I am looking at buying a new lens and I need some advice... It seems like everyone uses a 70-200 of some sort, and I want to know if this is really necessary. I've been borrowing a lens that goes to 200 for a while now and I have noticed that I hardly ever go past 110 on it, so I was thinking that maybe the canon 24-105L would be more useful for me. That being said, I don't want to buy the lens and find out later that I really needed that 100-200 range.

At this point I've read so many reviews that my head is swimming...I have no idea what I should buy! What would you recommend?

The first time you're stuck at the back of a church that you're not allowed to move around in you'll really want something that goes that far

If you are into unubtrusive (i dont even know how to spell that) wedding photography, then I think this lens is a must. As Melody said it will save your life one day

if you have the money why not. Plus the 70- 200 is a rock'n lense. I would get it. Oh and it will save you!!

If you don't go past 110mm regularly, then I don't see why you'd need the big heavy zoom. There's no sense in carrying a big heavy zoom if you're not going to use the full zoom range. Go for the 24-105mm. And for the times that you're stuck in the balcony, rent or buy a 200mm or 300mm prime lens.

I think for now I'm going to go with the shorter lens and save the 70-200 for another day. I definitely agree about it being necessary from the back of the church so I guess I'll be renting for a while. Once I've saved up some more money it will be next on the list. Thanks for all the advice!

Absolutly!

I was so glad I bought one.. the next wedding after I did I was stuck in the balcony of this church. Ugh!

The 80-200 Saved the day.

Greg

Ive got to say, the 70-200 IS L is the sw. It just makes your images sweetest piece of glass I have ever shot with. It makes your images just sing!

I'd second Andy on the 70-200 being an incredible piece of art! It'll make a huge difference in the quality of images, and when you see the difference in quality between a cheaper 200mm zoom and this one, you'll know!

That said, it really all does come down to style of shooting. Someone around here was talking about shooting almost the whole day with his 50 or 85 and really liking it. I'd say the biggest thing is getting fast, L glass!!!

I so agree about not spending money just to spend money. Photography is not a cheap business but we tend to spend money on things that are not necessary.

That said, I believe Matt Antonio posted a link to something that provides statistics on your lens usage is. This would indeed confirm what you are comfortable shooting. Oh look at that - I said comfortable shooting... Don't forget sometimes our best work comes from getting out of our comfort zone.

I think a good way to do that is rent something you wouldn’t normally use. The people that make that the easiest from what I can tell is:

http://www.lensprotogo.com


That is my 5 cents...
-bill

You would have to pry my 70-200 out of my dead hands. Seriously it is in my hands or on my shoulder all day long until the last 2 hours of dancing at the reception. Love the images you get from it. And when stuck at the back of a church, it's a life saver. I throw a 1.4 converter on mine, get an f 4.0, bump the ISO and get some sweet tight shots, even from the back.

So while you might not think you would use it, i bet you would if you could see what you could do with it. But renting it is a great option. I think that company above gives you like a week with your rental, so you could get it by like a wednesday, and test it out some before a wedding, just to see what i can do.

Bottom line, you have to pay a good amount of money to get the right gear. You might wanna take a look at the 135 F2.0L. It gets passed up for the 70-200 2.8IS,but if you want a light lens with reach, check it out!