Buying lenses, do you listen to your heart or your head?

[bratkinson]

I go with my heart, and what makes sense to my wallet.

That said, I recently sold my EF-S 18-135 and EF-S 55-250 for my first 'round' of "L"s. 16-35, 24-105 and 135. After seeing the difference in pictures, I know I made the right decision. But, I still miss the great walk-around range of the 18-135. And yes, I do not see a full-frame body in my future. The new 60D is quite sufficient for this amateur.

Oh, I almost forgot...no wifey to make decisions for me like trips to Paris...

 

[Cbadie]

Man...my head is currently trying to figure out why my heart can't make a decision.
Hi - new to the forum here and find it quite informative! I currently have a 30d and looking at either the 15-85 or the 24-105L. My current lineup is a Tokina 12-24 and a Canon 70-200L. Most of my photos are landscape or cityscape, don't really do any portraits.

www.photo.net/photos/clarkbadie

If I get the 15-85 then my 12-24 basically becomes obsolete. Future trade in for a 50/1.4 perhaps.
If I get the 24-105 then I have the future option of going FF, although I don't see the need for that really.
Optically I suspect both are nearly the same..the reviews and user opinions reinforce that. Both have IS which I do value.

My head 15-85 as I think in the end it would suit me just fine on both wide and narrow...and the future looksmbright for a prime....and for an upcoming trip to Italy would be a great walk around. Less lens changes although I am kind of used to that already.
My heart says 24-105 because it's a L glass...I already have one and really like it.....and I like my 12-24.

.....or is it the other way around?

I know you aren't asking for advice, but I'm giving it anyway. If you don't see full frame in your future (realistically, I don't see it in mine), by all means go with the 15-85 mm. It's exceptionally sharp and quite solid. It's a great walk-around lens, covering an equivalent of 24-135mm. It's on my 7D about 90% of the time. Yes, I wish it were faster, but for travel you can't beat it.

Thanks! Using my head - I looked back at my exif data, where I took a bunch of shots on a trip, just to see where I am (normally) wide....
For a city scape, or pics in a city, about 40% of my shots were wide angle, 30% ultra wide (<15mm)
For a combined landscape and city scape, its about 33% and 22% respectively
For a landscape set its around 25% and 15% respectively

Point being is that I do like to shoot wide, and when I do a fair amount of the time it is actually wider than 15mm. Would I miss my Tokina? Hard to say but this tends to favor the 24-105, or at least hurts my theory that I would likely sell/trade in the Tokina.