I ended up getting the 24-70 f/2.8 for it's speed. With a toddler and a newborn it can be hard to get them to keep still so the IS wouldn't always help.
I've had it since January, and it has served me well. I think the reviews are quite accurate in that both lenses are great walk around lenses and they have their respective abilities. Knowing they are both high quality lenses I just had to decide whether I wanted an aperature of 2.8 or 4w/IS. I had a 17-40 f/4L which for the price is an outstanding lens but I found it not fast enough for taking pictures of the kids indoors (they move too fast
unk03
. The extra zoom wasn't too big of a deal for me, I'll probably get the 70-200f/4L IS someday. I had a 70-200f/4L that really kicked ass and with the addition of IS it should put it over the top for me, w/o breaking the bank ($$70-200 f/2.8IS$$). With that, I went for the 2.8
Prior to finding that site it was hard to find good thorough real world reviews AND comparisons. I came up with a few fare reviews but no one site had as many product reviews as
www.the-digital-picture.com He also has plenty of sample photos with plenty of specs.
side note: I haven't been camping since the trophy, I'm going crazy :littlefriend:
I need to get out and take some pictures with this thing, I know I haven't used it to its full potential.