Should this be my next lens?

[pjavan]

Okay, quick background. I am not a photographer and basically get the hand me downs from my brother who is a professional photographer. I have a 1 year daughter and another one coming in two months. My plan is to get better in order to get the best pictures possible (most of my shooting is done in doors).

Here are the lenses I have:

EF 28-135, ef 100-300, ef 18-55

I actually end up using my 18-55 most of the time. Probably from habit or comfort vs better lens for the situation. I know I need to learn more, but want to get the best lens within a reasonable budget to learn off of.

I actually just bought EF 24-105, but am now second guessing. Before I take it out of the package, is this the best lens for me considering what I have?

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

The 24-105mm L, is certainly a great lens and I'd guess you paid a pretty penny for it. It is capable of great optical quality & sharpness...but still only got a maximum aperture of F4.

If you are looking for something different, I think that your kit is missing a 'fast' lens. That would be a zoom lens with a max aperture of F2.8 or better yet, a prime (non-zoom) lens with a maximum aperture of F1.8 or F1.4 etc.

Some suggestions would be the 50mm F1.8 or better yet, the 50mm F1.4. The 85mm F1.8.

If you don't already have a flash, that might be a good accessory for shooting kids. An accessory flash like the 430EX or 580EX can tilt & swivel, allowing you to bounce the flash, which can vastly improve your photos over straight on flash.

 

[Raian-san]

Welcome to the forum.

The 24-105mm L, is certainly a great lens and I'd guess you paid a pretty penny for it. It is capable of great optical quality & sharpness...but still only got a maximum aperture of F4.

If you are looking for something different, I think that your kit is missing a 'fast' lens. That would be a zoom lens with a max aperture of F2.8 or better yet, a prime (non-zoom) lens with a maximum aperture of F1.8 or F1.4 etc.

Some suggestions would be the 50mm F1.8 or better yet, the 50mm F1.4. The 85mm F1.8.

If you don't already have a flash, that might be a good accessory for shooting kids. An accessory flash like the 430EX or 580EX can tilt & swivel, allowing you to bounce the flash, which can vastly improve your photos over straight on flash.

What he suggested. If you want to do portraits then you should get 50mm 1.8 which is great value around $120 and put the rest of the money on the 85mm F1.8.

 

[Derrel]

I think a 17-85mm lens would be the best to learn with. I am assuming you have a 1.6x FOV Canon body,and not a used 5D from your brother. A 17-85mm lens, paired with a top-quality Canon 580 EX-II flash unit and your family photography would be very well-handled with that zoom, plus your other two longer zoom lenses for longer work. Outdoors in good light the 100-300 will be nice as the kids toddle around, which will be happening sooner than you might think!

Alternately, the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 Di lens would be good too. I would replace the 18-55 kit zoom with the Tamron 17-50/2.8.

 

[pjavan]

Thanks for all the input!!! This is good stuff. I'm looking into the 50mm and 17-85mm right now.

 

[cfusionpm]

The 17-85 is surpassed in every way by the new 15-85mm. I had a 17-85 for several years and liked it, but never really loved it. I found it limiting in low light, it had mediocre image quality in the corners, and some strong chromatic aberration in bright light. Depending on what your budget is, the Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS is also an excellent choice.

 

[pjavan]

I bit the bullet and got the 24-105. All I can say is wow...Very nice. Its sparked my interest back into photography.

 

[printguy]

The 24-105 is one of my favorites but I have to agree with Big Mike, if you are going to be taking pictures of children you will need faster glass. f2.8 or faster or be prepared to take a lot of blurred photos.

 

[Bram]

No.