looking for a recommendation (1 Viewer)

have been looking at the new 40D and wanted to ask a question to other Canon owners,,

I want to limit my lens to just "TWO" and hold the price for these two to around the $2,000 area,,

will not be using for much birding as have a good scope and camera for the digascoping,, mainly will be shooting landscapes, grandkids playing soccer, family photos and general walk around photography,,

want to try and stay with the better glass,,

appreciate your recommendations,,

For everyday use the 17mm-85mm IS lens is pretty good. It is not L quality, but unless you want A3 prints or do a lot of cropping, it's very good value for money. It has recently come down considerably in price. The cheapest and one of the best L lenses is the 70mm - 200m f4 lens. If you add a 1.4 converter, then with these two lenses you cover 17mm to 280mm. A cheaper alternative is the 70mm -300mm IS lens, not an L lens but good in its class. (Outside your budget is of course the IS version of the 70mm - 200mm f4 L lens). I have restricted myself to Canon lenses. I am sure many others will submit their own preferences.

I rate the sigma 70-200 f2.8 EX very highly. Outside of birding, it is probably the lens I use most. It has good colour fidelity, contrast and quick focusing (HSM motor). I have done side-by-side tests with the canon L equivalent on my 1DsII, and found very little difference in image quality (the canon was marginally better on colour, but not enough to justify paying nearly double the price).

The Canon 70-200 f4 L is a fantastic lens - very sharp with a nice bokeh, fast AF, light, and good value for money. You can add a 1.4 TC to it to get you to 280mm at a later stage with almost no loss of quality, although it does become a f5.6, but still falls within the 40D spec for autofocus. This would cover the soccer games. Other than that, I would go for a 17-85 every day lens, or perhaps a 10-22mm for landscapes and a nifty 50mm f1.8 for every day family photos (that would be three though - sorry!!).

Personally I'd go for a Canon 24-105 L IS and a 70-200 f2.8 (Sigma or Canon depending on which falls within your budget). A 70-200 f2.8 is a very versatile lens, great for action shots of the kids and also make a very nice portrait lens.

If your budget is $2K for the two lenses (not including the camera), you can get the EF-S 17-55 IS and one of the 70-200L zooms (EF 70-200 f/4L IS or EF 70-200 f/2.8L) and you would be pretty well covered. You could even get the EF-S 17-85 IS and the EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS for less than $2K at the current lowest prices. Based on your description, EF 70-200 f/4L IS may be a better fit for you as it is a much lighter (and somewhat smaller) lens than the f/2.8 70-200 lenses.

If your budget is $2K for the two lenses plus the camera, EF-S 18-55 IS and the EF 70-300 IS is one package if you need a good telephoto zoom lens. Alternatively, EF-S 17-85 IS paired with one of the lower priced telephoto zooms is another alternative as your general purpose lens will have a much better zoom range. If canon starts selling the EF-S 55-250 IS in the US, it would be the perfect complement to the EF-S 17-85. I wouldn't be surprised if Canon offers a package deal with 40D + 17-85 IS + 55-250 IS some time early next year for less than $2K.