Get the 24-85 F3.5-4.5 lens instead of the 28-135IS.

It's sharper, lighter, and more contrasty (all good things), and is compact enough to still permit use of the built-in camera flash. The 28-135 partially blocks the flash, and just isn't as good overall.

I have the 28-135, and wish I'd gotten the 24-85 instead for my "small" lens.

My main lenses are the standard L series zoom trio: 16-35, 24-70, 70-200-IS, all with constant F2.8 maximum aperatures. But those are all big and heavy, and definitely block the built-in flash.

Thanks for that. I have to admit I hadn't even considered the 24-85 as a possibility.

All the L lenses are definitely out of my range at the moment and I think they would be wasted on me anyway. This is my first SLR so I have got a lot of learning to do.

Whatever I get needs to cover at least the same focal length that my Olympus covered, which is 36-110mm (35mm equivalent). With the 1.6x multiplier on the 10D that means 22.5-69mm.

So I think I need to get a zoom to cover the majority of the range. I think I also need to buy a wide angle prime to cover the bottom end, as with the 1.6x multiplier none of the affordable zooms go low enough. I would like to get a 20mm f2.8 USM, but I'm not sure whether I can afford it at the moment, especially at the rip-off prices they are sold at here in the UK (I'm thinking about buying the wide angle in the US later).

Much of my photography (excluding snapshots) is of buildings and landscapes (with the odd macro shot). I don't really go in for portraits and I am never going to use it in a studio. I tend to spend most of my time at the extremes of the zoom on my Olympus and am often frustrated that it doesn't go far enough in either direction. Am I thinking about the right sort of range of lenses ?

Despite what you say about the about the 28-135IS I am still tempted by it. I very rarely do any flash photography and I'm not worried about the extra weight. How much sharper/more contrastly is the 24-85 ? The first big thing that I am going to be doing after getting this new kit is going off to Seattle for three weeks on holiday so I like the idea of having the IS to bail me out of some of the ham-fisted efforts I am likely to make when using my first SLR.

Perhaps I'm putting too much faith in technology ;-)

I'm off to Seattle on June 23rd, but I doubt whether I'll be able to get the camera until sometime in May, as I haven't joined the end of the pre-order queue yet (and Canon UK have yet to ship any 10D stock).