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New Lens - 24-105 - awesome

Not too long ago, Canon introduced a new lens: the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. I've been lusting after this lens from the day I first heard about it. When I was shooting with my old Nikon F3, I would generally carry two lenses. A 24mm and a 105mm. Now, I can have them both in a single lens. Granted, my prime lenses were of the f/2.8 variety which would have been nice, but loosing one stop in light is worth it for keeping the lens a manageable size and weight. Last Saturday, I was shooting a wedding for some friends so I decided to finally break down and get the lens before the big day. From that experience, I think the lens is just about the perfect lens for wedding photography. On the wide side, a 28mm angle of view would have been just fine, but the 105mm is just right. I've always loved the perspective. It keeps enough of the background so you can figure out what's going on, but has a narrow enough depth of field to keep it from competing. Prior to getting this lens my main lens was a 28-70 f/28. And while I love having the extra stop of light for shooting bands (main venue where I shoot the lighting generally rings in at 1/15 - f/2.8 at ISO 800) the 70mm perspective just isn't telephoto enough for what I like. Of course, I could always switch over to the 80-200, but when running and gunning this is so much of a hassle that I wouldn't do it unless the shot really needed it. Now, I don't have to worry. This is my first Image Stabalization lens and I haven't really used it yet at all. Just turned it on for a couple of test shots. It was a little disorienting since it creates a bit of a disconnect between what you feel in the camera movement in your hands and what is going on in the viewfinder. I'm sure it'll be nice to have, but it'll probably take me a while to remember it's there. My only minor gripe is the fact that the lens hood is only effective at the wide end of the range. A nice thing about the 28-70 is that it moves to wide as the front is extended. This means that the hood works well the 70mm angle of view as well. Not a huge deal most of the time, but it would be nice if the 24-105 had similar working functionality. Bottom line. After one day of shooting with it, I'm very happy with the lens.