Marc,
I'm wondering if you've had the opportunity to use the 5d with a 17-40 lens and have any opionions on the quality of the capture you are getting. I've read reviews of people complaining about the lack of edge sharpness etc... but am curious if you or anyone owning this combination have a take on it.

Cris...

I have found the canon 17-40 lens to be adequate for what focal lengths it provides. Yes! certain other prime lenses are sharper, but I have found the flexibility to zoom from 17-40 mm far out ways the slight loss of sharpness while working in the field. I always try to evaluate technical critiques with actual user experience and when I consider sharpness especially in today’s digital world, the publishers who are actually purchasing the images and printing them are pleased with the files I have provided. In fact the files I have had published at double page spread from a cropped 1ds M11 files ( making it equivalent to the 5d file) look as good as what 4x5 used to look like published. Camera RAW does such a good job of removing the chromatic abortions now!
When the 5d arrived in the market we conducted a test comparing it with the 1ds M11 and the 17-40mm lens was used. What we found most interesting was that the resolution diff was less obvious than the mega pixel count would infer. The files were comparable, in fact the new chip in the 5d generated less noise in the solid colors.
Later, we tested 6 new canon 17-40mm lenses and found variations in sharpness as well as pincushion distortion! Even in the digital age there are imperfections.

Marc,
Thanks for the info, it looks like i'm gonna finally drop the dough and get into a 5d and just wanted to make sure that my trusty ol' 17-40 would make the transition with me. With all that width i'm sure i can afford to crop a bit and lose any soft edges that might be present.

Thanks again i'm looking forward to the upgrade.

Cris...