To keep a Canon lens or not

"Shawn Hirn" <srhi.RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote:
> snip <
> I own a very nice Canon lens. It is a Canon f2.8 24-70mm UL lens, for
> which I paid something like $1,100 a year ago. That lens is great, but
> it weighs a ton.
>
> The Canon XSi has an f3.518-35mm kit lens with image stabilization. I am
> wondering if I would be better served by selling my 24-70mm Canon lens
> and getting the kit lens with the XSi, or perhaps keep both lenses. The
> strength of my 24-70mm lens is it has great optics, and its fast. I
> also own a Canon f5.4 70-300mm lens, which I intend to keep.
>
> I like my 24-70mm lens, but it weighs too much to carry it around all
> day, and it is very bulky, but I am not sure if that kit lens would be
> as good, in terms of its optical quality, or do yo think most people
> won't notice the difference anyway? With the IS capability of the XSI's
> kit lens, it seems to me, that the major benefit of the f2.8 aperture of
> my 24-70mm lens is no longer a big advantage, or am I wrong about that?
>
> I like to shoot photos of night scenes, so low light photography is
> important to me. I am an amateur photographer with a limited budget, so
> I am thinking I might be better off selling the 24-70mm lens to offset
> the cost of buying the XSi.
>
> What do you think I should do?

I would keep the good lens. It will help you build the biceps! :O)

Seriously, I work under tight budget constraints also. If you already have
the lens, and it's good glass, and it serves you well, there's no point in
getting rid of it. You'll miss it when it's gone.

An 18-35 isn't going to cover the same range as a 24-70. For a while I was
missing the 55-100mm range when I bought my 20D. I found out I take a lot
of photos in that range. I finally bought a Tamron 18-200 to fill in the
gap. I have a 70-300 also, but it actaully starts at about 112mm.

If you want the IS kit lens, then get the kit, but I don't think I would get
rid of the good glass. I would love to get better glass than the Sigma
70-300 gives me, but it won't happen right now.

If you already have the good glass keep it, because odds of scraping the
money together later, may not be so high.

And don't let your wife tease you about carrying the "manpurse" around
everywhere. :O)

Have fun,
Dave