About to pull the trigger on a Tamron 17-50.. Did I miss something.

[JayPowHound]

We're about to have our second kid and it's time to upgrade the wife's kit lens for her Rebel XT.

We're looking for something wider than my 50 1.4 that's fast enough to take reliable hand held baby shots indoors without a flash. I considered another prime but she would much rather zoom with the camera than her feet, so....

My budget tops out at $500 and is much more comfortable around $400. I've done quite a bit of internet research and it seems like for that $$ and our needs the Tamron is the way to go, i just wanted to check in with the collective before i buy and make sure I haven't missed anything?

Looking at non VC version which is currently $425 at adorama....

[smmokan]

You can get them used for $300'ish...

[sklar]

non vc is supposedly sharper

[mag1882]

Yeah vc seems a lot sharper from what videos I've seen at 100% crop there's a huge difference, even with the IS if you were to stop down a bit you'd still have it softer than the non vc. I have the non vc and it's great, autofocus isn't exactly the fastest.

[Mathematics]

I have the non-VC & love it. That 17mm seems wayyy wider than your normal kit lens that starts at 18mm. $250-300 on FM pretty regularly...