When I moved from point and shoot to a DSLR, I started with the EF-S 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS lens as my main lens. It gave surprisingly good results with minimal obvious distortions, and had a great zoom range on my 30D and later 60D, from fairly wide to a decent 'reach' telephoto. Its only limitation was indoors without a flash...it required an external flash to provide enough light due to its smaller aperture limits. Although I didn't buy one at the time, I'd strongly consider a 50mm f1.4 for 'inside' work with or without a flash, and for 'general use' as well. Without checking the numbers, I suspect these 2 lenses will price out about the same as the 3 lens combo you mentioned and give you one less lens to carry with you.