Camera? Lens? Neither?

Dilemma here and need some thoughts on what to do.

I currently own a 50D and XTi and a Panny LX3 point and shoot. My lenses are the Siggy 10-20, Tamron 17-50 (non VC), and the Canon 70-200 f/4 with IS.

Dilemma is a travel camera, or camera that would be good for bike touring.

I mainly shoot landscapes and the 50D with the Sigma 10-20 is my main choice to do so. The Canon 70-200 pairs nicly with it and covers basic needs

I was late to the digital game, holding out with medium format. When I made the jump I got a Rebel XTi with the Tamron 17-50. Now my main setup is the 50D with Sigma 10-20 and the Canon 70-200 for longer reach. I have a Panasonic LX3 as a pocket camera.

Overall I am happy with the setup and my roadmap is to wait for the 5D3. When that camera arrives I’ll get it and a wide zoom for full frame like the 17-40mm. Thing is right now that is an unknown factor. While I expect the 5D3 at the end of this year, we still have no real idea on when it will get here. So with that as a background………

I have started doing longer bike road trips 20-40 miles at a time and I currently take the LX3 which is great for snapshots and can work for decent landscape images. However as I find more potentially better scenes I wish I had the power/quality of a DSLR.

The 50D Sigma combo is rather bulky and requires a larger backpack than I enjoy on a 40 mile bike ride.

Considered the Rebel XTi with Tamron but I like that combo less and less. A lot of reviewers seem to like that lens but I have come around to finding it bulky, noisy, a poor performer in manual focus and AF on the wider end stinks. I can get better performance out of it on the 50d using live view but the Rebel XTi does not have that feature.

So what I am considering is picking up a Canon 18-55 IS kit lens. Hoping that I now have the smaller lighter package that will AF better. ($170). I also considered something small like the 50 1.8 but really want wider than that. The new kit lens seems to rate better these days. I mainly shoot at f/5.6 8 or 11 so lens speed matters less to me. I'll use a tripod but IS would be nice too. Still no live view on my XTi with this route.

Another thought is upgrading the Rebel to a T2i or T3i and kit lens. The extra bump in MP, newer sensor with higher ISO capabilities, live view, etc ($800ish). This gives me a smaller sized travel camera, keeps in Canon lenses.

Move to a Micro 4/3 camera. Some of the new Oly's like the Pen Mini look neat. Smaller than the Rebel. Pair it with the Oly 9-18mm lens (18-36 eq is close to what my 10-20 gives me). $1000+ cost. It would be another system.

Or maybe do nothing. Make do with the Panny or the Rebel-Tamron combo for the bike and save/wait for a 5D3 (whenever that is).

Any thoughts?

This is going in a completely different direction, but have you considered a Powershot? I am consistently amazed at the quality of the images I get from my G12, and it could hardly be considered "bulky" compared to a DSLR...

how about the 15-85mm from canon?

BreitlingFan wrote in post #12817934
This is going in a completely different direction, but have you considered a Powershot? I am consistently amazed at the quality of the images I get from my G12, and it could hardly be considered "bulky" compared to a DSLR...

My Panasonic LX3 already falls in that category. Those advanced compacts like that are great. I really like the LX3 but there are times on thr bike I find scenes I wish I had the DSLR for that extra quality.

Now if Canon would drop a 4/3 or APS-C sized sensor in a G series, I would go that way hands down as a travel camera.

rick_reno wrote in post #12817972
how about the 15-85mm from canon?

Maybe. Great focal range. Probably as bulky as the Tamron or even more so.

Wanting to get as light and compact as I can while still having larger sensor, so that makes me think more toward the 18-55 kit.