Hi,
I'm looking to upgrade my camera gear in the next month or so and want to know your thoughts on my upgrade plan.
I started years ago with a film Rebel with a 28-80 EF kit lens and a 70-300 EF (no image stabilization on either one) and upgraded to a Digital Rebel XT body in 2005.
This camera has served me well, and I have abused it well. I've had it to the beach many times (blowing sand/salt water splashes), waterfall shots (water splashing again), hiking in the rain/snow, no weather protection during these trips. Fell in a river once with it, completely drenched it. the coating has mostly warn off the hand grip due to using sunscreen on my hands for most of my hikes. And it's taken it all in stride, but I always felt that I couldn't get wide enough with my shots.
I do a lot of hiking and really felt I wasn't able to capture the landscapes/vista the way I wanted to. We had our first child in 2006 and our second in 2009 so there was no money for any kind of lens purchase for awhile. The 28-80 EF lens finally died last fall (grinding noise while focusing) and I picked up a 18-55 EF-S lens (got it for $90 on a local classifieds site).
So now the crop factor problem is lessened, but still not enough, I want wider and I've come to want extra features that my XT can't do, like liveview, video, more and better focus points, some weather sealing, rugged etc...
I've been reading and searching through the forums for a few months now and avidly reading the rumors on any new bodies that are supposedly coming (7DMII) and have already come (6D).
As many have said before: I would love a 5d mark III, but that's completely out of my budget. The 6D is also nice, I would use the GPS feature for my hiking trips and the Full Frame is something I really want. But, I also have 2 kids (age 7 and 3) and I want something that will be as useful with the landscape shots as it will with kids running and playing. Also I would probably have to wait till the end of the year to save enough to buy a 6D/lens kit. And I want something before my spring/summer hiking trips start. This is also a problem with waiting for a 7DMII that is not here yet, also the fact the price is probably going to be more then my budget will allow.
So, I've settled for now on buying a used Canon 7D ($850) and a used Canon 10-22 EF-S ($600) to go with my 18-55 EF-S and 70-300 EF. With Tax that will max out my current camera savings (and I may have to throw a bit on top to make it actually fit the budget).
I'm hoping this will put me on a good path to enhance my photos and also give me the opportunity to improve my photography skills over he next few years, until I can afford a used 5D Mark III and some lenses at some point.
So what do you think? Will it fit my needs, will it be a good upgrade for the cost? or should I hold off and see what happens to the price of the 7D, if a 7DMII is announced in the next couple of months?
Thanks, here's a small sample of some of the photos I take if that helps.