I also use it in my street photography as it allows me to get real close and avoid including unwanted subjects in my shots

But with this lens, I get a blurry subject and sharp background

The AF is fast and quiet, with on demand manual focus override for those times where AF doesn't select the proper subject.

It managed to find focus in about half a second in a room that was darker than I have ever been able to focus in by ambient light, on a dark subject.

I also found the 24-70 to be better at macro photography as it can blow the subject up larger and seems sharper at very closes ranges.

I have found, personally, that the auto focus is incredibly slow and often back focuses (focuses on the background and not the subject)

A few test portraits turned out very well, sharp subject, blurred background at f/2.8.

It's just so big and heavy - it makes it impractical to lug around for casual photography and it intimidates my subjects.

Started to notice on anything off of 70mm (60mm-24mm), my subjects seemed blurry and out of focus.

L Lens looks like it ate my EF-S 17-85mm.

I like the versatility of my EF-S 17-85, but not happy with the ave colors or medium contrast or low end distortions

Spend the extra $80-100 (or more) and get a nice B+W UV filter

I put it on my camera and drained the battery in a hour b/c i could not stop shooting random things around the house.

, I think the nod goes to the 24-70.Next, the extra reach (to 105mm on a full frame or 168mm equivalent on an APS-C like the 40D, 50D, Rebels).