You might want to consider the Canon 17-40 F4L. It's wide; built like a battleship and sharp. Not quite as sharp as my EFS17-55 F2.8 but also not $900. And the color quality from the 17-40 is extraordinary. I didn't appreciate that quality when I had it but now that I've used other lenses and look back at the shots taken with the 17-40, I appreciate that there are things other than pure resolution when it comes to lens performance. You can get that lens at a very good price, used, from KEH www.keh.com.

Jim