Best Canon standard Zoom

Lunawolfy

Lunawolfy

Lunawolfy

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Joined
22 May 2011
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1,445
Location
Edinburgh
Hey all, I'm after a standard zoom 18-55 eg. But I want the IS USM although the sigma and tamron versions are mighty confusing, rainforest has one for like £260 or something with OC and HSM

Any recommendations for my 40D?
 
The EF-S 17-55mm is generally regarded as the best, although I'd probably go for the Tamron 17-50mm for a fraction of the price (although the focusing is anything but hypersonic if that's a dealbreaker).
 
I would Ideally not want to exceed 4-500ish.

Whilst I yearn for the quicker aperture, its costly.

Unless one of you guys wants to sell me their lens on finance :P
 
For standard zooms on a crop sensor; the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non VC can be had for around £200 second hand and is a well regarded lens. I had two that performed really well (AF is noisy but it isn't too slow). The Canon 17-55 f2.8 IS is the best of the crop but is pricey at around £550 second hand. However the newer Sigma 17-50 OS gets very good reviews, this lens I have not used though so cannot comment from personal use.
 
Lunawolfy said:
Interesting, very inflated price on the MM currently?
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Can't say i've seen any one the MM in the last few weeks.

I know there is one for sale at MBP for £620 and that includes 6 months warranty, so if i was buying one without a warranty i wouldn't want to pay no more than £550-£560 really
 
Yeah, person doesn't seem upto budging.

Are there any cheaper options people can reccommend? Even Sigma or Tamron, although I'd appriciate something with both IS and USM (or their versions)
 
Lunawolfy said:
Yeah, person doesn't seem upto budging.
Click to expand...

Actually he's dropped it to £495.
But there's one going on TP for £545 apparently A1 condition.

I've had the Tamron 17-50 2.8 non-vc and whilst it's excellent for the price, it doesn't have IS or USM that you're looking for so I can't really comment.
 
Lunawolfy said:
What worries me is someone above said they've had two and they were great :/

So great he bought a second? :P
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I had one when I first owned a 7D, then I traded the 7D for a 1D3 which the Tamron doesn't work on as it is a crop lens. Later on I picked up another 7D and as I had been impressed with the 17-50 before I bought another one to use!

Someone on here did buy one previously and had issues with it though.

Edit: Have a look at the Simga 17-50 OS, it's right up there with the Canon 17-55 according to some. Sigma OS is generally very good and their HSM is only a smidgin behind USM.
 
here soon good zoom lens

Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Tamron SP AF 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical Lens
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Canon-ef
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens (here site that got some photo taken with this lens http://www.pixel-peeper.com/lenses/?lens=19 also if you use the option on the site
you can see photo taken with other lens)
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom AF Lens (aka the nifty two-fifty)

the Canon 50mm f/1.8 (aka nifty fifty. i know this isn't a zoom lens but it is a very good lens to have in your kit bag)
 
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I had a Tamron 17-50 non-VC that I picked up for £180ish and it was excellent for the price. My 2 reasons for changing were I wanted IS, and I needed a faster focusing lens in bad lighting.

The Sigma has OS, which does the same job, and its focusing is faster than the Tamron's, but was still nowhere near as accurate as the Canon under poor lighting conditions.

Hell, my Canon 17-55 can still focus most of the time with a 10 stop ND filter on it with no issues! Even though I can barely see a thing through the viewfinder :p
 
Thinking about The EF-S 17-85MM F4-5.6 IS USM.

Rainforest has it at £315 and it would be easy enough to return to them if I didn't like it or it broke.

Unsure why this greater zooom range is cheaper, the 17-135mm is also an EF mount so I'm unsure as to which i'd like :/
 
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