Hi all, found this forum while searching for reviews. Found a very nice topic with dog pictures too. So I joined to ask for a little help.
This is in my camera bag:
40D w/grip
28-105 f/3.5-4.5
70-210 f/3.5-4.5
28 f/1.8
50 f/1.8
85 f/1.8
Panasonic LX3.
Main intrest : my dogs, holiday, occasional concerts and ( outdoors) portrait.
Basically amateur stuff, still have to learn a lot , also ( especially) in the post process department.
But as most amateurs, with a little cash, I’m looking to upgrade some of my gear. I have about Euro 1200,00 or USD 1500,00 to spend.
At first I was thinking to upgrade to a 7D, but I think I can better invest in lenses.
Wide Angle lens
The LX3 covers this quite good with the excellent 24mm lens. I live in Holland and the use of a more wider lens I have not found. Maybe in future I will add a wideangle zoom
Walkaround lens
The 28-105 not a bad lens, most of the time it’s on my camera, but it would be nice if it had a little more wide angle.
24-105 f/4L IS would be nice but it’s a little too expensive, and suffers from flare, which is a problem, since a lot of my walking with the dogs is on the beach. Anyway maybe consider to buy it 2nd hand.
15-85 f/3.5-5.6 IS really like this lens. Even if I would consider to go FF in future, I think this is currently the best standard zoom lens available, bit pricey though
17-85 /f 4.0-5.6 IS I wonder if this lens optics are so much worse than my 28-105, or are they comparable? Since you can easily buy this lens 2nd hand for about Euro 200,00 it would be a good option.
17-55 f/2.8 IS , too expensive considering my budget
Tele(zoom) lens
My old trusty and cheap 70 -210 really serves me well. Occasionally it wont focus at 200mm, don’t know what it is. But if I zoom back and forth the problem is solves.
Upgrade options;
70-200 f/4.0 IS as an upgrade, not too big, IS could be handy. But is the AF faster than the 70-210? When my ( black) dogs run at the beach I always struggle to keep them in focus.
200 f/2.8 I really like this lens, I used to have an FD 200 2.8 and loved the bokeh.
AF is pretty fast also on this lens I believe.
135 f/2.0 also nice , less reach, but could be useful for other subjects , but as with the 200.2.8 I would lose the convenience of the zoom.
100-400 f4.5-5.6 this is serious option as well. I would give me some more reach , it’s a pity that the minimum focus distance is 5.9' (1.8m) . Maybe it also handles less handy compared to a 70 -200 zoom lens. Bit worried about using the push –pull zoom also on the beach.
So these are my considerations. Appreciate your comments!
