Best zoom lens

[Kmsb]

I'm looking to buy a really good walk around lens. I know I want a zoom lens and I want it to be able to do good portraits also. Price range is $800-$1200. Thanks!

 

[cgipson1]

I'm looking to buy a really good walk around lens. I know I want a zoom lens and I want it to be able to do good portraits also. Price range is $800-$1200. Thanks!

Lets see..... whats missing?

Mount? You know.. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Hasselblad, etc?

What are you going to do with it when walking around? (people, monkeys, sand dollars, the moon? Self portraits, maybe?)

Where are you going to be walking around? (beach, downtown, chernobyl, the moon?)

 

[Kmsb]

I have a Canon 7d. I want to be able to do portraits as well as maybe some buildings/landscape. I have been looking at the 24-70mm f2.8L. Still trying to decide if that's the best one for me.

 

[cgipson1]

I have a Canon 7d. I want to be able to do portraits as well as maybe some buildings/landscape. I have been looking at the 24-70mm f2.8L. Still trying to decide if that's the best one for me.

Thanks.. that will help! Unfortunately, I do not DO canon! But I am sure some of our Canon loving brethren will stop in soon, to assist you!

 

[Kmsb]

Thanks.. that will help! Unfortunately, I do not DO canon! But I am sure some of our Canon loving brethren will stop in soon, to assist you!

Thanks anyways!

 

[jaomul]

I'm looking to buy a really good walk around lens. I know I want a zoom lens and I want it to be able to do good portraits also. Price range is $800-$1200. Thanks!

Lets see..... whats missing?

Mount? You know.. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Hasselblad, etc?

What are you going to do with it when walking around? (people, monkeys, sand dollars, the moon? Self portraits, maybe?)

Where are you going to be walking around? (beach, downtown, chernobyl, the moon?)

To be fair it is posted in the Canon lens section so that may give a hint,
OP- If your happy to start at 24mm the canon 24-105 IS gets many favourable reviews also, it is a stop slower but has IS to compensate. A lens with f4 should also enable you to create a shallow depth enough depth of field at the longer focal lengths, obviously f2.8 will do a bit better here also, but you do gain substantially at the long end. The EF-s 15-85 IS is also very highly recommended, again its not constant aperture and not f2.8 but you may find 24mm on a crop camera limits you with lanscapes

 

[cgipson1]

I'm looking to buy a really good walk around lens. I know I want a zoom lens and I want it to be able to do good portraits also. Price range is $800-$1200. Thanks!

Lets see..... whats missing?

Mount? You know.. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Hasselblad, etc?

What are you going to do with it when walking around? (people, monkeys, sand dollars, the moon? Self portraits, maybe?)

Where are you going to be walking around? (beach, downtown, chernobyl, the moon?)

To be fair it is posted in the Canon lens section so that may give a hint,
OP- If your happy to start at 24mm the canon 24-105 IS gets many favourable reviews also, it is a stop slower but has IS to compensate. A lens with f4 should also enable you to create a shallow depth enough depth of field at the longer focal lengths, obviously f2.8 will do a bit better here also, but you do gain substantially at the long end. The EF-s 15-85 IS is also very highly recommended, again its not constant aperture and not f2.8 but you may find 24mm on a crop camera limits you with lanscapes

hahaha.. yea, it was in the Canon section. We have had newcomers post in here with similar questions for other mounts though... so just making sure!

 

[jaomul]

Lets see..... whats missing?

Mount? You know.. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Hasselblad, etc?


What are you going to do with it when walking around? (people, monkeys, sand dollars, the moon? Self portraits, maybe?)

Where are you going to be walking around? (beach, downtown, chernobyl, the moon?)

To be fair it is posted in the Canon lens section so that may give a hint,
OP- If your happy to start at 24mm the canon 24-105 IS gets many favourable reviews also, it is a stop slower but has IS to compensate. A lens with f4 should also enable you to create a shallow depth enough depth of field at the longer focal lengths, obviously f2.8 will do a bit better here also, but you do gain substantially at the long end. The EF-s 15-85 IS is also very highly recommended, again its not constant aperture and not f2.8 but you may find 24mm on a crop camera limits you with lanscapes

hahaha.. yea, it was in the Canon section. We have had newcomers post in here with similar questions for other mounts though... so just making sure!

Good point, didn't think of that

 

[analog.universe]

I'd probably be looking at the Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS.

On a 7D, 24 wouldn't be wide enough for me to do landscapes and architecture, but that's a style thing, it is certainly possible at 24.

It's also a style thing that I'm ok with 55 for portraits, many folks would prefer longer. As far as optics, the 17-55, 24-70, and 24-105 are all quite close in performance, so it's a matter of where your priorities are. Wide, long, or large aperture...

P.S. If you do video, you'll definitely want IS

 

[Kmsb]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll check them out.