Some general advice

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The_old_man

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Well its time for me to upgrade my 300d for somthing new. I intend on spending some money that will be available only once so upgrades after this are difficult.

The choice was the 1d or 5d. I have selected the 5D as the amount of sport photography I do is very minimal. More portrait and landscape.

What I would like advice on is what lenses and accessories? Budget for these is about £2500 plus a bit if pushed.

Is the 70-200 f2.8 with a 2x a better choice than 2 seperate lenses of f4 ? I already have a sigma 24-70 dg ex macro that I like a lot so that range is covered. I also have a 550EX flash.

Comments please? good or bad

Thanks

Steve
 
Good choice of camera, the 5D and I'd go for the 70-200 f/2.8 and a x2 converter as it's a more flexible choice. You will appreciate the extra stop, believe me.
 
You've probably made the right choice in the 5D given your favourite subject types. You'll need to choose your lenses carefully as full frame sensors exploit every weakness of a lens. Generally speaking mediocre performers will just produce even worse results on a full frame sensor. Buy the best glass you can afford to really reap the potential of that large sensor.

I might be inclined towards two good prime lenses if ultimate image quality is your aim, although there's no denying the convenience of a zoom, but you'll need to be careful in your choices. A good example is my 100-400L which is a crisp performer on a crop sensor camera, but apparently doesn't perform well on a full frame sensor.

The 70-200 f2.8 is a cracking lens and it's extra speed would be an obvious advantage at times, but having no experience of the lens I'll leave it to someone else to comment on it's suitability for you. :)
 
CT has made a valuable point in that "you'll need to choose your lenses carefully" as I found out to my cost. I upgraded from a 350D to the 5D a while a go now, and the only lens that I kept from the upgrade was my 17-40L.

I would also agree with CT on prime lenses, my 50mm f1.4USM is great for portraits and is sharp as a tack. Unless you really want the 70-200 IS f2.8L I would have a look at the 70-200 f4L IS it has an upgrade on the IS and I would guess is about half the weight. It's also about £400 cheaper.
 
My personal view, for what it's worth, is to go for the 70-200 f/4 non IS and the 300mm f/4 IS. You can pick the former up for around £400 and the latter for between £700 and £950. I'd go for the 1.4tc then.

Given your landscape and portrait leanings i don't think the extra stop to f2.8 is going to be of massive value (sure, there will be some) and the combination above gives you flexibility all the way through to a 420mm f/5.6 IS. I'm awaiting delivery of the 300mm from Kerso and will gladly let you know my thoughts on arrival.

It really is a tough (and personal) call. Having too many lenses and combinations to choose from - what a nightmare;)
 
Thanks all, but lets open it up a bit

I have a budget of about 5K for everything. So, if you had 5K to spend what would you buy?

Yes I know the 1ds mk2 is possible but a good camera needs good lens and that would restrict a little too much

So, endulge, 5K budget to start again. What would it be?
 
A dealer from the States who is usually cheaper than anyone in the UK. He delivers all his stuff to Scotland and ships onwards from there so NO VAT and Customs charges.
 
chewyuk said:
For my money I'd for for:

5d, 70-200L IS 2.8, 17-40L, 100-400 or as Jon says switch the 100-400 for a 300IS and maybe pick up a 1.4tc and a 50mm 1.4

That's probably more of my wish list actually
Click to expand...

Cant deviate too far from this - but would avoid the 100-400 on the FF 5D. Would def include the 50mm 1.4 - great prime lens :)
 
If your gonna go the Prime route then dont discount using the 85 and 135 lenses. 50mm on FF is not a great focal length for Portrait work.
 
What about studio lights? Grip? Remote? tripod? Cards etc. All these from my current kit are budget items or non existant. They have to come out of the budget.

Lots of toys always relate to more money.
 
Here's my list

Good tripod and head o55 ProB & 488RC2 approx
4Gb CF card 17.99 from 7dayshop.com
Grip is certainly very useful. I didn't like mine at first now I can't use the camera without. Balance is better. Big but you'll get used to it quickly.

Flash gun - 580EX is probably the best portable Canon flash available

Studio lights - Check out the Elinchrom D-Lite4s (£540 for 2 lights and accessories).

Regards lenses, if you do portrait and landscape here's my recommendations.

Don't buy the 2x converter - You lose too much light. AF hunts in lowish light and IQ takes a big hit. The 1.4x is much better.

17-40 f4L - great for landscapes
24-70 f2.8L or 24-105mm f4L - Great for walk around and portrait studio work
70-200 f2.8L IS - Amazing telephoto lens.
300 f4L IS - Great longer range lens for wildlife and portrait work. Add the 1.4x and you have a 420mm f5.6

The 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS is a nice lens and very versatile but add any converter to this lens and you will lose autofocus and it will hunt a lot in low light. The 70-200 is an amazing lens.

Finally you'd be best served with a couple of fast primes. 50mm f1.4L or 85mm f1.8 (f1.2L variations are expensive but better). Also a 100mm f2.8 Macro would be a good addition as a portrait/macro lens.

There you go..... A few grand to consider :)
 
Sorry no reccomendations but more power to your thread!

I've been thinking about a full frame upgrade for a while and reading all this 'must have for full frame' is great :)

Truth is I won't actually do anything for a few months yet so I can wait and see if there is anything new and full frame when the next lot of Canon new models is announced (next month??). ;)
 
Depending on where you chose to source the kit from £5K in the UK would get you:-


Canon EOS-5D £1,649.00
Canon Battery Grip BG-E4 £169.99
Hahnel BP-511 Equivalent x 2 £53.98
Sandisk 2GB Extreme III CF x 2 £91.98
Canon EF17-40 f4 L USM 77mm £495.00
Canon EF70-200 4.0 L USM £445.00
Canon EF50 f1.4 USM £229.00
Canon ES 71 II hood £19.99
Canon EF85 f1.8 USM £249.00
Canon ET65 III hood £17.99
Canon 580 EX Speedlite £289.00
Manfrotto 055MF4 Magfibre 4 Section Tripod £218.00
Manfrotto 486RC2 Compact Ball Head £49.95
Elinchrom D-Lite2 Twin Head Kit £399.00
Vosonic VP2160 40GB £99.00
EPSON Stylus Photo R2400 printer £509.00

Total: £4,992.88

If you were to source it from someone like Kerso I'd expect to save at least enough to add a 135 f/2 L to the list. Of course you may not feel you need a printer like the R2400 in which case (again if sourcing from Kerso) you could probably add the 24-105 f/4 L to the 135 f/2 L.

The 50 f/1.4 is actually a very nice focal length on a FF camera and great for full length portraits.

I personally don't see the need for any heavy, f/2.8 70-200 lenses for portrait work or landscape work, especially since the 5D will give you a much shallower DOF at any given aperature than the same lens on a 1.6x crop camera and it's ISO is just about second to none, allowing the user to simply increase the ISO to gain the extra stop. I also think IS is less important for your personal shooting needs due to portraits generally being shot in good light condtions especially when using the studio lights.

Whilst I don't believe in the "I'll just wait to see if something better comes out" school of thought I do think it's good advice to wait and see what happens next month with regards to new camera releases. It may mean a price drop in the 5D saving you a little more cash :)
 
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