70-200 2.8 ISii OR Macbook pro...

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OK so this is a hard one for me. I am debating whether to get a Canon 70-200 F2.8 ISii OR a new top spec Macbook pro.

Now obviously I understand this is as unrelated as saying I dont know whether to buy a car or watch CSI tonight, BUT I do see both of them as a goodinvestment for my business so which would you choose, given the money. I should add however I do already have the 70-200 f4 IS so this may well influence the decision somewhat.

This isnt a Mac vs PC thread either so please refrain on that front, unless of course you have some seriously constructive comment on this front.

Id also welcome any further recommendations should you think of something that would be equally useful to me. For information I do commercial, portrait, editorial and sometimes fashion photography if I can get it...

Thanks in advance! :thumbs:
 
What computer do you already have?

Do you really need the f2.8?

Do you use your 70-200mm often enough to consider the investment?

How much is the MBP? and the 70-200mm? have you got a budget?

I would look at possibly a 70-200mm second hand and then a cheaper PC computer with same or better spec, not trying to turn this into a MAC vs PC debate like you say but I'm just saying that I'd go for a PC to save cash and get a 70-200mm :)
 
Personally I'd want as faster lens as possible, purely for the shallow DOF, but only you can decide if you need that. Assuming you already have a computer of some sort, I'd get the lens, at the end of the day, what computer you use will make little difference to your portfolio, the lens will, IMHO :)
 
70-200 II

It will not depreciate like a laptop, get the glass you make your money with that,
 
Buy the 2.8 and my MacBook Pro and kill two birds with one less expensive stone :naughty:
 
Thanks for the responses guys, I am tending to agree with you to be honest as the lens will loose a lot less money than the laptop.

Out of curiosity what is the spec of the laptop you have for sale?

To answer the other questions - I do have a relatively new laptop but figure working with a mac might be better (public opinion maybe?). I Will definitely find the lens useful, that is without doubt.

Thanks again all :thumbs:
 
a computer is a computer, it works, does what you need it to do? Then don't change til you have to as you are throwing away money. 2004 Mk 1 70-200 f2.8 are around a grand second hand, how much would you get for a 2004 laptop?

Lens will devalue a lot less and you can sell your f4IS for some of the cash towards it. It's a no brainer.
 
I say buy the F4 IS version and the rest off the cash should buy you a mac
 
Both. Sell your 70-200mm F4 for around £700. Buy the 13" MBP for £800 and get a good deal on the MK II. Sorted ;)
 
Depends on which makes you more money so you can buy the other as well :-)
 
Do you need top spec macbook pro? Would a simple 15" mbp do OK? I don't expect much difference for photo editing, as even my 3-year old one does the job, as long as backup and index service isn't allowed to see a few temp folders. 8GB of RAM would be very desirable, and solid state drive may be a bonus, but not really necessary.

When it comes to 70-200, do you NEED f/2.8 and IS? The whole line up is extremely sharp wide open, so there MIGHT be a good saving down there. So you could really walk out with both.
 
I thought my 3 year old MBP did the job, that was until I am now using my i7 speed monster. Absolutely everything is instant in Aperture, if anything I wonder at times whether it did what I asked it to do as I never see 'processing ()' :-)

Nobody NEEDS any of this stuff ofcourse ;-)
 
Went through the same thing myself recently and went for the computer.
Working with lightroom/Photoshop is now so much better.I went form a dual core machine to a i7 2600K overclocked to 4.8 machine.The difference is significant.
I spend a lot more time sitting at the computer that I ever would with the 70-200 sitting on the camera.That was the basis of my decision.

Cheers
Gary
 
what's a macbook pro?

it's got to be the 70-200 2.8. i have the non is version of this lens and it's my most flexible, most used lenses. on a 5d2 it's an incredibly useful focal length to have in a single lens.

if you do portraits/photographs of children etc, you'll find this is the lens you turn to the most.

as far as the macbook goes, nearly every piece of decent software you're going to need is either available on both mac and windows or there is an equally strong alternative.

for me, the adobe lightroom + photoshop workflow is excellent. very well integrated and i can get through a batch of photos very quickly, and as others have said... with the apple mac you're really just paying for the brand. some people egg their knickers over apple products but i've always though they were a bit meh.
 
It is quite an interesting one, lots of people saying which will depreciate faster and also one option will let you sell a lens (would you sell your current laptop?)

I think the question should be, which of the two will earn its keep back faster than the other over the versions you already have. Take into account depreciation as a cost and time as an expense.

So the new laptop will maybe save you 5mins a day and a bit of stress but will cost more to run.
New lens will... Improve your portfolio increasing your day rate? (dunno what shooting you do)

The other point is £2k on a laptop is a huge amount in 2011, not sure how often apple update them but i'm sure in 12 months that same spec will be almost half that
/me looks at the apple store
Okay, maybe not half, geez those are expensive!
 
Call me a fanboy if you like, but Apple computers are just so much easier to work with, however it is just a computer and it can't do what the 70-200 f2.8 IS USM can do. Also, like other's have said, it won't de-value as rapidly.
I have just gone out and bought a 70-200 f2.8 and it has blown my mind. It bears a hefty price tag, but it is well worth it. For me, it is a lens for life. From a business point of view it should be regarded as a worthy investment.

It's difficult to compare PC and Mac hardware because they are essentially the same nowadays, it's just the Mac OS that blows the others away. If your current computer is really struggling then you can buy a good PC for much less money, sure the OS will be a bit of a letdown, but it will certainly do what you need it to do.
 
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As much as I like my mac I think the lens is more important if you haven't already got one.

You will get the same results with your images on a pc, the mac can probably wait.
 
Kibi said:
Call me a fanboy if you like,
Click to expand...
Fanboy... :p


Kibi said:
it's just the Mac OS that blows the others away. If your current computer is really struggling then you can buy a good PC for much less money, sure the OS will be a bit of a letdown, but it will certainly do what you need it to do.
Click to expand...
Have you used Win 7???? I have to say, as a confirmed computer geek (I run Linux on as many boxes as I run Windows and we have more than a few PCs here) I hated OSX with a passion when I tried it, but then I'm used to the way Windows works. Just goes to show it's what you're used to rather than the underlying capabilities. As UIs (which is what people see) they are as good as each other once you get to know them. Full stop. Period. End of.

Up to you if you want to pay the extra "brand value" tax, but shame on you for claiming one is better than the other (especially as the apps we use as photographers are the same on both).
 
Nah, you can't use Aperture nor Apple Media Browser :-P
 
arad85 said:
Fanboy... :p


Have you used Win 7???? I have to say, as a confirmed computer geek (I run Linux on as many boxes as I run Windows and we have more than a few PCs here) I hated OSX with a passion when I tried it, but then I'm used to the way Windows works. Just goes to show it's what you're used to rather than the underlying capabilities. As UIs (which is what people see) they are as good as each other once you get to know them. Full stop. Period. End of.

Up to you if you want to pay the extra "brand value" tax, but shame on you for claiming one is better than the other (especially as the apps we use as photographers are the same on both).
Click to expand...

Strange how you haven't quoted the rest of my post, you picked out the fourth word and added a silly face. I think my entire post was relevant to the OP's question.
I use Windows (XP/7 or whatever it's called these days) at work only because I have to. I my own time I use OSX and on my PC based computers I use Ubuntu. My server's and my router run BSD.

Anyway's back on topic, I think that between a Mac and a 70-200 f2.8 IS, the lens wins.
 
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It is amazing how much leans hold on to their value. A few year old Nikon 70-200 VRs for example still get around £1k so with the Canon you won't lose much and plus they won't be like Apple dishing out a new model every few months lol
 
God said:
Now obviously I understand this is as unrelated as saying I dont know whether to buy a car or watch CSI tonight
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FWIW, a few years back I had a similar choice to make between buying a 70-200 f/2.8L IS (Mk 1) and a VW Corrado G60 to replace my Mk2 Scirocco Scala.

The lens won. :)
 
God said:
OK so this is a hard one for me. I am debating whether to get a Canon 70-200 F2.8 ISii OR a new top spec Macbook pro.

Now obviously I understand this is as unrelated as saying I dont know whether to buy a car or watch CSI tonight, BUT I do see both of them as a goodinvestment for my business so which would you choose, given the money. I should add however I do already have the 70-200 f4 IS so this may well influence the decision somewhat.

This isnt a Mac vs PC thread either so please refrain on that front, unless of course you have some seriously constructive comment on this front.

Id also welcome any further recommendations should you think of something that would be equally useful to me. For information I do commercial, portrait, editorial and sometimes fashion photography if I can get it...

Thanks in advance! :thumbs:
Click to expand...

A top spec MAC or PC is not an investment. Yes no one wants to wait 20mins for a machine to boot and struggle to load/process files in camera raw/ps but there's no point in spending a huge whack on something that will essentially be obsolete in 6months and offers very little performance difference to something that you either already have or could get for half the price.

The lens is only an investment if you're going to benefit from what it offers although I've used the Canon and despite it being white thought it was pretty special so maybe worth having just to have it but a macbook just to have it?:nono:;)
 
arad85 said:
Fanboy... :p

Have you used Win 7???? I have to say, as a confirmed computer geek (I run Linux on as many boxes as I run Windows and we have more than a few PCs here) I hated OSX with a passion when I tried it, but then I'm used to the way Windows works. Just goes to show it's what you're used to rather than the underlying capabilities. As UIs (which is what people see) they are as good as each other once you get to know them. Full stop. Period. End of.

Up to you if you want to pay the extra "brand value" tax, but shame on you for claiming one is better than the other (especially as the apps we use as photographers are the same on both).
Click to expand...


I've used both Windows 7 and mac OSX running CS5 and lightroom on both. Now I agree there is little difference running either of those apps on either platform but that's not where I think the Mac has an advantage. It's in all the little things that just add up to save me lots of time and messing about.

For example time machine comes as part of the mac OS, plug in an external drive and it asks if you want to use it as your time machine, click yes and choose how often you want things backed up and away it goes. I know you can set up a PC do do something similar but its just so easy on a mac. And say I want to take a screen capture, the built in app let's me choose a window, the whole screen or drag a selection, then save as a jpg wherever I want.

If I want to save an online streaming video, I open the activity window and double click the movie that's running, the video is save to my download folder and I can watch it whenever I like without converting the file type or making sure I have the .flv codecc etc. Now I know all this can be done with a PC gunning Windows, but it isn't as elegant straight out of the box, I need to find work around for so much of this stuff.

Also a mac book will run with the lid closed and an external monitor plugged in and wireless keyboard and mouse etc. Very handy if you use your laptop as a desktop machine sometimes.

I could go on and on but your not just paying a little extra for the brand, you also get software like imovie which is all some people will need for video/slideshow editing. Don't even get me started on how nice is is to view raw files straight out of the camera as thumbnails in folder views or even large previews up to full screen and then there's the convenience of the all in one imac which frees up so much space. and reduces clutter.

My girlfriend had never used a mac before I switched back to them when I got an imac a few months ago, she just ordered her own. Like I said I still have a PC laptop with Windows 7, I know there's ways to do pretty well everything I can do on a Mac on a PC, but I would swap it for a macbook pro in a heartbeat if someone offered. Lifes too short and there's too many photos to take for me to be wrangling with a computer if I have a choice. Just my opinion though, and if I had to choose between a lens and a mac the lens would still win because I need the images more than convenience.
 
Musicman said:
FWIW, a few years back I had a similar choice to make between buying a 70-200 f/2.8L IS (Mk 1) and a VW Corrado G60 to replace my Mk2 Scirocco Scala.

The lens won. :)
Click to expand...

Wonder if that was the wisest decision, I saw someone trying to flog a clean g60 for £8k the other day. No idea if he'd get that or not but its a rare desirable car. Either way i think it'd hold its value more than a macbook :D
 
There have been some really good points here thanks guys, something to really think on. Though it was destined to turn into a pc vs mac thread wasn't it... Lol

A couple of people have mentioned getting the 2.8 IS 1 instead of 2, has anyone had any experience of 1 or both ideally?

Though now thinking I should sack off both and get a g60 :lol:
 
God said:
There have been some really good points here thanks guys, something to really think on. Though it was destined to turn into a pc vs mac thread wasn't it... Lol

A couple of people have mentioned getting the 2.8 IS 1 instead of 2, has anyone had any experience of 1 or both ideally?

Though now thinking I should sack off both and get a g60 :lol:
Click to expand...

I have a Mk1 that I really love. I'm also in the Uxbridge area, so if you want to have a play, drop me a PM

Steve
 
+1 for the 70-200. one thing be clear that photo gear decrease their price not as quick as IT gear :D
 
I agree go for the 70-200 mk2! It's an excellent investment and Won't depreciate over time. It all depends on what you need most!
 
Why do you feel you need the lens? What is holding you back with the lens you have now? Same question with the computer?
 
I had a similar predicament a few months back...

My kit consisted of:
Canon 400D, 18-55mm, 50mm f1.8, 70-200mm f4L and a beefy Dell desktop for working on the images.

I was torn between a Canon 7D + tamron 17-50mm f2.8 -OR- macbook pro 15". Very similar money, give or take a few bob.
7D and decent lens for more close-up sports work over the summer? Video abilities? Additional fps for the sports? Better AF, less missed shots?
Macbook pro for the awesomeness? Portability over my desktop? Finally leaving Windows Vista (as runs on my desktop)? Fulfilling the desire of wanting one?

In the end, I went with the 7D and 17-50 f2.8!
My reasoning was actually quite simple - it's coming up to summer, I aim to be outside a lot more. I've wanted a 7D for ages, ever since it was announced. My desktop is very capable, and still runs relatively smoothly *touch wood*. As nice as the macbook would have been, I'd still be using a camera with close-up lens which I was 'outgrowing' quite quickly. And I wouldn't have been able to make the video below!

http://vimeo.com/23559498


The macbook pro is next on my shopping list!
 
Craikeybaby said:
Why do you feel you need the lens? What is holding you back with the lens you have now? Same question with the computer?
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This is the question I should be asking myself... although we all know its a case of want, not need... lol

I think the lens it is. That being said, I am seriously contemplating being complacent with what I have and to continue saving for a 1ds3... :bang: Kill me now people. Kill me now.
 
Easy, sell me the 70-200 F4 is, and get yourself a new 2.8 mk2. Also, if the Mac is for photo processing, seriously conceder an iMac, an older 27" i3 or i5 would be much quicker than an iBook and the screens are to just die for, with the change get yourself an iPad for the mobile stuff.
 
Lostgear said:
Easy, sell me the 70-200 F4 is, and get yourself a new 2.8 mk2. Also, if the Mac is for photo processing, seriously conceder an iMac, an older 27" i3 or i5 would be much quicker than an iBook and the screens are to just die for, with the change get yourself an iPad for the mobile stuff.
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Its not a bad idea, the reason im sticking to laptops though is due to space - 1 bedroom flat + copious amounts of camera gear + girlfriend and her clothes = no room to fart without blowing dust onto a sensor...

Right people, bidding on the 70-200 F4 IS people - bidding starting at £1700 :whistling:
 
Jelster said:
I have a Mk1 that I really love. I'm also in the Uxbridge area, so if you want to have a play, drop me a PM

Steve
Click to expand...

I'll be back down in Ruislip this weekend, so if you wanna try a MkII as a comparison to the MkI, drop me a PM too.
 
Jelster said:
I have a Mk1 that I really love. I'm also in the Uxbridge area, so if you want to have a play, drop me a PM

Steve
Click to expand...

Kibi said:
I'll be back down in Ruislip this weekend, so if you wanna try a MkII as a comparison to the MkI, drop me a PM too.
Click to expand...

Just seen these, Guys that is really kind of you! I may well take you up on those offers - I will drop you a PM closer the time and buy you an extra large pint for your troubles ;)

As well, if either you fancy going out for a shoot of the local area one day give me a shout, im always up for discovering more of where I have lived for 28 years... lol
 
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