Sunday, January 10th 2010

Camera bag: Meet Lens

I’ve been saving up for a while, and with some money I was given for Xmas I had enough to get a second hand Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM.

It took many late nights of on-line research to decide which lens would be the best choice. I’ve been considering the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC (Vibration Compensation) and the Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.0 OS (Optical Stabilization). But in the end I decided to hunt down a second hand Canon 17-55mm f/2.8.

Initial reviews of the two other lenses have been so-so. And the Canon has both the constant maximum aperture of the Tamron and the quiet auto-focus of the Sigma.

I’ve managed to get my hands on a two year old copy of the EF-S 17-55mm which doesn’t seem to have been used very much. It really is in perfect condition, and I only paid two thirds of the price of a new one.

I’ll probably post a little comparison between the EF-S 17-55mm and my current standard zoom, the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5. If nothing else to cure my own curiosity.

By the way, if you live in Sweden and want to buy my Sigma, I’m selling it here.

As always in camera-land, one piece of new equipment will lead to another.

The EF-S is good in many ways, but it definitely isn’t compact. This means that I can’t really fit all my lenses in my current camera bag and the guy who sold me the 17-55 showed me his beautiful Lowepro Slingshot 350 AW. Beautiful as in extremely well designed.

The Lowepro 350 has a smaller sibling, the 300 (which lacks a laptop compartment) which will most likely be the subject for my next saving-up project.

Posted at 18:36. Tags: lenses, Sigma. Categories: Canon, photography. Both comments and trackbacks are closed.

2 Responses to this post:

1. Marius says:

   February 20, 2010 at 23:26

   The Lowepro is a good choice, and I would also recommend Crumpler. They are not that popular in Europe (or anywhere) as Lowepro, but especially if you’re going for design, than Crumpler is a brand worth looking into.

   Cheers
2. David Naylor says:

   February 21, 2010 at 08:38

   Thanks for the tip!

   Although I’ve already been given the Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW for my birthday, and I’m very happy with it.