Upgrading questions

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gazzaa

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My wife and I currently have a Canon D350 with Sigma 18-200mm lens, we bought this a while ago as we thought this would suit our needs for fair/good holiday pictures and the range and weight of the lens would be great for us. However, we’ve now caught the photography bug and having seen professionals on our travels producing some fantastic pictures we feel the need to upgrade to some L-series lenses to start with and possibly a better camera. I’ve read lots of info on the net and came up with the following equipment list to aspire to:

1. Either a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM or Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM (still not sure which is best) to use with our current 350D body.
2. A new 1D body to use a new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
3. Supplementary equipment to include a Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens, a 2x extender, Monopole, Speedlite 580, filters etc.

However, looking at the first item on the list I tried out the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at the weekend and although I only had time to test it very quickly outside in bright sunlight I couldn’t see much difference between the quality (but I confess I had it on the wrong ISO setting of 800!!!!). So before we go mad and buy anything could we be given some advice on what this expensive equipment will give us and whether it’s worth the money?

Cheers
Gazzaa.
 
Hi Gazzaa, and welcome to TP.

It would help if you said what you like photographing, and what it is about your current kit that you feel is holding you back. I have a 350D and Sigma 18-200, and I think it's a great, versatile combination. Yes I use my 10-22 when I want to go w-i-i-i-de, and I use my 50mm f/1.4 for indoorsy portrait stuff, and since I now run a lens hire business (www.LensesForHire.co.uk) I have access to a whole load of other gear, but 80-90% of the time I find the 18-200 gets the job done.

So why doesn't it get the job done for you? That's the key to the upgrade question...
 
I think the other thing to note is that decent glass really comes into its own in difficult situations. Certainly ISO800 isn't going to show the lens in its best light. The other thing to bear in mind is that practice and experience can often help more than kit. If you know how to use it, then good kit can help, if you are the weakest link in the chain (I'm not saying you personally are) then kit may not be the answer. I've seen some pictures taken by Joe Cornish on a camera phone (still using a tripod!) that would put a lot of stuff taken with expensive kit to shame.

Paul
 
Thanks for the replies guys, we mainly use the camera for travel photography but will take photos of any interesting events that happen locally. We do get some great shots with our equipment but write ups on the web for our Sigma 18-200mm lens were poor in comparison to other lenses. In addition some of our indoor shots don't always come out so great and some of the colours look yellowish when compared to the real thing.

We were therefore wondering if the L series lenses would assist us in getting better results (i.e. a greater ratio of good shots to bad shots) with sharper images and better colours. In addition is it essential to have a good Speedlite for these indoor shots?
 
Slow down! :)

I'd suggest you put any buying plans on hold for a month and spend some time reading the forum and investing in a good book* or two. Expensive new cameras and lenses are nice to have and can give you more options in difficult situations but the biggest improvement will come from learning how to get the best from it. It will also help you decide what new kit you might want to invest in.

The 24-105 will out perform the sigma considerably in the right situation. learning more about exposure will explain that and a lot of similar questions.

welcome to the forums :)

* This book is usually recommended reading
 
I'd just like to say I've seen so many posts about that darn book I've just ordered it form Amazon £10 delivered, I hope it helps me understand¬!
 
gazzaa said:
In addition some of our indoor shots don't always come out so great and some of the colours look yellowish when compared to the real thing.
Click to expand...
To me that sounds like a white balance issue, rather than something that's caused by the lens. If you could show us an example, we'll be able to confirm it.
 
Thanks guys,

I think your right I'll get that book your recommending. Regarding the white balance I confess I've read about it but I guess I'd not really fully understood this issue. The O'level I took from back in the stone age never touched on this as we were working in black and white back then. Anyway I'm sure I have a lot of other aspects to look into which I've never taken the time to do.

Gazzaa.
 
Re. the white balance issue - the DSLR hasn't been made which copes with all lighting situations on the Auto wb setting, tungsten and fluouresant light particularly.

Even on the setting for those lighting situations, they don't perform well at all. I find the best way is either set the wb in degs Kelvin, or take a custom wb shot.
 
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