What to upgrade to from a EOS 350D...?

[Capreece]

... or should I even bother?

I have an ancient 350D which has served me well for my amateur pursuits, but I've got to a point now where my photographs of a niche lifestyle have attracted requests for paid shoots and I'm going to need to invest in my equipment, however I am reluctant to have a massive outlay at this stage, as I don't want to spend more than I will ever earn!

I have a decent flash gun and the 1.4f 50mm (love it) as well as the less-well-loved kit lens and that's pretty much the extent of my gear. I would like something more wide angle at some point (unsure whether to go prime or not...) that can give me the same lush colour and general results as the 50mm and I would like to upgrade my camera body because I just feel that my 350D is limiting me, but please excuse my amateurism here, I'm not sure what benefit a new body would be other than a higher res/size image.

So - what's the priority do you think? New lens or new body? And which one? I will (for now) be focusing on portraiture, but not in a studio (although I might use a mobile studio set up at some point).

DISCLAIMER: I am coming out of maternity leave and am massively sleep deprived, so please excuse the huge ignorance I am displaying. I would normally go away and just read up on everything, but I have limited time and brain power, so I'm asking for help. Please don't laugh. This opportunity came looking for me and I would love to work professionally as a photographer, but don't want to put any noses out of joint with my current ignorance and amateurism.

 

[stevewestern]

Hi Capreece, and welcome to the forum.
I remember my wife going through that sleep deprived stage after she had our kids - can't say I am noticing much ignorance coming from you though compared to how my wife was !

OK the first question many may ask is how much do you want to spend as it sounds like you could do with both a newer body and another lens or two.
I had a 350d a while back and any current body will be a treat to you and might be a good way to spend some of your money, but if you are doing portraiture then a slightly longer lens (85mm f1.8 maybe) might also be the way to go - this is a very good and yet affordable lens, but again we need to know what you got to spend !
I went from my 350 to a 20d, a 30d then went full frame with a 5d, and a 5d might be within reach as they seem to have dropped in price a lot recently - I think I saw one on here for £375 or so..

There are many things to consider but some idea of your budget would be good before anyone can offer too much advice
Good luck with sleep and the baby - the perfect model to use that new gear on !

 

[Capreece]

Hi Capreece, and welcome to the forum.
I remember my wife going through that sleep deprived stage after she had our kids - can't say I am noticing much ignorance coming from you though compared to how my wife was !

OK the first question many may ask is how much do you want to spend as it sounds like you could do with both a newer body and another lens or two.
I had a 350d a while back and any current body will be a treat to you and might be a good way to spend some of your money, but if you are doing portraiture then a slightly longer lens (85mm f1.8 maybe) might also be the way to go - this is a very good and yet affordable lens, but again we need to know what you got to spend !
I went from my 350 to a 20d, a 30d then went full frame with a 5d, and a 5d might be within reach as they seem to have dropped in price a lot recently - I think I saw one on here for £375 or so..

There are many things to consider but some idea of your budget would be good before anyone can offer too much advice
Good luck with sleep and the baby - the perfect model to use that new gear on !

Thanks so much for the kindness and the advice. £375 is not entirely out of reach. I suppose £300 for a new lens also, though the thought of spending the best part of a grand makes me feel a little nauseous right now (not just the sleep deprivation, we're also waiting to complete on our first house). If I went full frame would the 50mm lens create less zoom-y images (if you follow my oh-so-technical language?)?

I find my main issue with the 50mm is fitting everyone in if I'm trying to take a photo, indoors, of more than one and a half people (ie - mother and baby)! Hence why I thought something like a reasonably fast 24mm might help. However if the full frame is less zoom-y then the 24mm would be less of a priority as I might be able to fit more in with the 50mm.

Or have I got turned about and the full frame would mean the 50mm took me in even closer?

Thank you so much for your time. My confidence is not massive (let's hear it again for sleep deprivation) and I was nervous of coming and asking such basic technical questions whilst shouting off about how I wanted to go professional. I guess my skills lie rather more in composition, post-processing and getting my subjects to relax in front of camera!

How old are your children?

 

[stevewestern]

Right, to start with the confidence thing - you are not alone. I am and always have been lacking in any self belief and I imagine you will find that many on here are the same, especially where showing ones pictures or lack of knowledge is concerned.
As far as the 50mm focal length goes - you have a crop sensor camera, which seems to make the 50mm lens act like about an 85mm lens. I won't even attempt to go into the technical details as it doesn't matter to you, nor to me !

So, if you got a full frame camera and an 85mm lens you would get pictures with roughly the same sort of amount of subject in, and your 50mm would become more like a 35mm lens, giving you more subject, so all mother and baby rather than just from the waist up to use your example. A 24mm lens would give you a lot more but you will also get some wide-angle distortion, so anything at the edge of the frame might look a bit oddly shaped.
My suggestion of an 85mm focal length was to allow you to get in closer with your 350d to allow head shots rather than waist up shots.
Knowing all the stuff about photography may not always be a good thing as it seems to me that some people loose their direction and become technical wizards but their photography may not benefit as all their energy goes into the rules rather than the subject.

As with all I am saying, these are very basic simplifications and many may disagree but each to his or her own.

If you have roughly £600 to spend then you may find that a newer crop body and another lens is possible - full frame isn't vital at this stage, and may never be for you !
Your 50mm f1.4 is a good lens, fast enough to allow decent shutter speeds inside and a newer body may allow you to up the ISO without too much loss of quality.

My kids are now 8 and 13 and I still don't sleep - last night one of them kept me up all night coughing - still the best 13 years of my life so far...!

Oh, and where in Oxfordshire are you - I grew up near Witney..

 

[Capreece]

I think a full frame might be worth getting then. I can get more out of my 50mm, then see what lens I really want. At the moment I feel like the 50mm can get in close enough for me, though this may change with the full frame. Argos have some money saving deals on cameras at the moment, worth a shot? Or shall I hang about on here for a 5D ...?

I assume the 50mm will still work with the full frame?

I'm further South than Witney, near Benson. Whereabouts are you now?

Thanks for the support. I suppose it doesn't help that I spoke to a friend who's a photographer and she was slightly snippy with me about becoming professional. Not a huge confidence boost.

 

[Nod]

Hi, Capreece.

At a guess, your pro friend is getting snippy because she sees you as future competition, so ignore her and follow your dream! For wide angles, you would be far better off with a full frame body than a crop one but wide angle lenses aren't cheap! IMO, one of the best available in therms of corrected distortion is the Sigma 12-24. The perspective is exagerated but that's the laws of physics rather than distortion from the lens. Not too sure of Canon's designation for Full Frame lenses over crop. In Sigmas it is DG for FF compatible and DC for crop only. Sigma also do an 8mm fisheye which gives a full circular image on a FF shot but crops the top and bottom off that circle on a crop sensor.