cthahn

You have a lens. What do you want? There is no best lens for anything. Use what you have and learn how to use it
instead of always wanting to buy a new lens.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The reason they have interchangeable lenses is that some lenses are better for some situations than others.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

It is said that the "best" lens is the one you are using at the time of making a photograph. You make the pictures not your lens. Your Canon lens should do the job if you do yours.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

In the situations the OP describes, I wouldn't be able to get the kind of shots I would want to get with the OP's lens. I would need a wider lens. If you had a wide angle lens on your camera would that be just fine for subjects at a distance like sports or wildlife?

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

But you can choose "the one you are using at the time" A lens is a tool. Part of the skill of a photographer is choosing the right tool. Just like working around the house. If I need to pull a nail, I am not going to force myself to use a ball peen hammer just because it is the one I have at hand. I will go get the claw hammer. In this case he is trying to photograph indoor activity. The lens he has is too long on his camera body to do that effectively. If he forces himself to use it, he would be doing his subjects and himself a disservice. He seems to know this. So he reached out for useful advice about choosing the right tool. You would have him use the wrong one because.... Heck I do not understand why you would do that!

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

It sounds as if the 28-135mm is all you need.

The range of "traditional" portraiture focal lengths on an APS-C camera such as the 7D is short telephotos between 50mm and 85mm. Your zoom already covers those focal lengths.

Instead of a lens, maybe you need a better flash?

If you are thinking of using a very large aperture lens (50mm f/1.4 or even f/1.2) to shoot without flash, by available light only... Well, those are available too, but may be of limited value because the large aperture will also render extremely shallow depth of field at typical portrait working distances. With large aperture lenses your focus has to be ultra precise and parts of your subject may be out of focus.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Correct. I use the 18-135mm lens. Covers most all situations. In lower light situations my 80D adjust the ISO up. Seems to work fine.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

However he is not shooting portraits. He wants to cover "family events such as Thanksgiving Diner, or Christmas Morning, or the Twins First Birthday" This will involve wider shots than his lens (effectively 45mm at the wide end) can deliver. Just covering the dining-room table will probably call for somewhere around 18mm (eff 29mm) on his body. Unless he has huge rooms with lots of distance. Most houses do not have that kind of space. Further, even if he has that space, he would have to remove himself from the action to take a shot of people involved in an event. Since it is family, I would think he would want to stay in the same room as the groups (especially kids) he is photographing. But, hey, maybe his rooms are all 20'x20', in which case his lens will be fine. Or maybe 25'x25' to be safe.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The OP isn't asking about doing portraits. He is asking about doing photos of family activities, where he might want to do photos of several family members interacting, and with a 50mm equivalent indoors, he might not be able to get back far enough to shoot those.

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

I am liking my Canon Pancake 24 mm prime f/2.8. Sharp, wide enough, (35 mm equivalent) dedicated to aps-c (crop body) $125. It is tiny and fits in your pocket. Not intrusive if you are in someone's face with a camera.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Well, Ken Rockwell raves about the 18-135: http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/18-135mm-stm.htm

Elsiss Loc: Bayside, NY, Boynton Beach, Fl.

I think your 28-135 should be totally adequate for your intended use.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

Your "width" is fine at 42 equivalent and 3.5-5.6 may be good DOF. OTOH, ISO may have to go to uncomfortable levels resulting in less than good photos. So, the 17-35 f2.8 is your best bet, all other things being equal. What you have now is a compromise, like all zoom lenses are.
Have fun, don't fret to much about this, just do what you need to do to get the result you want.

toxdoc42

I agree with billnikon, why avoid a flash? There are ways to make a flash provide adequate lighting without causing the deer in headlights effects. Today there are many relatively inexpensive flashes available that will do the job for you, invest in one or 2 and work with them. They even come with mini "tripods" and can be placed onto tables, etc. to add more lighting. Checkout the Neew flash, Amazon sells them for about $50 and I have used them successfully!

Clapperboard

As regards the lens it depends on how serious you are about your photography/how much you want to pay/how much your budget will allow without thinking "EEEK that hurts" !
28mm. minimum focal length may be a bit long on a crop sensor at times. Getting really close to people with a wide angle lens is not too good an idea either.
For 'Portrait Work' 50mm. is a pretty good focal length on the 7D so your 28-135mm. may be very suitable.
For indoor operation where light is likely to be poor use a suitable 'dedicated' Speedlite flash unit. Yongnuo supply very good units at very competitive prices. Practice with it before the event(s) to get a feel for the settings.
My suggestion is to aim for 'fill-in' flash so the flash part of the illumination doesn't make it an obvious 'flash' photo that looks staged.
For fill-in flash on your 7D you should start by setting the Flash Exposure method to ETTL so the camera can adjust the flash power to compensate the change in subject distance as you move about. Set Flash Exposure Compensation to Two Stops under (MINUS on the dial). Try that setting on some shots before any events and make any changes you think are required. There's a very good possibility the two stops under for the flash will work perfectly for what you want. It is certainly a good starting point. It is always a good idea to bounce the flash off any WHITE or SILVER reflective surfaces available to 'soften' the light from the flash unit. Doing that will not require any changes to these settings.
Good luck with your photo shoots.