Rogers

I bought the cheap 24 mm f/2.8 prime lens and use it on my 77D. I turned on lens distortion compensation. I like the results.

hawleyrw Loc: Dayton, OH

Personally, having my 7D, I purchased ALL EF lenses other than what came with the camera - even the L series 100-400 I have now. I wanted the expandabiity that the EF line offered me when I up-purchased to a FF (which I have), running a 6D now.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

No, I would not.

For one, if it's below $300, it's probably in pretty bad shape. Typical selling price of that lens is closer to $400 at auction, $500+ used in stores.

The 17-35mm has been replaced... three times! Canon superseded it with a 16-35mm f/2.8L... and then a 16-35mm II.... and finally a 16-35mm f2.8L III! The last has the best image quality of them all. Significantly sharper in the corners and less chromatic aberration. It's also big, heavy and expensive.

The 17-35L is a nearly 20 year old lens from the days of film. I had one and it was fine on my film cameras:




But after I switched to digital crop sensor cameras in 2004, I sold it and replaced it with a wider lenses (Tokina 12-24mm and Canon 10-22mm).

In fact, Canon's EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is a much better choice for use on a 60D (or any other Canon crop sensor DSLR). It's got better image quality (just as good as the 16-35 III, without that lens' size, weight or cost ), a broader range of focal lengths PLUS image stabilization. It's not quite as well built or sealed as the Ls, but the 17-55mm is pretty darned good. It has typical Canon "mid grade" build quality.... much better than entry-level lenses like the EF-S 18-55s.

You can find a used EF-S 17-55mm for about the same price as a used 17-35L or 17-40L... and IMO it's an easy choice. For use on an APS-C camera like 60D, I'd opt for the 17-55mm any day!

Don't be bedazzled by the red ring and L-series designation. Some of them are great. Others... not so much... pretty good, but not great. And there are some great lenses that aren't Ls.

No matter how good it is, no EF-S lens will ever be designated an L-series... The reason being that Canon defines L-series as usable on all EOS cameras past, present and future. EF-S lenses cannot be used on full frame cameras, so none of them will ever be blessed with a red ring! But aside from being limited to use on crop cameras, the EF-S 17-55mm matches or beats any L-series ultrawide zoom and would easily qualify for the same status. (Canon EF-S 15-85mm and EF-S 10-22mm are two more that rival L-series quality, but don't have red rings due to their "crop only" status.)

dborengasser

Thanks Alan. I see you have a couple of macros. Which macros would you recommend?