What kind of Canon lens should I get for the work that I do?

I have the Rebel 300d and the 20d (and of course the lenses that came with the camera). I have the 50mm 1.4 ap but I need something with a zoom because I shoot portraits and weddings and just sometimes need to chase that child with my zoom instead of my legs because I do alot of outdoor shoots where I let the kids run around. I use my 50mm for studio pics and that works great. I LOVE the 1.4 ap although sometimes have problems with depth of field blur. I just would love a lens that isnt TOO expensive (<$500) but still has the low aperture. THANKS!

and I would only need the zoom to reach about 100 feet or so

Another person stated that 50 mm is not a good portrait lens. I think she may have not realized that Digital Rebel & 20 D is not a full frame DSLR, and with a 1.6 x crop factor, a 50 mm lens is equal to 80 mm.

To answer your question, if you are limited on what you would like to pay for a new lens, the 28-105 mm f 3.5-4.5 II USM should be very usable.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/contro...

Nikon f 1.4

I use a Quantaray AF 70-300 lens with my XTi for most zoom work. It's a good low-priced lens and can get pretty good expression shots from a nice distance. Best thing to do is just shop around. Most camera stores will allow you to try the lens out in the store if you bring your camera with.

50 mm is not a good portrait lens. When you do portraits you always want to use an 80mm lens or longer. A standard 50mm lens would force the photographer to get too close to the subject thus altering the perspective (a phenomenon known as "foreshortening"). If foreshortening occurs, the closer parts of the subject's face (the nose, the chin) would appear greater than they are, and the opposite would happen to the back of his or her head. Or, in case of a large group, the faces of the people in front would appear much greater than those on the back.

I also shoot weddings. I use a Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM for all of the posed/portrait shots and a cheaper Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM AutoFocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom Lens for the candid shots when I may need the option to zoom, because I just can't get there.

Sicne these are digitals and your lenses say 50, that would equate to about 80 or so on a 35mm format. I would shoot still a longer lens than that for my portraits, usually a 105mm or 135mm in the 35mm format.

Everything in photography depends on the quality of the lens and I would equate a Quantaray with a coke bottle.

Canon Lenses and Reviews
I particularly recommend the first reference:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon...
(See "Recommendations" on this page)
http://www.photo.net/canon/#lense
http://www.wlcastleman.com/equip/reviews...
http://www.photozone.de/active/news/inde...
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/ind...
http://www.fredmiranda.com
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum....