If I were you I'd buy a 50 1.8 and see how often you actually use it.

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I had the 50 f/1.8 when I only had an 18-55mm and a 75-300 (and eventually the 55-250mm). But the lens is soft from f/1.8 and sharpens up around f/2.8... which is where I mostly shot with it. I eventually upgraded to a canon 50mm f/1.4, but at that time I had a 24-105mm and I think a 100L... so by comparison, the 50 wasn't really that good. Not enough reach (on my crop 60D), and not wide enough to use indoors. So even though the f/1.4 is an overall better lens, it was my least used.

It's a fine lens. So is the 85 1.8.

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I had the 85 f/1.8 and I liked it. I took a bunch of photos of my new born... but the minimum focusing distance (and I realize the 85L mkii also has a mfd of 3ft) was annoying... and I sold my 100L after getting the 70-200mm f/2.8L mkii, thinking it was redundant... it wasn't. I missed the 100L's MFD and just dramatic sharpness... So I sold the 85 f/1.8 and I bought the 100L again.

The 85 1.2 is good in a studio on a tripod. It's harder to use in the fly. At 1.2 there isn't much forgiveness in depth of field and you need an ND filter in sunlight.

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I was using a depth of field calculator and the 100L @ 12 inches away has a SIGNIFICANTLY thinner depth of field than the 85L at f/1.2 and 36 inches away. It can be a challenge working at thin dof's... but not impossible... and if I can get a decent amount of hits with the 100L... the 85L doesn't scare me...

The 40 2.8 Is an option I don't use it enough but is also quite a nice lens.

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I bought one for my daughter... she doesn't use the camera or the lens... but it's an option there. F2.8 is fine... but I do want something with a wide aperture for situations like last night... we were at an amusement park and it was dark save for the lights off the rides and lamp posts... but I wanted a wider aperture to increase shutter speed/lower the iso... Funny thing... that's why I got the 85mm, for campfires and the like... but evidently I forgot that I need a wider aperture lens when I sold it.
I can see you are going for quality over quantity on you lenses which is quite sensible.

With your buying pattern I'd say the Sigma art is the best choice for you.

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I want the 50 art... and I'm willing to only use the center AF point and only use manual focus... I was comparing the 50 art to the 55 otus (test charts) and the otus is impressive from center to corner, but I can be content just having a really good performance and great performance compared to the rest of the 50's.

e17paul said:

Was it actually from Amazon? Or fulfilled by an Amazon seller?

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I was sold by Amazon.

I use the Acratech 2179 plate, http://www.acratech.net/quick-release-plates/2179. With it mounted it is possible to open the battery chamber, and it have a great fitting to the camera.

LuCoOc said:

Thank you all for your opinions!

It is interesting that a third of you voted for "none of the above" but all the answers were pro the 70-200.
I was also thinking about only bringing the 15-85 and 40 (wich I will not leave at home ) but my room mate made me think about bringing another lens.

More opinions are still welcome.

Any tips for must see place and hidden highlights (smaller state parks, etc) als well!

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Get a SL1 that weights light a compact camera, 15-85, 40 and 70-200 lenses.

Don Haines said:

wanner said:

When can we expect a new XXD body to be announced/released?

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The 50D was announced in August 2008

The 60D was announced 24 months later in August 2010

The 70D was announced 35 months later in July 2013

If the pattern continues, expect the 80D in July or August of 2017....

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are you excited yet?

jdramirez said:

As a quick alternative to canon rumors... you could go to camelcamelcamel dot com and they only track the historic prices of Amazon, but you can also see the prices of 3rd party sellers or the used market. I use that a lot when trying to determine market value for a used lens.

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Thank you, jd, for the tip about the camelcamelcamel.com site. I didn't know about it until now. Very useful!

Vivid

Yup, mine was 2nd hand too...

I've quite a few bits of kit that seem to have been purchased by someone else on a whim and then sold on after they 'didn't work' ;-)

JonAustin said:

Mitch.Conner said:

neuroanatomist said:

Mitch.Conner said:

I feel stupid now for ordering the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II USM. It will be here Tuesday. I got the rebate and all, but the street price with the rebate is still $200 less than I paid. I bought it through B&H. Thought I was getting a really good deal. :

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Call them after their price drops, see what they say. Maybe you'll get a double dip?

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I suppose it couldn't hurt to try.

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Definitely call them. I bought 4 600EX-RTs on one order a couple of years ago, and there was a significant price drop (when multiplied by 4) within 30 days of my date of purchase (in other words, within the product return window). I contacted B&H by e-mail, and they immediately credited my charge account for the difference between the old and new prices, no questions asked.

By the way, I purchased the 70-200 II from B&H in June, at $2,499 before $300 rebate and ~ $50 in B&H reward credits, for a net price of about $2,150. It was an upgrade from the 70-200/2.8L IS mark I, and I'm totally satisfied, even though it cost about $550 more (net) than I paid for the new mark I 8 years ago.

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Ditto with Adorama. I bought a CF card and 3 price drops later... I'm saying they were nice enough to give me the discounted price each time.

After all is said and done... you might get the rebate plus a price break... and that is a thing of beauty.

Hi FEBS,

Thanks for the reply. I can use the 430 as a optical slave, but if I need extra range of there is no line of sight, I need to use a radio trigger. I'll try a pass through TLL cable.
Thanks

Mt Spokane Photography said:

To be fair, I believe that the LCD monitors are calibrated at the factory, so there could be a issue that others do not have. Its been a issue with tablets as well, the quality of factory calibration is a variable.

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Good point. Come to think of it, there was a large batch of iPhones with a 'yellow' display. I had one, Apple replaced it for free.

I guess they had to drop prices on the refurbs. The 24-70 f/4 was not selling, and many users who are spending a lot of money would step up to the f/2.8 model. It is about the same quality as the 24-105L at a huge price differential. They will drop to $7oo by Christmas.

drjlo said:

PicaPica said:

that the sensor performance is reported to be the same or slightly worse than the G1X sensor is a bit disappointing of course.

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It's the usual Canon Sensor story :'(

Quote from DPReview:

"These examples (and our test scene on the coming pages) suggest that the RX100 II's sensor is so much better than the G1 X II's that it cancels-out much of the dynamic range and high ISO noise advantages that the G1 X II's larger sensor should bring...

Overall, though, the larger sensor in the Canon is much of the reason that the camera is so much less pocketable than the Sony, yet the full benefits of that additional sensor size are not realized: the Canon's image quality advantage isn't proportionate with its greater bulk."

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All that is basically saying that for its size, the Sony sensor is very good, but it still does not match the larger Canon sensor. So if almost as good means better to some, that's fine. The small size of the RX100 to me was a deal breaker, its too small for my hands. For others, its ideal.

wickidwombat said:

with the 20 set f8 hard stop infinity and everything from 2m to infinity is in focus anyway its a wicked point and shoot when used like this.

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I have a 12mm Samyang that I use on my Sony, and I've not quite figured out what is the 'ideal' setting for that lens. I use focus peaking but found that OOF areas with high contrast are still shown as being in focus. Wide angle MF can be really challenging, and I think I need more practice to build the necessary confidence.

As the saying goes...ask and you will receive....

You're right...don't know why I couldn't get this to work before...or why cps told me I couldn't...
but it's working just fine now!

Thank you Jim!!!!

I have to admit, from all of the city trips I have made I think 90% of the time I could live with the 24-70II alone.

Even tho I am usually flying and thus have a weight restriction I usually take a selection of lens including some heavy longer glass (70-200 2.8 etc) and again most of the time I could have got by with *just* the 24-70 and maybe a teleconverter at most.

Enjoy the trip, make a stop at the restaurant at the base of the ESB as they have some lovely beers and see if you are lucky to catch a storm while out there as if they temp close the deck atop the ESB you can shoot right up without the usual hour+ queue and as soon as it passes you are first out on the deck.

Just got one for my MFT mount Oly E-M10. I'm really looking forward to making some images with this thing.
For a mere $220, delivered, this has to be the undervalued lens deal of the year!
It's corner-to-corner sharp, wide open, on MFT. Not sure how it fares on the NEX.

I thought the moderate 2.8 aperture would be a bit of a bokeh handicap but it's likely to be just fine for most of the shots I'll use it for and the bokeh is looking pretty smooth on the few scenes I've composed with it so far.
Min focus distance is about enough to make a bit more than the palm of my hand fit the whole frame.
It even includes a nice nylon carrying case and a hood.

If you've been craving the impressive performance of the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 but balk at the cost, this is a lot more affordable and darn near as sharp if you check the charts on DxOmark.

Some outlining and a bit of onionskin on out of focus highlites is the worst thing I can see about its performance.
AF is quick and almost silent, likely suitable for video even with in-camera mic's.

It's not very large physically either, tho it is a bit odd looking with the smooth finished barrel, all of which is an MF ring.

I recommend it, good value for the money, especially at this price.

www.sigmaphoto.com/product/60mm-f28-dn-a

I liked using the panorama mode as a strip camera. That was cool.

The under water housing was cool, but I can see a lot of wet phones resulting, at least with a glass that small.

Clearly this guy was hopeless. Never make it as a photographer. Shadows need to be lifted big time. This hardly even looks like a pepper.

thanks for your help guys

raptor3x said:

Found a picture of the insides of the D300. Same full metal skeleton as the D800/1D/D4 so I don't really think this kind of build quality can be that expensive to produce.

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Nice but our D300 died after only roughly 90.000 shutter actuations, its mirror mechanism is broken and repair cost would have overtopped its value. So its chassis is a nice coffin for a dead camera...

Mt Spokane Photography said:

Go to Canon price watch. They list the best of the gray market sellers. There are some like Abes of Main that they refuse to list.

http://www.canonpricewatch.com/product/03868/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III-price.html

Personally, I'd go for the CPW street price deal and get a authorized seller of US models for $200 more. Canon has been reported to be tightening up on servicing gray market cameras under warranty recently.

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+1

"Street price" right now for an authorized Canon dealer is about $150 more and I'd sleep a whole lot better at night paying this much more. Some non-authorized dealers are very reputable and I would consider buying from them but some are not. Beware.

tat3406 said:

check this link.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1388461

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Very cool. Makes me consider buying it. One thing I'd like to point out to anyone who fits a crop lens to a FF or 1.3 crop camera, don't be afraid to shoot with a little vignetting. It can provide a cool look that can set a photo apart from the rest.

I spotted a guy shooting a Sigma 18-35 f1.8 when i was a t a bike race. I swapped my 8-15 for his lens for a few minutes and shot way. But I was shooting a 1D mark 4, and at 11mm i god some vignetting. So what? it was cool.

REX18741 by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

eg1dio said:

Canon Rumors said:

United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland

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I find this a bit confusing, UK or Republic of Ireland?

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Both.

Keith_Reeder said:

Just some Real World experience to add to the mix: the 7D will AF usefully quickly for bird photography at f/8 (eg Canon 100-400mm and taped or non-reporting 1.4x TC) off the central AF points. Use it on the peripheral points, and it's actually not bad at all.

For example - 600mm, handheld, (Kenko non-reporting 1.5 TC), peripheral AF point on the bird's eye.

And another.

The 70D (mine, and that of at least two other users that I asked to test this) will AF at f/8 on all AF points. Again, it's not lightning fast, but it works.

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I put Keith's suggestion to work and the AF is pretty fast with my 7D with the 100-400 and a 1.4X non-reporting TC. You need decent light with nice contrast in your subjects. I got some nice shots with the sun behind some clouds this afternoon. Heavy shade was a bust as was shade with the sun behind clouds with a low contrast subject. Moving subjects are an issue when coming more or less directly at you or heading away. I did not get an opportunity to try with subjects moving in a more parallel vector.

preppyak said:

Especially since there has been no specific rumored spec that makes me think its some crazy departure from the line.

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65 point all cross type AF and 10 fps probably count for at least a 10% price boost. That plus inflation and I'm thinking it will be solidly over $2k, probably between $2100-2300. That's my guess, go ahead and surprise me Canon

Mt Spokane Photography said:

At 3,000.00, a used 1D MK IV will be a far better camera than a $1800 7D MK II.

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$3k for a 1DIV? $2500 seems like more of the going market rate, going by ebay completed listings. Hell, there's a few that sold for <$2k. I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of a used 1DIV and a 7DII were about the same. That's about how it was for used 1DIII vs 7D iirc.