My Dragonfly

Thanks for posting, Alison, so we can get a look at what you're looking at.

I've not used my 17-40mm in a loooong time for anything other than demos. I went from "believer" to neutal to "doubter" over the last two years. I find it to be a lens that does no one thing particularly well.

Having said that, let me say in defense of the lens that:

Your shooting angle is a tough one - for such a large subject oriented at an oblique angle like that, the DOF will cut through only a small section of the critter so much of the subject will look OOF
The lighting isn't favorable in bringing out the details that you seek. Although I'm not a flash fan, a little fill light would definitely have helped here.

You will find that one small extension tube (like a 20mm) on the 50mm will produce higher resolution images than that zoom. I know Bevb and a few others here use the 50mm with tubes to get exceptional images. But beware, your shooting distance is going to be incredibly short. In the field, I prefer to be two to three feet away - hence the use of my 300mm with tubes.

Poor little dragonfly - he has some massive damage on his lower right wing.