Canon vs. Sigma vs. Tamron

I'm looking into buying a EOS 30D for my wife and some of the bundles (E-Bay) come with the off brand lenses. Should I steer clear of the off brands? I keep hearing good things about the 70-200 f2.8 but I'm not sure if she needs something that nice. What's the difference between the f2.8 and the f4? Any info. is appreciated.

bigger better glass. Better in lower light. The "off" brands are average usable. Better than any point and shoot.

Sigma 70-200 f2.8 is considered a very good lens as is the Tamron 28-75 f2.8. There are nuggets in the off brands. For any of the lenses you're considering ck this site:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

If a lens isn't reviewed there (and most of the really cheap ones aren't) I wouldn't even consider it.

It's expensive no matter what brand to get that extra stop especially going from f4 down to f2.8.

The 30D is a great body you'll need to invest in some reasonably good glass to go along with it.

Thanks for the info. guys.

This is what I ended up getting. Any positives or negatives are appreciated. Thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=018&item=280013670331&rd =1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Look at all that stuff!.

The Canon 18-55 kit lenses are OK depending on whether or not you get a good copy. I got one with the 20D I had but never used it much. It was OK stopped down but the AF was SLOOOOOW. But a lot of people like them for a sub $100 lens.

The 2 sigmas you'll just have to try but I wouldn't hold out much hope. Without HSM I think the AF will drive you batty and you'll probably have to stop down to at least f8 to get even remotely decent IQ. You may get lucky with one of those though, occasionally someone gets a good copy where the lenses are aligned right.

Check your burst rate with that 2gb CF card. Those work fine for a shot-at-a-time but can affect the overall burst rate. One of the features the 30D has over the 20D is an improved burst rate but the card write speed does affect that. I only use Sandisk Extreme II or III's. My std CF cards seem to choke off the burst rate somewhat on the bodies I've had. Based on the picture that is either a Sandisk basic card or a clone (it's funny that Sandisk carrds are actually being copied these days)

Let us know when you pop for a Canon 70-200f4L or a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 (I'm betting it won't be too long!)

Thanks Rich,
You're probably right on new glass in the future.