Wow, that IS a drastic change Ed. You can always go back though. I understand where you're coming from though...there's always that balance that we try to get between quality and convenience. Until you try something out for yourself, you only have what someone else is saying and that's kinda hard to go on because you really can't translate that into deciding what might work for you.
Anyway, I just got back in the game and having been doing some intense research in the last few weeks and contemplating my future lens arsenal. What's clear to me is that I'm gonna be selling the 400mm fixed focus L lens to start the ball rolling to get wider angles. I'm with you in that wide angle shooting is something I need for the interests I have in shooting...also macro.
Question: Did the 17-40 do you are far as wide angle? I mean, do you find it to be wide enough for most landscape, cityscape, architechture and indoor shots? In addtion to the Canon 17-40, I'm considering the Tokina 12-24 f4.0, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 which are both highly rated, and the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 which also gets good marks. The latter two are fairly attractive because of the high marks plus the fast lens speed, since indoor shooting will be a high usage factor for this lens.
OTOH, I already have the 28-135, but that lens isn't as fast and isn't as wide. Since I also want to do high quality macro photography, I'm thinking that the 17-50, plus the 70-300 has my range covered, then a 100mm macro would have the macro covered. Sell the 400mm and the 28-135.
My biggest concern here though is that 17 may not be wide enough!
Thoughts?