Potential new gear

hello,

I am over the moon at the fact that I have 2 weddings booked in next year (both with only a very minimal bit of web advertising!). I currently have a 20D with the 17-85mm lens. And now its time to shop! This is my current list for updating my kit, I'd really like to know what others think:

5D
17-40mm f4 L
70-200mm f2.8L usm
abouit another 6GB of storage (o top of the current 2.5)
A speedlite (but not a 580 as that will really bust my budget) or maybe a sigma/metz flashgun.

I'll keep the 20d as the second body, after all there is nothing wrong with it and with one of the L lenses mentioned above it should be even better!

What do you think?

cheers in advance for the advice

Rhys.

I certainly wouldn't mind that addition to my gear! Looks good; however, if cash allows it at some point, I would throw in a low light prime for the 5D (a 50mm f/1.4 would be my first choice.)

17-40L might be a bit wide and slow on a 5D, can you stretch to the 24-70?

Or get some fast primes, 50 f1.4 85 f1.8 etc.

Yes I was a bit concerned about the f4 on the 17-40. will look into the 24-70 (see if its on rebate!)

430ex if funds allow. Spare batteries - 20d and 5d use the same ones ( I would put off buying these until closer to your weddings), maybe another 10gb of memory instesd of 6. The 5d uses a lot more than 20d. If shooting RAW ( which you will be, right?) you'll only get about 50 shots per gig.

Congrats on getting some bookings !

I always found the 17-85 quite soft and slow when my mate had one, that was one of the first things we replaced in his kit with the 17-55 F2.8 IS.

If your budget is limited maybe consider the 30D or 40D instead of the 5D and use the money that you save on better lenses instead. 17-40 F4 would be a bit wide on the 5D as already mentioned and also way too slow for my liking, I am quite often at 1/30 with ISO 1600 at the moment so an F4 lens and no IS wouldn't really be much use to me in those situations.

If you cant afford the 580 at the moment then the 430EX is nice and also gives you the option of getting a 580 later which would then give you the ability to fire a remote flash without adding further kit, if your thinking about buying Metz or something else then make sure thats your plan for the future rather than saving a few pounds now that will cost you more later on to change a complete new system.

I'd keep the 20D and get a 17-55 IS and 580 EX instead of the 5D.

You do need a socond body. that's for sure ..with 5d possibly getting rebates pretty soon it's no brainer to me. It has the same buttons layout as 20d ( i think?) so learning curve will be short, arguably it is IQ wise the best dslr out there until new 1ds is out and trust me mark III is not all that much better, if at all. You need to have 24-70 with 5D ..it is THE lens, fitted perfectly for FF. My 5d /24-70 combo still amazes me when it goes to sharpness and AF consistancy. I am thinking about 17-40 for it but that would be used for "fun" shots only ..i might as well shoot the whole event with 24-70 and don't miss any other glass ...well maybe except 70-200 for it's amazing bokeh. by the way just shot recently with my friend's d2x and nikkor 70-200. Very sharp lens but it's bokeh looks like s#$%! Not that it has anything to do with this thread ...geeezzz to much coffee at once ......

Second the 24-70, my wedding kit is
5d
40d
24-70f2.8
70-200 f2.8IS
85mm f1.8
580exII
430ex.

I'd dump the 5D and just go for a 40D or 30D personally, and get more accessories.

I wouldn't show up with less than two speedlites.

I'd also get a really good primary lens.

For the same price of your 5D + 17-40 after rebates, you can get:
Brand new 30D
17-55 IS
TWO 580EX units


With the 5D, 20D, 17-40, 70-200 and one non-580 flash, YOU ARE NOT FULLY EQUIPPED. I repeat, you are NOT fully equipped. Getting a 5D at the cost of an imcomplete kit is absolutely NOT a good idea.

If you can sell your 17-85, then you may even have some cash left over for an excellent low light prime, like the Sigma 30 1.4 which you can get for $369 new at sigma4less.com, or save up for the 10-22.

A 5D is not gonna get you better pictures. That part it up to YOU and your skills.

6 GB extra to your existing 2.5 GB is not enough. Memory cards are cheap, nothing worse than running short of memory, raw files are demanding. Expect 13 MB for a file of the 5D. An extremely fast card is useless in most cases, as the camera won't use the maximum speed. Most card readers can't even the potential reading speed of Sandisk Ultra 2 cards. You pay only for more security.

When getting the 70-200 2.8, only the one with IS.

The 50 1.4 on the 5D is a wonderful low light combo. I use it quite a lot.

What Lloyd has said is spot on, you have to have backups for the critical stuff right from the very first wedding, things can and do go wrong and when your new to this business you are less likely to be able to fix something quickly and more likely to struggle/panic if something does fail.

We had a brand new 30D die at our first paid wedding, just wouldnt work at all and had to be returned to Canon. Similairly one of our 17-55's was dead part way through the day as my partner clipped it on a door frame whilst rushing about. My 17-55 died mid wedding when it was 7 months old, wouldnt AF at all. We broke a flash at a recent wedding when the 30D and 70-200 rolled over breaking the flash foot.

Neither of us are particularly clumsy (well I arent anwyay ) but when your shooting weddings you spend all day rushing about using your gear stuff does go wrong so you have to have backups.

picturecrazy wrote in post #4042603
With the 5D, 20D, 17-40, 70-200 and one non-580 flash, YOU ARE NOT FULLY EQUIPPED. I repeat, you are NOT fully equipped. Getting a 5D at the cost of an imcomplete kit is absolutely NOT a good idea.
...
A 5D is not gonna get you better pictures. That part it up to YOU and your skills.

I second this. Better gear doesn't get us better photographers. You must know the gear and how to use it, unless ... see attachment

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Hi, I'm not assuming that a 5D will make me a better photographer! I know that!
I m trying to get some newer and better kit for about 2500uk pounds. I'm now eyeing up the Sigma 24-70mm EX DG as its a fraction of the price of the Canon equivalent and has been getting good reviews.
So what would people go for knowing that 2500 ukpounds was my budget?

I echo what other people have said.

You have a $5,000USD budget? If I had $5k to spend I'd get:

2x 30D's
2x 580EX's
a 17-55f/2.8 IS or a 24-70f/2.8L
a 70-200 f/2.8L
CF cards, batteries, and other misc. equipment.

That'll set you right around $5kUSD mark.