Hi,

I've been using a Digital Rebel (300D) for a few years now. I've been
shooting with the 18-55 kit lens, and I've augmented that with the
75-300 IS and the famous 50/1.8. I'm happy with the 75-300 for now
(extremely slow focus notwithstanding), but am considering upgrading
at the wide/normal side of things. I do all sorts of photography,
ranging from family functions (parties etc) and amateur sports to
landscape, architecture, and close-up. I got the 75-300 IS for
backyard wildlife and little-league sports, and I got the 50/1.8 for
indoor low-light work. I'm now looking to improve my general-purpose
walking-around lens.

I absolutely love the 50/1.8, both for its speed and the quality of
the pictures. I'm not sure what exactly it is, but when I compare the
18-55 with the 50, there's no contest -- pictures off the 50mm are
just -better-. I use this lens a lot, but often want something a
little wider. (In particular, I use the 50mm to do available-light
photography, but in a living room or similar situation, it's often too
narrow.)

So, I've been considering:
- the 17-85 IS EF-S
- a 24/28/35mm prime
- the 17-40 f4.0L

...but, especially among the primes, I don't know if these lenses will
give me the same quality of images that the 50mm does (well, I assume
the 17-40 L will).

Of course, the zooms don't have the same speed that the primes do. I
could be talked into something like the 17-55 f2.8 IS EF-S or the
24-70 f2.8L, but I'd have to know that the image quality was worth the
extra cash.

My price range is malleable, but for the primes I'd be uncomfortable
spending more than ~$400CAD, and for the zooms anything over ~$1000CAD
gives me pause (but is not out of the question).

So, if anyone has comments on these lenses, or suggestions for
something that I haven't yet considered (I've only looked at Canon
lenses -- maybe there's something 3rd-party I should look at?), I'd
love to hear!

Thanks,
- Darryl