Starting Fresh $3000 Budget

So, I decided to sell all my current gear and start fresh with a budget of $3000 max

Had:
Canon T2i
Canon 18-55
Tokina 11-16
Canon 85mm f/1.8

Want:
Canon 6D ($1295 Refurb)
35L ($1005 Refurb)
85L ($1427 Refurb)
135L ($613 Refurb)

With my old setup I almost exclusively used my 85mm. I enjoy portraiture most, but will need something a little wider at some point for indoor shots, family vacation landscapes etc.

My initial thought was to go with the 6D, 35L and 135L for $2913 but, I made the mistake of paging through the 85L sample image thread and it's made me wonder if I could survive with the 6D and 85L for $2722.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Well, your wish list is $1340 (44%) over budget. My quick take is you might do better by trying to use one or two zooms with maybe one or two primes, rather that trying to cover your interests just with L series primes. L primes are not a great approach for a person on a budget.

Take that 35L for example. You say your interests are portraiture but you need a wider lens for vacations and landscapes. 35mm isn't really all that wide and you don't really need f/1.4 for vacations or landscapes. Why not get a 24-XX zoom instead? I personally would expect to want a lens wider than 35mm, and so the 35 prime leaves you with a need for more than one lens on the wide end most likely.

I guess for a starting place you could shoot everything needed with:
6D
24-70/2.8
135L
1.4X TC.

My expectation here is that the 24-70 at 70mm can serve in place of any 85mm prime. If you really feel you gotta have a faster lens at 85mm, get the 85/1.8. Given a $3000 budget I just don't see how the 85L makes sense when it eats up half the budget.

If in your old setup the 85mm was your most used lens, the 135 is going to replace it as your most used lens, due to the focal length having a similar field of view to your 85mm on the T2i.

If you have to have those focal lengths, and all prime lenses, replace the 35L with the 35 F2 IS and save $500, or what I would do, get the Sigma 35mm Art, keep the 85mm 1.8, and the 135L. That will bring you in the ballpark.

6d- $1300
35a- $900
135L- $620

$2820

Qlayer2 wrote in post #17362047
If in your old setup the 85mm was your most used lens, the 135 is going to replace it as your most used lens, due to the focal length having a similar field of view to your 85mm on the T2i.

If you have to have those focal lengths, and all prime lenses, replace the 35L with the 35 F2 IS and save $500, or what I would do, get the Sigma 35mm Art, keep the 85mm 1.8, and the 135L. That will bring you in the ballpark.

6d- $1300
35a- $900
135L- $620

$2820

I agree with this. The difference between the 85 f/1.8 and the 85 L are there, but they're not night and day. Especially if you're not a pro making money off your shots, I'm not sure I would recommend getting the 85L, as it's substantially heavier/larger than the 1.8. Especially on a budget, I would keep the 85 1.8, get the 35 Art, and possibly pick up a refurb 24-70 f/4.

I've had both crop and full and both lenses. It's my opinion that if you liked the 85 f1.8 on the crop camera, then you'll love it on the 6D. I'd buy the 6D, 85 f1.8 (save $ and weight), 35L, and a flash.

I tried to run with 35, 85 & 135, but the 35 was just frustrating me -- always too long or too short, so I swapped it for the 24-70. But some people could happily live with just a 35 and nothing else, so it's all a matter of personal preference... I could happily just live with a 85L and nothing else if I had to, but not a 35.

Qlayer2 wrote in post #17362047
If you have to have those focal lengths, and all prime lenses, replace the 35L with the 35 F2 IS and save $500, or what I would do, get the Sigma 35mm Art, keep the 85mm 1.8, and the 135L. That will bring you in the ballpark.

6d- $1300
35a- $900
135L- $620

$2820

looks good except I might substitute for a Sigma prime

Take your time. Start with what you like. Don't use alternatives, you'll waste more time and money with shortcuts.
If you want 6D take it. If you like 85L at FF pictures and it is yours main subject for photography it is great.
For indoors snapshots and travel - 40mm pancake. You could buy it cheap and sell with little loss later.
It is pleasure and convenience to have something relatively small, but with FF IQ.

And don't listen for those who aren't capable to see the L difference.

When it comes to the 35mm selection I'd choose the 35L...why? It's a mature product that has proven to be rock solid in AF performance "almost" regardless of copy you buy. The Sigma 35 Art series has more micro contrast / sharpness so that's a good thing. However the 35L is still plenty sharp wideopen and will look fantastic both for pixel peepers and without a doubt excellent for print. I use to be incredibly picky about pixel peeping but it comes down to a point where sharpness if extremely important but so is acquiring rock solid AF. When I use the 35L lens I get complete confidence in the AF department. I do not doubt you can find a Sig 35A that works great. My personal preference over the years just makes me look only at Canon OE lenses.

With the incredible low light performance of the 6d. You can consider the 35 f/2 IS. That lens is the fresh line from canon compared to the 35L. The sharpness has similar micro contrast to the newer 24L mk2 rendition.

I'm not a buy/sell kinda guy. Not sure how you deal with your camera gear. Personally I'd buy exactly what you want and dont compromise.

Your 85 f/1.8 is a killer piece of gem in the canon world. 85L purple fringes and so does the 85 f/1.8. If f/2.2 is your sweet spot then keep the f/1.8 version. I do shoot f/1.2 in some cases for that "effect" so this is why I bought the 85Lmk2 many years ago. I sold my 85 f/1.8 because i felt I can always buy another copy down the road. The 85Lmk2 has pig slow AF so this may annoy you depending your subject matter.

dont forget to throw in a 430 exii at least for flash fill.

Just remember the 6d your jumping into a totally different world with shallower dof and high iso performance. If you have a f/2.8 zoom you can use the 6d like a walk around point/shoot :P ramp up the iso to iso 6400 in lower light and have totally clean useable files.

I dont know what you shoot. If you shoot group shots just remember you'll need to stop down the lens more to get proper dof. This is where you can notice that you may possibly get away with f/4 to f/5.6 with your crop but may require to smaller apertures to prevent oof people in the back of the row in a group shot. This is one benefit of a crop sensor for more dof with identical apertures setting on a full frame.

AlanU, thanks for the info about the 35mm. I'm still trying to decide between the Canon and Sigma. I'm hesitant about the potential for focusing issues with the Sigma...

When I had the sigma most of the time it was great focus-wise (though I found colours to be quite cool and the bokeh to be a bit nervous at times), but once ever now and then it just would not focus properly.

Christmas day 2013, when my daughter was 14 months old (so her first proper Christmas) I tried to use it to photograph her opening her presents and it just would not focus properly no matter what I did. At the time I'd bought the 24-70 as a 'replacement' but had held onto the 35 just in case I needed it for really low-light, eg Christmas morning! Was very frustrating and really the final nail for me and that lens - I didn't use it again. It went to B&H for trade-in eventually.

Sigma was great when it was in focus, but honestly, focus accuracy just made culling a chore (lot of tossers). Sold it a few days ago.

Where the heck can you find a 135L refurbed for $613?

Nikon
Nikon D610 refurb 1300
85mm 1.8G 500.00
Sigma 35mm ART 900
SB-700 330

or

Canon
7D Mark II 1800
Canon 1.8 420
Sigma 35mm art 900

I know its a long shot, but I feel like the nikon is currently a better value for entry level FF. I"m not a huge fan of the AF on the 6D.

I'd pick up a Sigma 35 Art and Sigma 85 rather than both the Canon L's