Upgrading my setup

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erakepio

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Hi all,

been observing these forums for a while now and most of the folk on here are extremely objective and sensible so figured I'd rear my somewhat young balding head into the picture and join in the discussions.

I'm looking at upgrading my setup at the moment. I'm still somewhat new to photography (18 months) but I'm progressing quickly and having so much fun, almost like a new lease of life! So here's what I have...

Cameras

Canon 1100D - Modded/ Full light spectrum. Used for IR, UV, astro-imaging.
Canon 550D - Un-modded. this is my main camera currently.

Lenses

Canon 18-55 kit lens (bog standard lens I got with my 550D)
Canon 70-200 L USM F/4
Canon 50mm F/1.8 (mostly used for IR)
Canon 50mm F/1.4
Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 EX DC HSM

Now, was thinking of getting a 5DmkII, however in light of a potential mkIII appearing this year I'm a bit sceptical of laying out £1500 for a new mkII and then wanting a mkIII when they appear, as I'm planning on dropping my name on one straight away. I know a 5DmkII or III would make the Sigma Wide angle lens useless as it'll be full frame.

So what do I shoot? Well It's a mixture of things really. I do lots of night time stuff currently. A lot of light trails, star trails, light paintings, mood scenes, night time-HDR etc. The night-time stuff I do a lot of, as my day job currently takes up a lot of the light during the winter months!

During the day I've done a bit of wildlife, however I'm not to keen on this. I do my IR and UV images which I find quite fun to do. I do my HDR images and landscapes. I'd like to start learning some wedding skills, and try to make some money on the side.

I have photoshop CS5, lightroom and photomatix licenses on my mac, so editing and developing isn't a problem. Have thoroughly enjoyed learning these skills also and plan to become much more fluent with these programs

I'd appreciate any suggestions, criticisms or pointers you guys could throw my way. As I say I'm looking to improve on my skills and make the next step in terms of equipment.
 
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Tijn

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I think that for night shooting, it might actually be very well worth waiting for the 5d mk3. The ISO performance upgrade that comes with it might be worth quite a lot to you. Full frame will outperform crop sensor noise-wise any day, but if you do so much night stuff, it may be worth a bit of a wait to get the durability of a sensor upgrade. As you already have the 550d, sensor-wise you're still at the top of the crop lineup (of Canon). Personally I'd save money on lenses and the 5d mk3.

Which lenses? Well, depends on whether you're fine with your primes or whether you'd like some more zoom flexibility.
 
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erakepio

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Not too fussed on zoom really. I think that having a good selection of lenses is critically important. Primes I've only just started to get used. got my 70-200 which is nice, and I'm borrowing a friends 28-300 L series at the moment. He's broken the auto focus motor in it, but manual focus works well and it still performs well enough.

I guess the next would be a good prime series fixed lens possibly.
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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Leaving the 5DIII issue off the table, I think you really should consider lenses next. The lenses you have, I'd rank like this:

Mediocre
Canon 18-55 kit lens (bog standard lens I got with my 550D)
Canon 50mm F/1.8 (mostly used for IR)

Decent
Canon 50mm F/1.4
Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 EX DC HSM

Good
Canon 70-200 L USM F/4

Excellent
none

Given what you shoot, I'd consider a 24L II - it will be a fun lens on your current APS-C cameras, and a great wide angle lens on FF.
 
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Mar 25, 2011
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I'd look at upgrading your lenses to ones that will match the quality of image you expect from a new FF body, and still be excellent on your crop as well as having a usable focal length range.

I'd second the 24mm L as falling in that category. A 16-35mm L might also be something to consider. I would not recommend it for owning just a crop body, but since you plan to buy FF, so it would be excellent for both.
 
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