When to upgrade the body...

So I've had my rebel XS for a few months now and as a beginner hobbyist I'm very happy with it. I also just picked up a 55 - 250 and have no complaints with that either (so my collection is now the 55-250 and the kit lens).

I have my eye on the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM and figure it will take me around 6 - 7 months to save up for it. By that point I'll have had my XS for about a year.. So is it worth it to put off another body that long in exchange for a timeless lens or should I be saving up for a new body instead of the lens? Thanks!

Depending on how much you want to upgrade, I'd go for the lens. If you jump to a 7D, for example, you are going to want good glass right away. I had the XS and a 70-200 2.8 IS and got great pictures.

If you have only just picked up photography, I would say don't worry about the body. The XS will do much of what you need. Work the lenses that you have and develop your photographic technique. When you find that the body or a lens is holding you back, then upgrade it. Try not to develop gear envy, though 'round here that is hard sometimes.

At this point go for the glass.

My L lenses that I used on film bodies are worth way more than I paid for them back in the day.

If you bought a Mk1 at the same time--around 5K--It's now worth about $400.

Don't get caught up in the megapixel race-It's highly overrated

Glass. For real and for keeps. My 1D2 was grands way back when, now it's sub $1k with all the accessories and extras. You'll see what lenses and time learned and earned technique can do for any camera

unless you hit the limits of the body you dont need to upgrade. They all have manual and semi auto modes so you can grow as a photographer just fine with what you have.

For example in the future you may find you shoot a lot of sports so you would want to take advantage of a camera like the 7D. You may find your interest is in portraits which would mean you might want to invest in lighting or maybe even full frame.

Basically dont worry about it. Worry about glass and light first.... any camera body is able to create excellent images.

Glass first.

whatever limits you first. if you are happy with your current gear, wait until you are unhappy with something.

it took me a while to develop my preferred shooting style, and now I'm cleaning house and starting over.
buying blindly is a quick way to spend a lot of money and not be content.

Slightly different point of view. If your a professional, upgrade when a new body will lead to larger profits. If your shooting for fun, upgrade whenever you want to. That's the nice thing about shooting for fun, you don't need a reason other than the joy of doing it.

Save for glass. I wouldn't rush to get a new body. Some of my best pics are with my first dSLR (a 20D).

Glass first, but even that has to be done with some care.

For instance, you have the 18-55 IS and the 55-250 IS. Both of those lenses produce quite decent image quality.

You're looking at the 24-105L, but the real question is: what advantages would you gain by getting that lens?

Your current lenses already have good IS, so you won't gain anything there to speak of. Your current lenses range from f/3.5 to f/5.6 (depending on focal length). The 24-105L gets you f/4 across its zoom range, but that's at most only a stop faster than the current lenses you have. And your body has no weathersealing, so the weathersealing on the 24-105 won't be of any use to you, either.

The bottom line is that you won't be gaining all that much by going for the 24-105L.


Just as with your camera body, you should shoot for a while with the body and lenses you have until you figure out what you're really missing. For instance, you may find that you want a significantly shallower depth of field, and therefore need a significantly wider aperture for some shots. For dealing with that, you may want to start looking at some primes. There are some very good ones out there, e.g. the Canon 85 f/1.8, the 50 f/1.4 (I prefer the Sigma version of that one, though, but the Canon version is no slouch), the Sigma 30 f/1.4, etc. You can pick up two or three of those for the price of just the 24-105L alone.

Or you may find that even 250mm isn't long enough for the shots you're taking, and you need something longer. There are quite a lot of options there.

Or maybe you decide you can't focus close enough and need a lens that's capable of doing macro. There are lots of options there as well.


But until you've got a decent amount of experience, there's no way you'll really know what you need, and you'll wind up putting your money into lenses that you will gain little from.


Oh, one more thing: pick up the Canon 50 f/1.8. It's cheap enough and good enough that it's worth having just so you'll have a prime lens to play with, so you can learn the ins and outs of wide-aperture shooting.

I bought my 300D back in 2005 and used it right up to when I bought my 50D in February 2010. Between then I bought the 70-200 2.8 and used that primarily.

My motivation for upgrading to the 50D started when I found some scenes to be too dynamic for the relatively slow shutter speeds of the 300D. As time went on I really found myself maxing out the camera in various situations. It became obvious the time to upgrade was near.

Bought the 50D and the 24-70 with it and I never look back. So as most others here have said, go with the glass. Stick with it for longer than a year. When the time comes for you, you will know.

Good luck with your purchases!

I wouldn't repeat what the rest has to say about glasses since its undeniably the most important piece of equipment you will need in your system.

For me, the only time when I need an extra body is when the photo I want to capture cannot be done with my existing ones. Eg. I want to blow up to a size where my MP doesn't allow. Capture my dogs or some wildlife running and need higher FPS. Or I need to go high attitude places where I'm afraid my bodies wouldn't operate under that kind of condition etc.

In any case, you get the idea.

Till you really hit a high high high number of shutter counts.

@kc brown, is it worth spending that money on a prime lens? I don't really know how or why I would use one and I was looking to experiment with a speedlight..