20D or 70-200/2.8 IS

[cerveza4lu]

Well, here goes:

I've been wanting to pursue a side career in photography for awhile now. I just recently completed a wedding for a good friend, BTW thank you for all the great info in this forum, and have been approached to do another job in the future.

My question is: should I pick up a 2nd 20D body and use the lenses I already have, or would I be better off adding the 70-200 but only have 1 body?

I'm posting in the Wedding forum b/c that is the area that I want to focus on, no pun intended :D

Thanx in advance.

[jimcook]

Do you have a backup shooter? You probably need two bodies for sure. But the 70-200 IS is a must have lens and I would be tempted to say that lens first and then get a 2nd body. Whichever one you get, you should probably rent the other on wedding days till you can afford it. After the 70-200 lens, I would recommend the 16-35 f2.8 one next.

[tim]

I'd personally get a 2nd body before I got a 70-200. The 70-200 IS is a great lens and really handy to have in the bag, but you can shoot a wedding without it easily. A 2nd body is essential in case something goes wrong with the primary, which has happened to me a few times - it sometimes crashes, or loses power, always in the middle of a ceremony or something important. It's essential to be able to grab another camera and keep shooting.

You'll likely need to upgrade most of your lenses too, except the Tamron. Actually i'm going to upload my Tamron to the Canon 24-70L, i'm reaonably happy with the Tamron but it seems to miss focus a bit recently. Be very very careful of the 50mm F1.8 at F1.8, i'd not shoot that lens at less than F4 because it misses focus quite badly - it has an inaccurate focus motor.

[cerveza4lu]

Yeah, I am torn between getting the 2nd body and using the 75-300 IS or adding the lens and trying to rental thing. When I do get the 70-200 I'm going to sell the 75-300, also eventually I'd like to get the 50/1.4, the nifty fifty was just too reasonable to pass up.

[chrnat]

Get the 70 - 200 without IS and a second body. Who needs IS?

[tim]

I need IS in a lens that long, IS really is fantastic. I have a great half second exposure with that lens that wouldn't be possible without IS (not wedding). For weddings and an F2.8 lens I can shoot down to 1/30th, which isn't possible for me without IS.

[song4themoon]

I feel that a second body is important when you shoot weddings, but of course so are the lenses.
You already have the Canon 50mm 1.8 and the Tamron 28-75/2.8 so I think that will be ok for now. You should go with a second body before buying more lenses

[smirchfa]

Consider the Canon 200mm 2.8L - I have it and the quality is amazing. You can pick one up for under $700 on B&H and there is also a $50 Canon rebate. You could get that and a used 20D for the same price as the IS lens. Yes, I know it's fixed, but I found that I almost always shot a 70-200 at 200mm, so it works for me - an extra bonus is that it's very small and light, much more so than even the 70-200 f4L.

[AjP]

I have same delema and made my mind on second body instead 70-200, I can always rent it but second body is much more important especially for wedding photography, plus it is more $$ to rent body then the lens...so my 70-200 IS will wait a little longer :)

[NGrinerPhoto]

i don't know what i would do without my 70-200 2.8l is. it is a must have lens for weddings. i would get the lens first and try to find a used d30, d60, digital rebel or 10d as a backup. i shoot with a 20d and have a d60 as a backup. i haven't had to use it yet but if i did, it wouldn't be the end of the world. it's not like i wasn't using it a few years ago to shoot weddings ...

[cerveza4lu]

Thanx for the replies, looks like it's 50/50 which is the same problem I'm having. I think I'm leaning toward the body first. The IS feature is pretty important to me (too much hand shake) :(

I would feel a lot better having a second body in my bag, I was a nervous wreck at my friend's wedding at the thought of something going wrong with my only camera! Plus it was my first wedding on top of that. (I explained I was NOT a pro and they should have other shooters just in case.)

Thankfully, it turned out well. They told me today that they were about to call me because the store didn't want to develop the pics because of copyright issues! (I gave them all the processed shots on two CDs)

[EOS_JD]

Can't you squeeze the money for a second hand 10D or XT as a backup? The 70-200 IS sure is a cracker of a lens

[StealthLude]

Id go with a 2nd body and the 70-200 f/4