lens question from a n00b.

I own a rebel t2i and have learned much from it (this is my first dslr). Ive decided i will be spending much more time / interest in photography and am about to work alot to enhance my inventory of lenses. My question is, before i start to purchase more glass, should i sell / trade in my camera first for a better one?

I currently have the 24-70 2.8L lens. I plan on buying the EF 14mm 2.8L, the 85mm 1.2 lens for portraits / weddings etc. and a few other lenses BUT before i did i started to wonder if this is overkill for the camera i have.

Thanks for any and all advice. Price isnt a huge factor. I work alot :-p

If i upgraded cameras, i was considering the 5d mark ii

The 14mm lens would be a waste of money in my opinion for the camera you have and especially for a 5D for weddings and portraits.

For now, you should have a lens in the 16-35 range or so to get the slightly wider shots that 24mm won't provide with an APS-C format camera.

Be cautious about jumping into doing weddings with only a single camera and no backup for your lenses and lighting. A wedding is a place where there is simply no excuse for failure to perform because of the inevitable hardware failure.

This may get interesting...... What? No studio lights or strobes???

i guess i shouldve specified. the 14mm will not be for weddings. it will be for landscape only.

welcome to the forum, ctnjason -
would suggest a decent zoom like a 70-200 f4 IS might be a good addition.

u mention u work alot- is that in photography?

no. in the medical field..... the more interest i gain in photography the more i think of trying to do it to supplement income so i wont work as much at my normal job :-p

ctnjason wrote in post #11558525
i guess i shouldve specified. the 14mm will not be for weddings. it will be for landscape only.

Apparently you believe the BS that we often see here which essentially marries "landscape" photography to "ultra-wide-angle" lenses. I think you'll find that most of us who have been around for a while will use virtually any focal length we have for "landscape" photography depending on the situation.

I don't own anything shorter than 16mm for my 20D (an APS-C format camera just like the 7D) and hardly ever would even think of going that wide for landscape photography. If I scrapped my 20D for a so-called "full-frame" camera, I would have very little use for my 16-35 as 24mm would be plenty wide for me on the larger format.

ctnjason wrote in post #11558552
no. in the medical field..... the more interest i gain in photography the more i think of trying to do it to supplement income so i wont work as much at my normal job :-p

Well, before you worry about how much money you can make from photography and doing weddings and getting the greatest and latest L lenses, go get some books and reading up how to take properly exposed shots. Then, go read up on studio lighting and flash photography. Finally, understand why having a good work flow (post possessing) can further reveal your inner artistic visions. Afterward, go do some networking and hopefully you would know enough good photographers that they would allow you to be a second shooter of a wedding. Of course, you can't be a wedding photographer without having a firm grasp on the basic of studio lighting and portraits.

When all this said and done, you can then worry about your gear and your lenses.

I got fifty bucks once and a discount on a surfboard through my photography.

That was my last photography gig....it was in 1987.

making money from any type of photography is so far off my radar.... at least a year or two down the line.

The wide angle is for vacationing landscapes mainly. I plan on doing some indoor as well like churches etc. Dont let that word vacation automatically make you think a designated walk around vacation lens. I took 2 on my last vaca and wish i had something alot wider along with the lens i was "walking around" with.

TooManyShots wrote in post #11558632
Well, before you worry about how much money you can make from photography and doing weddings and getting the greatest and latest L lenses, go get some books and reading up how to take properly exposed shots. Then, go read up on studio lighting and flash photography. Finally, understand why having a good work flow (post possessing) can further reveal your inner artistic visions. Afterward, go do some networking and hopefully you would know enough good photographers that they would allow you to be a second shooter of a wedding. Of course, you can't be a wedding photographer without having a firm grasp on the basic of studio lighting and portraits.

When all this said and done, you can then worry about your gear and your lenses.

i have 4 books and ive had my camera a year. I know rome wasnt built in a day and it will take many more years to master a craft BUT before i did start on buying more equipment, i was looking for insight on if i should replace my camera first and foremost to appropriate the new lenses. Im ALSO networked with 4 different photographers. I know it sounds it but i honestly am not just blindly walking onto this forum saying hey i have a pile of money to blow on something i know nothing about and wanna get flamed and made to feel dumb!

ctnjason wrote in post #11558687
i have 4 books and ive had my camera a year. I know rome wasnt built in a day and it will take many more years to master a craft BUT before i did start on buying more equipment, i was looking for insight on if i should replace my camera first and foremost to appropriate the new lenses. Im ALSO networked with 4 different photographers. I know it sounds it but i honestly am not just blindly walking onto this forum saying hey i have a pile of money to blow on something i know nothing about and wanna get flamed and made to feel dumb!

Get a full frame body like the 5dmarkII. Your problem is solved. The 5dmarkII and the 24-70L should be a great combo. Getting a full frame body is more useful than getting a 14mm f2.8 or the 85L.

thank you. i was leaning towards the 5D and i might already have a buyer for my T2i. This helps me alot I totally agree with you though. I have / will continue to learn as much i can.

Just start marketing yourself. I've had tons of small paying gigs this autumn, then again thats how I justify buying expensive glass.

ctnjason wrote in post #11558438
I currently have the 24-70 2.8L lens. I plan on buying the EF 14mm 2.8L

For $600 you could get something like the EF-S 10-22. If you need the f/2.8 aperture below 16mm, there is the Tokina 11-16/2.8.

Spending $2000 to get a 14mm lens for a 1.6X body is really kind of nuts. There are several choices that will be cheaper.

Heck, you could just buy a used 5D and use the 24-70 on it for about the same FOV, and save $1000.

Spending the extra money to go for an 85L vs. the 85/1.8 on a 1.6X sensor body is again starting to pay for stuff over and over that a single body change could cover instead.

The 85L is one stop faster than the 85/1.8 (and 1 and 1/3 stop faster than what would be comparable on FF, the 135L). But why pay for this stop on several very expensive lenses when a single investment in a FF body would get the same low light ability and DOF for less.

Not everyone needs a FF body, but when you start looking at a bunch of really expensive L primes on a 1.6X body, you might find slower lenses on FF to be ultimately cheaper.

You could even consider some FF body with a 70-200/2.8 IS instread and thus gain IS which would be very nice to have for weddings.

Shooting weddings is going to be a hobby then? I shoot other stuff for fun, but I'm not a huge 'people' person I guess.