Canon Stuff - Upgrade options - opinions

dinners

dinners

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Phil
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Canon 40D
Canon EFS 17-85mm 1:4.5-5.6 IS USM
Sigma 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX DC HSM

Canon EF Prime 50mm f/1.8 II
Canon EF 75-300mm II 1:4-5.6 II USM
Canon EF 28-80mm 1:3.5-5.6 IV USM

2X 7 element teleconverter

Scratching my head a bit regarding how I could or should upgrade as I'd like to get a new (used) long 'L' lens possibly either Canon 400mm prime or the 100-400mm Zoom or a Sigma. That said at some point I'd also be looking to change my 40D although I'm in two minds whether to go full frame or stick with a crop sensor.

Option 1 (body upgrade first)
I guess my first option would be to try and sell the 40D and if full frame was the way to go I may as well get rid of the EFS-17-85 which would be no use and the Sigma 10-20 which I think ? wouldn't be suitable. I would at least have a few basic EF lenses left for use with the full frame body.

Option 2 (Lens upgrade first)
I wouldn't have the funds from the 40D as I'd be keeping it but I could live without the Sigma 10-20, Canon EF 28-80 and Canon 75-300

Seen a 1Ds for sale on here and a few other body options possible through funding from option 1 but then I'd have lost my best 2 lenses as they're cropped.


I just wanted to pick a few peoples brains about what they would do if they were in my boat with this kit list to juggle.:thinking:

For the record - Landscape is my main interest but I'd like to get into wildlife photography more - hence my desire to get a decent long lens.

Many thanks
 
Since you already have a teleconverter, I'd consider a 70-200 might be worth a look.
 
Tricky one because landscapes will surely benefit from FF, especially in future as pixel counts continue to climb, so maybe a two camera strategy is best? Crop body and quality long lens (full frame capable) and doubler if needed, and then FF primes for the full frame body. Means a total re-jig though...

Best

Richard
 
Just my thoughts, but I think I would go for a lens upgrade first. You'll be amazed what difference an L lens makes. You would see a massive improvement to your image quality. I hate using my 17-85 now, because the quality of the 70-200 is on another level!

I don't think that you would get as much of an improvement with a body upgrade (as you'd have the same lenses).

And if you like birds, the 40D will give you more reach with your longer lenses.
 
MatW said:
Just my thoughts, but I think I would go for a lens upgrade first. You'll be amazed what difference an L lens makes. You would see a massive improvement to your image quality. I hate using my 17-85 now, because the quality of the 70-200 is on another level!

I don't think that you would get as much of an improvement with a body upgrade (as you'd have the same lenses).

And if you like birds, the 40D will give you more reach with your longer lenses.
Click to expand...

Need to have a think then about a lens & budget
 
dinners said:
Canon 40D
Option 2 (Lens upgrade first)
I wouldn't have the funds from the 40D as I'd be keeping it but I could live without the Sigma 10-20, Canon EF 28-80 and Canon 75-300
Many thanks
Click to expand...

Looking at your line-up, I would definitely go for a lens upgrade first. However, I would keep the Sigma 10-20 because for landscapes you definitely want to have a wide angle and from reviews the Sigma seems to be as good as any lens in this space.

The Canon 17 85 and the 28 80 overlap, and together with the 75 300 that's 3 lenses in your line-up whose optical reputations are not stellar.

I've done one holiday with the following line-up and it worked very well for me:

Canon 400D
Canon 350D
Canon EF-S 10-22 -> you would have the Sigma 10 20 to cover this
Canon EF 24 105 IS USM L -> very useful range, very good image quality, re-useable when/if you switch to full frame
Canon EF 70 300 IS USM -> very affordable and very good optically, this is the lens that I used least; also re-useable when/if you switch to full frame
Sigma 30 f/1.4 -> you would have the Canon 50 f/1.8 to cover this

This gave me an effective focal range of 16mm to 480mm and f/1.4 for evening/nighttime shots with very few compromises in absolute optical quality.

So I guess it depends what is your priority: pure image quality or further reach than 300mm, plus how much money can you put on top of the re-sale value of the 17 85, 28 80, and the 75 300?
 
If you want to have a go at wildlife etc, full frame will make life extremely difficult/expensive to get decent reach.

You will never get agreement on this, so I'll just list what I use.

40D (7D coming next year maybe)
10-22
17-55 2.8
70-200L 4 IS
100-400L
Tubes for close-up

It's taken me years to get there, and I've discarded several fast primes, macros and long zooms along the way.
 
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