got about $4k in bonus, but i figured i dont want to go over $1300k+ tax, that is why i had thought the 17-200, that would prob be my MAX buy the furthers i would go

for me i prefer speed over IS, over the yerars you learn how to stand still, also i am prob going to pick up a monopod anyways..

check out the 70-300 is. not a bad lens at all and some nice range!

Mathiau wrote in post #6867171
mm, how would i check that Flying?

Point your camera at a plain white wall and manually turn the focus so that it's completely blurry...

While looking through the VF, turn the little tiny dial next to your VF until all the AF squares go fuzzy. Now turn it back the other way until they're sharp. I usually find I need to go a few clicks back and forth until I find the optimum sharpness.

Now let your camera AF as normal and see if your VF is still not focused correctly.

Good Luck and I hope it's something this simple...

dido, now i must ask (couple rum & cokes in me) VF?

they said if it is the prism, it is one of the most expensive parts to replacve and my extended warrenty wont cover it! it isnt a "huge" deal for me since i can still use my cam, but still i dont plan to buy a new cam for at least 2-3 years so could be annoying!

Mathiau wrote in post #6867323
dido, now i must ask (couple rum & cokes in me) VF?

they said if it is the prism, it is one of the most expensive parts to replacve and my extended warrenty wont cover it! it isnt a "huge" deal for me since i can still use my cam, but still i dont plan to buy a new cam for at least 2-3 years so could be annoying!

VF = Viewfinder...sorry...

Didn't realize you'd actually had it looked at already so nevermind, I guess...

wow DUH me!..lol


nope, they havent checked it out yet, the store just mentioned what it could be after i had explained it to them once i am back at ym sisters going to try out your advice!

How about a 70-200?

Its hard to find a lens that meets your criteria for hawks & vultures and a fish eye as well If you are serious about birds, check out the 400/5.6 its light, very fast AF and is a wonderful lens for birds in flight. Otherwise I'd recommend the 70-200/2.8 its a beautiful lens and very versatile. In Toronto, check out Vistek on Queen Street, they usually have lots of stock.

If you are happy with the quality of the 17-85, I'd recommend the 70-300 IS. Its really nice piece of glass. I keep thinking of upgraded to one of the Ls, but I cannot find a good reason besides the "want to" aspect. It captures everything that I need it to do, and does a good job.

Here is a good review: http://www.pbase.com/l​ightrules/73v72f4is