I was worried about the weight and worried over the distortion when taking people shots... also taking into account the price difference, I've just asked a friend in Hong Kong to try and buy me a Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX lens. I hope the people in the forum at DP review knew what they were talking about when they said the Sigma was a good lens!

If he can't get it, I'll go the 17-40mm L option with the 50mm prime - which would be annoying weight-wise, but I'd love to have an excuse to buy those lenses :P

Cheers,
Rukh