Some of the L series are exceptional, but so are some of the 3rd party lenses.

Unfortunately good glass doesnt seem to be available cheaply.

cheapest lens canon make is also one of the sharpest

also very good for portraits

not so great for focusing, not great bokeh, does feel cheap, is easily damaged

but still, its the cheapest lens they do and you can take good pics with it.

Quote from: Eggtastico

I dont have cash for a nice L lense + I see all my pics tend to suffer from the same lackluster look.
Im not sure if this is down to my 400d camera or the lense (my lenses are the usual cheap junk lenses).

get a nifty fifty
shoot in RAW
get adobe lightroom

not so nifty

wow... that sucks, still.. could have just slapped it into MF and carried on

It was the focusing ring that was broke.
I got a 28mm 1.8 & a 35mm 2.4 zeiss flektagon, but now missing something as my only other lens is a 70-210mm.

I should point out that I broke the electric ribbon after seeing the cogs wasnt fixable.

I was thinking of doing something like this

http://www.tyleringram.com/blog/reverse-50mm-macro-trick-the-setup

or

http://blog.cow.mooh.org/2009/07/plungercam-2-cheaper-and-more.html