hthrlu
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I am a hobbyist. I enjoy shooting landscape photography, but usually only get to do that on vacations and such. I also enjoy wedding photography, but usually only shoot weddings for friends and family. I have a 6-month-old baby girl, who is (understandably) my favorite subject to shoot. I have also photographed local bands in nightclubs, and find that pretty fun, too.
I currently have two different systems - Canon and Pentax. I owned Canon for a long time, and purchased a used 10D two years ago. Last year, I won a contest at work and was awarded a K100D. I like both systems, and feel like they offer me different benefits. I struggled to chose just one, but have decided to keep both systems as long as I can financially afford it.
I have a wedding that I am photographing in two weeks, and have a little extra money to spend to upgrade some equipment, and am looking for some advice or reassurance regarding what to buy. I came across an opportunity to buy a Canon 5D for $1900.00 today, and am thinking that I am going to pass that up in favor of some other lenses and such. My reasoning behind this is that used Canon 5D's will become more available at this point, and Canon may even replace the 5D in the next 6 months, providing ample opportunity to upgrade at that cost later.
My current (Canon) equipment includes a Canon 10D, 28-135 IS, 50/1.8 and 580 EX. My current (Pentax) equipment includes a Pentax K100D, 18-55 kit lens, and 10-17 fish eye lens.
I would use the Pentax stuff as back up for the wedding, so I feel the need to purchase an external flash for that system before the wedding. I also need more CF cards for the 10D, because I only have 2 512 cards as of now.
Past that, I am indecisive about the following:
1. Canon 100 mm Macro lens - this is something I have absolutely no need for, but recently used one to take pictures of my daughter's and my husband's hands. I didn't get it quite right, and would like the opportunity to do it again. I think that I would use this lens more if I had it available. The compact 50 mm Macro is cheaper, and smaller. I thought about buying that one instead, but am not sure about the quality difference. I don't really think that the non-USM part would bother me. I don't think that I would need to use it in quiet situations. I don't think I need another 50 mm for the Canon, since I already have the 1.8. Am I wrong? I sthe 50 as good as the 100 in terms of quality?
2. Lensbaby for the Canon - I think that this unique lens would be handy for the band shots - using it for the fingers playing the guitars and the singers at the microphones. It's cheap, and I think it could be really cool for that particular type of shot. I don't know that I would use it for anything else.
3. Pentax 50 mm 1.4 - This lens is cheaper for me than the Canon one - and I already have the 1.8 version of the Canon lens. This makes me question whether I would really need the 1.4 at all, but one whole stop could very well come in handy.
4. Zoom lens for Pentax - there are two lenses that I am considering - the current small 50-200 lens for Pentax, or an older 80-320 lens. The 80-320 is considerably larger, and has a plastic lens mount, versus the metal mount on the smaller lens. I am considering purchasing the long zoom for Pentax because it's cheaper than purchasing an IS zoom for the Canon (since the Pentax has anti-shake built into the body of the camera).
I realize that I am not looking at all of the higher-end equipment, and the Canon 5D is a phenomenal camera. For the price of the 5D (used), I can get most everything else on my list, and have myself covered in a wider variety of situations. However, what good is the cheaper stuff, if I end up wanting to replace it sooner than later anyway? I really like my 10D, but have been seriously considering an upgrade soon anyway.
I was awake all night last night, adding numbers in my head, calculating how much i would spend on this stuff, and how I could get the 5D out of layaway before Christmas. Can anyone here give me some feedback?
I am sorry it's so long.
Thank you,
Heather
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