I’ve been curious to try out some other lenses and different ranges for my Rebel Xt. The problem is that unless you have a friend that owns one of these, its unlikely a store is going to let you wander around with hundreds of dollars worth of product for a few days. And that is assuming they even stock the lens. Rentglass to the rescue. For $50 I had access to a Canon 10-22mm lens for a week (shipping included), and had a good experience with the service. However, there are some difficulties. The biggest is that it is only on a first come first serve basis, so it would be next to impossible to rent a lens for a specific event. The other issue is that almost everything is out of stock, they seem to be a victim of their own success. It still seems like a great way to try out a lens before you drop some cash one one. While I didn’t get to try it quite as much as I would have liked, I enjoyed using a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. It gave me a lot to think about with regards to replacing the wide end of my range. The one thing I learned is that I don’t seem to rely as much on image stabilization as I had thought. I took quite a few photos in low light without really missing the benefits of IS. However, I think that is more of an indication that my current 17-85mm IS just does a really poor job at grabbing available light. While I don’t hate my Canon EF-S 17-85MM f4-5.6 IS USM, there are things I’d like to change about it. It could be sharper, and it definitely could be faster, and yes, I’m jealous of the Nikon DX VR 18-200. I’m not exactly sure what the remedy is. The EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is supposed to be an amazing lens, but at $1039.95, I’ll be saving my pennies for a while. It is also bigger, heavier, and I end up loosing range on the tele end. Perhaps the new Sigma 18-200 mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS lens will be a decent fit? Ultimately I don’t want to have a bag of lenses, I just wish Canon would make a decent competitor to the Nikon 18-200. A good 15-120? I’d jump on that.
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