Lens Comparison/Advice

Dillard

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While I know this is a broad question, I have decided to to open it to the public for opinions and advice. I live close to my parents home and have been fortunate enough to use my dad's lens collection over the years. He has a decent range of lens and is always more then willing to let me borrow them. In a year, I will be moving farther away for medical school and wont have this luxury any longer. This has made me realize that it is time to expand my own collection to serve my needs. The two focal lengths I have in mind is the 17-55 or the 24-70. Now comes the breakdown...

17-55 - I could almost certainly swing the Nikon version of this lens in attempts to fill a general walk around lens. While it is now true wide angle, it would better fill the WA needs as I am losing access to my fathers 10-20. A solid lens none the less, but is it the right choice?

24-70 - I would most likely pick up a 3rd party version of this lens, as the Nikon version is out of my price range. While this would meet more closely with the 80-200 range I already have, it leaves a little of the wide end. Do I shoot for a 3rd party and plan to pick up a true wide angle down the road?

Everyone says look through your photos and see what range you normally shoot, but have a fairly even distribution, leaning slightly more heavily on the wide end. Is the difference on the wide end really worth the extra money, or would the 24-70 better fill my need in the 55-70 range. I partially lean towards the 17-55, as one can most always walk forward, but not always walk back to compose a shot. What are your thoughts and opinions?
 
if you do chose to go the 24-70 route there are some good comparisons online that compare the nikon vs 3rd party versions. thatnikonguy on youtube is one of them. Now, i have heard people say that the 24-70 range on Dx is an awkward range to work with, i disagree. i bought the nikon version back in november to use on my D90 and love it. with that being said i think the 24-70 would be more useful just because you get into the tele range a bit more and can reach a little bit with it vs the 17-55. now i have never used the 17-55 but have read some good reviews on it. imo save up a bit if you can and get the nikon 24-70, its alot of cash to drop but it will impress you and is likely to be on your camera 80% of the time like mine is! hope my ramblings helped lol
 
It really depends on how wide you need to go. 24mm on a D90 is like 36mm on a FF which isn't very wide but may be usable for you. 17mm on the other hand is plenty wide for most people (me included) I have a Tokina 12-24 that rarely comes out of my bag because my 18-105 is plenty wide enough. For the kind of money you are talking about for either of these lenses, I'd rent first.
 
I bet that no matter which one you choose you will do fine and make great images, especially if you used both focal lenghts evenly before.

The difference in choice to me would depend on which camera body you have. To me if I had a full frame camera I would want the 17-55 to take the most advantage of the wide angle, if a crop body sensor I personally would like the 24-70 because it becomes a decent walk around focal lenght range without getting too long.
 
Tony,

Look at your post for a bit. I think you got things turned around in there. The 17-55 is a DX lens, maybe this is the one you meant as a walk-around lens for crop cameras.
 
You didn't mention which body you have but did mention the 80-200mm and were looking at the 17-55mm so I'm guessing a crop body.

So, how much Zoom do you actually need? For instance could you live with a 12-24mm and then get a 50mm to fill in the gap between the zooms? Do you need fast? The 16-85mm is f3.5-5.6 but it covers most of what you want.
 
didn't see that it was a DX lens, but would still like the advantage of the wider angle if I were using a full frame camera.... but that is a moot point now for this thread.
 

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