I recently acquired a Canon t3i with the stock lens. I would like to buy a good "all around lens" in addition to the one that came with it. I don't have specific limits on what I want to photograph (still leaning everything) so right now I am limiting (tongue in cheek) to portraits, nature, wildlife, flowers, insects and landscape. Money is an object but I don't want to buy junk so I will save as needed - just want the best for my buck.

And what is a Macro-zoom? Does it work well?

Thanks for all the help - this is a great forum.

Oh boy, my Blood Pressure shot up before my first cup of coffee over this one. The main thing no one has addressed is the fact that as a person present at a crime scene/Incident, your personal safety also becomes the responsibility of the Officers at the scene - which diverts attention and impacts their safety, as well as anyone else at that location. Another factor is that a photo or video can be skewed to favor the bad guys and could in fact cause a violent criminal to be released and become a danger to society. I'll give you an example. My last fight as a law enforcement officer was with a woman. It became a struggle for survival for me - not just an arrest. She had assaulted another person and tried to assault me. As she drew back her fists to strike me I reacted and grabbed her by the neck and pinned her against a wall. (now imagine a photo of me grabbing her by the neck - it would not have shown her trying to hit me - it would have shown this mean old policeman grabbing a woman) As the fight progressed she actually made attempts to pull my gun from my holster and use it on me in a crowded eating establishment. This woman out weighed me by about 100 pounds, I had had extensive cancer surgery a few months before and still had weakness. The woman was a mental case, and had extremely high strength levels. As much as the public wants to be in on the action - they have no business there. Their safety and the safety of the officers and others present, as well as the suspects, is in danger. Most "photo Journalists" do not have training and experience in law enforcement and may not understand why and what we are doing. We don't get paid to lose fights or get hurt. There is an old axiom in law enforcement - If you are fighting fair, then you aren't fighting to survive. In 38 years I was shot at and missed, shot at and hit, stabbed, beat up, sent to the hospital after being rammed by a stolen auto - looked down the gun barrels of bad guys guns - but I survived.