Usefulness of 24-70 on a 1.6 camera

RickP66

I took a day trip to St Augustine with my family yesterday and as I didn't feel like hauling around my whole kit in that opressive heat and humidity, I stripped the battery grip from my 20D and took along one lens: my Sigma 24-70 f2.8.
I have no complaints about the lens itself---it's very sharp, with great colors.
But I kept finding myself thinking "Wish I had my wide angle right now," or "Wish I had my telephoto right now." And it made me wonder, just how useful is the 24-70 focal length on an APSC camera? Frankly, I think I would be better served in most situations with my 17-40 on the camera and my 70-200 handy in a carry case.
Anyone else have this sort of experience?

JamesJWeg

RickP66 wrote:

I took a day trip to St Augustine with my family yesterday and as I didn't feel like hauling around my whole kit in that opressive heat and humidity, I stripped the battery grip from my 20D and took along one lens: my Sigma 24-70 f2.8.
I have no complaints about the lens itself---it's very sharp, with great colors.
But I kept finding myself thinking "Wish I had my wide angle right now," or "Wish I had my telephoto right now." And it made me wonder, just how useful is the 24-70 focal length on an APSC camera? Frankly, I think I would be better served in most situations with my 17-40 on the camera and my 70-200 handy in a carry case.
Anyone else have this sort of experience?

That is why I never leave my bag behind anymore, I got tired of not having what I wanted. What lens is going to best work for you will depend 100% on your shooting style. My personal style means the longer the better, I'm known at the track events for shooting candids at 200MM, they never know I was around until they see the photo.

James.

pathfinder

The 24-70 normal range zoom, of course, originally was designed for a full frame 35mm camera body. And as 3-1 zoom, with a nice wide angle, it works pretty well in that capacity. On APS sensor sized cameras, it is more like a 35-105mm lens - should be nice as a people shooter and for general shooting. I keep a Tamron 28-75mm zoom on my 20D as my all purpose lens. But these normal range zooms are not really useful as wide angles nor will they replace real telephotos either. If I am not shooting birds or bugs or airplanes in flight, these normal range zooms live on my cameras.
On an APS sensor camera, Canon's 17-85 EFS IS might be an excellent choice for your purposes.
I prefer to carrry two camera bodies if possible - one 24-70, the other 70-200, with a 17-40 in reserve somewhere.

Poseidon

I find the 24-70 on my camera MOST of the time... Then the 70-200... Next on the list to BUY is the 16-35... But to answer the post, I find the 24-70 very useful!

Chase

Poseidon wrote:

I find the 24-70 on my camera MOST of the time... Then the 70-200... Next on the list to BUY is the 16-35... But to answer the post, I find the 24-70 very useful!

I like my sigma 24-70 immensely. I shot a camp for a week for charity (its for handicapped kids)and the 24-70 was on there 99% of the time. My 50 f1.8 came out one time when i needed some shots in a dark aquarium, and the 28-300 one time for some shots of kids going down rides at knotts berry farm. Of the probably 750 shots, 735 were with the 24-70.

Occasionally i wished for a little bit wider (would be nice if it was a 20 or so) and every so often a little bit longer for some good candid action (maybe an 80). LOts of people suggest the 17-85 IS, and while that would be a perfect focal length for me......i would miss the f2.8 too much. So cmon sigma.....come out with a 17-85 OS f2.8 and it will sell like hotcakes, even if it is just for APS or even 1.3 crop.