Canon 24-105mm?

[egayz]

I'm looking to buy my first real "expensive" lens and I want to make sure I get the right one. My budget is around $1000 and I'm cool with refurbished. I was looking at the Canon 24-105mm but the f/4 is a little iffy for me. I'm looking to film/photograph concerts, cars, snowboarding, skateboarding, and just all around progress. So I want a good all around zoom lens that still has some wide angle. Any thoughts or other suggestions?

 

[CCericola]

It is a beautiful lens but I find the AF to be just a tiny bit too slow so use manual focus for sports. The f/4 makes it, in my opinion, too slow for low light situations such as concerts.

 

[egayz]

It is a beautiful lens but I find the AF to be just a tiny bit too slow so use manual focus for sports. The f/4 makes it, in my opinion, too slow for low light situations such as concerts.

Are there any other lenses you would recommend instead?

 

[TCampbell]

The 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM is great for both sports and concerts. But it kinda blows the $1k budget by a fairly wide margin.

 

[Derrel]

On the 5D Classic, I have found the 24-105 f/4 L to be too slow and too unreliable for action shots...the focus speed and reliability of that lens with THAT camera leaves a LOT to be desired on fast-moving "anything". At least in my experience with it, on the 5D.

Perhaps on a 5D Mark III or a 1-series body it would be faster, but...not sure.

 

[Overread]

If you are going to do video then your market for zoom lenses reduces quite significantly. Video work benefits from (does not require) having zoom lenses which are parafocal. That means that as the focal length is changed the point of focus remains in the same place. Most DSLR lenses do not do this and the point of focus will shift, with AF as fast as it is this is normally not a problem - until you turn off the AF for video and you want a smooth zooming shot (or want to adjust the zoom/frame without shifting the focus).

The 24-105mm f4 is one of the few zooms which is parafocal and thus is suitable for video work

However the points raised above are correct in that f4 is generally considered quite slow for lowlight work when you don't have the option of a slow shutter speed and when the smaller aperture can make the viewfinder very dark. If you want a concert style lens chances are you'll want to look at prime lenses which will give you the wider possible maximum apertures without having problems with the focusing for your video work.