Your general purpose lens selection short list just got one lens longer. The Sigma 24-105mm f/4.0 DG OS HSM Art Lens, featuring great image quality, excellent build quality and optical stabilization, definitely deserves your consideration. This lens is a pleasure to use, it looks great and the results from it look even better. Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II USM (82mm plastic filter thread, 1.25 feet/0.38m close-focus, 28.4 oz./804g, $1,699 new or about $900 used if you know How to Win at eBay). enlarge . I got mine at Adorama , I'd also get it at Amazon , at B&H , at Crutchfield or used at eBay ( How to Win at eBay ). By f/2.8, the best lens is the newest lens, the 24-70mm f/2.8 L II. At f/4. All these lenses are equally super sharp. The only difference is that the f/1.0 L is less sharp in the last half a millimeter of the full frame corners. Adding the 28-105mm USM II to the comparison at 50mm at f/4, it's wide-open and much softer than the rest, all of 89agI.