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

On a crop, I'd say opt for the 50 CM rather than the 100 Macro. The 100 is nice, but a bit long for anything other than macro. On FF things change a bit, and the 100 becomes a half-decent portrait lens (although, not ideal). The 50, on the other hand, is perfect for all sorts of close-up/product/food work, art-reproduction, and even just "normal" shooting. It is one of the sharpest non-L lenses and is said by many to be a "sleeper lens". We use it at weddings for all kinds of stuff, but mostly hand/ring, cake, hair, shoes, etc. shots.

If you decide on the 50 CM, then take the extra cash and put it towards part of the price of the EF 85/1.8. It is a great portrait length lens (think weddings) on a crop camera and would do perfectly at your band shoots. Very fast focusing and bright, with nice bokeh. We have used it extensively for professional work, including magazine covers, and it has never let us down. Quite affordable, for what it offers.

I'd be the first one to highly recommend a 5D. Since getting one, I have barely touched my 20D. Just the other day I got the 20D out and by the end of the day I was seriously considering selling it. If it wasn't such a great camera to have around as a backup, it would be gone.

On the other hand, it sounds to me that a couple of these lenses and some accessories might be your best bet right now. But, only you can decide what your priorities aught to be.

Sorry, can't offer advice on the Pentax stuff (unless you want to talk old M42 gear )

Edited by cogitech on Sep 18, 2007 at 10:43 PM GMT

Hmmm sounds a bit unfocused. I know (Buh-leeve me I know!) how tempting it is to wanna do it all. But - ask yourself what's important now and the rest will follow. Ultimately the toys will come, patience is a virtue and all that. If money and justifying the equipment financially is a priority then the weddings sound like a more likely path. If quality is important - well - the 5D is a stellar camera and if you've done film at all this will be coming home for you digitally.
Good luck!
Jon

How about flash gear for he wedding. Do you have 1 or 2 flashes, 580ex 430ex? Do you have a soft box?

I think your longer term goals should be the 5d replacement with a nice set of lenses.

So what is useful in the short term but is not wasted on the long term. For the wedding a flash would be useful if you don't already have 1 or 2. Also a fixed 24, 35, 50 would be useful for low light both in the short term and the long term.

The macro seems useful in the long term, but not for the wedding.

For the wedding you can plan the formal shots and envision the candids and then list which lens would be best for each image.

Why do you need the second (Pentax) system? Lenses are not "interchangeable". IMHO two AF systems are too much! As for me, I'm rather like to you. I also have more than one system: Canon AF, Contax 159 manual focus and Bronica SQ - medium format. I've moved from Pentax manual focus to contax to have possibility to use MF lenses on Canon. In case of Pentax it's near to impossible.
Sell you Pentax and purchase 70-200/4 - wonterful and not expencive lens.
I think its better to have 400d for backup, if you budget is limited you can use canon kit lens for wide angle (with aperture stopped down) and move from 28-135 to Tamron 28-75/2,8 which stays not far from canon 24-70/2,8 but much cheaper. So you will not need the second flash.
If you really need "Pentax picture style" try to get M42 Takumars through mount adapter, but I think that If you have Pentax kit lens only you never tests that Pentax style which makes pentaxists so crazy.

I Porteous wrote:
How about flash gear for he wedding. Do you have 1 or 2 flashes, 580ex 430ex? Do you have a soft box?


If you are not RESPONSIBLE for wedding photography (if you are as amateur only) IMHO you do not need the second flash. But you really need bounser for your flash.

Personally I'd sell the Pentax and get a 2nd Canon body - 5D is wonderful but I'd be tempted to wait a little there's talk about a 16mp replacement Nov or Jan. Be more 2nd hand about then, or you may be tempted by the new one!

I get far more use out of the 50mm CM (when I can get it off my daughter's camera) than the 100mm macro. If you like photographing weddings and bands fast primes are probably better. A recent portrait shoot I did with 2 bodies 50mm and 135L (gorgeous lens!) - couldn't use my zooms as the light was too poor and I hate flash - I will only use it for event coverage, not weddings or portraits.

Thanks so much for the advice! After reading the replies, I think I will get the 50 mm Macro instead of the 100 mm Macro.

The two reasons that I keep the Pentax around are the wide-angle/fish eye lens (Canon doesn't have one available for me - there is a sigma fish eye, but it loses it's effect on the crop camera, and the 10-22 won't mount on my 10D), and the AA batteries. I know they are less efficient, but if something comes up unexpectedly, I can count on that being available.

Thanks for the help!

Heather

Tokina makes a 10-17 fish-eye zoom for Canon.

I didn't realize that! Thanks, I will look into the 10-17 for Canon...this may change things for me!

Heather

Heather, there's nothing inherently wrong with having two camera systems provided you are not doubling up on lenses. e.g. if you had wide on your Pentax and tele on your Canon then the two are not conflicting. User interface mismatch may be an issue but that applies to different models within any brand too.

If you have limited finances for photography then it's better to expand your gear collection in a way that maximises your photo-taking capabilities. i.e. get an item that lets you do something you can't already do. A camera can do that by offering better AF for sports or bird photography, for example. A long tele lens or a short ultrawide can do it too.

By getting the 50mm compact macro (not quite macro - just 50% life size) you are gaining close-focus capability but you still only have a 50mm lens. You already have a 50mm lens. Sure they have different merits but you'll end up carrying two 50mm lenses.

The 100mm macro may well be too long for some applications but it has USM and full time manual focus for tweaking AF results (especially useful in non-macro work where AF is more likely to be used) without cancelling AF mode. For me that is a big plus.

An ultrawide zoom opens up very different shooting possibilities, and so the likes of a 10-17 could give you the greatest new bang for the bucks. But if you are going to upgrade to a 5D and sell the 10D then that lens will become redundant for you. Sigma do a physically bigger 12-24 HSM that works on all EOS SLR cameras.

Now is not the best time to buy a 5D. It will be replaced sooner rather than later and the price of the current model will fall once the replacement is announced, and maybe sooner. Meanwhile the 40D is appealing. Any new camera will make the 10D seem pretty slow and unresponsive.

- Alan