Someone bought my 18-55IS kit Now what?!

Someone offered to get my kit for $120 (with full disclosure of how much a second hand unit costs and a new one) So i decided heck why not...

now i am left with just my nifty fifty and struggling with what to replace my kit lens with...

I am fond of its 18mm wideness but short on its 55mm FL so I was thinking of getting the 17-85mm...

I liked how my pictures came out with my kit. used it for mostly night shots and architecture and group pix...

I like the fact that it has IS...

Cost is an issue for me as well...

I was also thinking of the 17-50 2.8 tamron, the 28-135 IS canon (but not too wide)...

I guess it was impulsive selling, not sure if i did the right thing....

HELP? any ideas?

You were happy with the focal length and the shots that came out with the kit...and you...you sold it, without knowing what you were going to replace it with?? ...umm, yeah I don't think you did the right thing!

The 17-85 is not reputed to be a stellar lens, but I would have thought it might be a step up from the kit. The Tammy 17-50 is definitely a better lens optics wise.

I sold my kit lens for the 17-50 2.8. Haven't looked back.

28-135 wasn't wide enough for me.

28-135 is great (I love mine) if you plan on getting an ultra wide in the future. I do miss 18 mm, but this is a much better overall lens.

Tamron 18-270

My wife has the 17-85 and while having the longer focal length and better build quality is nice, I personally think that optically it is noticeably worse than the 18-55 IS.

I would look into the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 or the Tamron 17-50 f2.8.

+1 Tam 17-50. Used ~$300 and worth every penny.

What about the EF-S 15-85mm?

divamum wrote in post #9216161
+1 Tam 17-50. Used ~$300 and worth every penny.

It is hard to find them for that cheap, but its worth it for even a bit more. There is a good reason that 24-70 f/2.8 is the standard lens for full frame cameras. It is a great range and super useful at constant f/2.8. Way sharp, good built for the price, only downside is the noisy and slow AF.

lol buy another 18-55 IS then use the little extra you made to buy a 55-250 and be on your way

These kind of posts often puzzle me.

You can't get any reasonable advice on a lens if you don't say what the intended use will be. If you want a general walk-around lens used mainly outdoors the 28-135 is probably it.

There isn't a single de-facto lens made that does all things for all shooting circumstances.

I broke my kit lens (18-55IS) in Rome last summer. I liked it so much that I replaced it with another, but a white box version.
It is hard to get this optical quality for so little money.
The kit lens is my travel, walking around and tripping lens.
I use primes for other things.

Sigma 18-125 OS HSM. Better than the 18-55 IS kit with a much more practical range.

smmokan wrote in post #9216760
Sigma 18-125 OS HSM. Better than the 18-55 IS kit with a much more practical range.

true, the OP would have more focal range but significantly worse image quality/resolution/sha​rpness than the good ol' 18-55IS lens
www.photozone.de

Having used the 18-55 before I found the IQ to be rather good for a kit lens. I had the 17-85mm in the past as it came with my body and found the CA and barrel distortion unacceptable. Sold it and got a 17-40mm and 50mm to cover the lower end of the focal length.

Why not shoot the nifty for a while and see what you can do with that lens. In the past some photographers used 1 lens for everything, no zooms. In the 50L lens sample archive there is a photographer is shooting exclusively with a 50L and generating really great photographs.

Lenses come and go like the seasons but a great photograph lasts forever.