Hello all, I was an avid photographer when I was younger but had to sell off the majority of my camera equipment a while back for financial reasons. Things are looking up now and I am looking into purchasing a new DSLR in the near future. As much as I would love the 5D, I think I am leaning more towards a Rebel XT or a 30D. I have been looking very carefully at lenses and I have yet to decide which would be the best for me to get. I want a lens that will give me the best image quality for the money. The most important factor for me is image sharpness, but I am also concerned with flaring & chromatic aberration as well. Bokeh and distortion are less important factors to me. I baby my equipment too, so weather sealing is not as important, although always a positive.
I don't know if I am willing to spend the money for them yet, but I have been oohing and ahhing at Canon's new 17-55 and 24-105 lenses. I know that the 24-105 would leave something to be desired at the wide end, but it would also be usable on full frame cameras and it would complement the 10-22 lens as well. So my real question is which one of these lenses would have the best image quality on a DSLR, such as the Rebel XT & the 30D?
Since I will likely decide to save a little money and get a less expensive lens, I would also like to know how the new 17-85 lens compares to the 17-40 lens on a 1.6x DSLR. Those are the two that I am really considering right now.
Things like IS, a wider zoom range, greater maximum aperture, weather sealing, and compatibility with full frame cameras are all nice, but all of those things aside, I want to know how these lenses compare to each other, both at their respective maximum apertures and when stopped down to f/5.6 or more. If anyone has or can make some direct comparisons between these lenses, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.