Canon: my 5 year purchase plan

<p>Hi everyone. This is my 5 year Canon purchase plan. I was wondering what you guys think of it. For now I'm limited by budget but I expect this to change as the years fly on by :)</p>

<p>Mostly I'm into travel, some portrait / macro work using a G9. I've used various dSLRs over the years, mostly Nikons, but believe I'd be happier with the following. BTW, as I already own an EF 100/2 I expect this to be a part of my kit for a while.</p>

<p><strong>Year 1: </strong>used 20D; new or used 17-85 IS and, if there's some spare change, a 50/1.8 (though I'm thinking the 100/2 will handle low light situations fine on its own).</p>

<p><strong>Year 2: </strong>A new laptop. Something with more RAM and a much bigger screen. Probably also a polarizer and split-density filter.</p>

<p><strong>Year 3: </strong>Tripod and ballhead, 1.4 x Teleconverter</p>

<p><strong>Year 4: </strong>EF 135/2 L</p>

<p><strong>Year 5: </strong>A new camera. By 2015 Canon should still be around, right ;-)</p>

<p>What say ye?</p>

<p>Rus</p>

<p>Russ<br>

It's good to have a rough idea. My experience is that directions spring up in the light of real experience. I suggest you go with a used xxD, 40 if possible and shoot and review like mad.</p>

<p>my 5 year purchase plan:</p>

<p>-S-10 w/ a V8<br />-wedding band to accompany my fiancee's engagement ring (maybe that should go first)<br />-948 McDonald's double cheeseburgers<br />-hopefully a 400mm f/5.6L in there somewhere</p>

<p>As for your list. Those are good things to have, especially the tripod and polarizer, I would get them ASAP, but I know money doesn't exactly grow on trees, or so they say. I also think some things may happen sooner than you think. I always say, "I should have this body for the next 10 years" when I buy a new (to me) camera, but as time passes used prices drop and I always end up buying a better camera sooner than I plan. I don't think I've kept a body for more than 2 years yet. You may also want to consider a flash in there too. They can open up just as many possibilities as a new lens.</p>

<p>oh and as for the laptop, I just upgraded the RAM in my current laptop for next to nothing. This may be a better use of your funds than a new laptop. </p>

<p>There doesn't seem to be a lot of point to the 1.4x teleconverter in year 3, since you won't yet have a lens it works with. It will work with the 135/2, so just save that money and buy them together in year 4.</p>

<p>Otherwise looks good, assuming you've evaluated your needs well. It is definitely a good idea to think out a multi-year strategy for purchases.</p>

<p>Jim: wish I could but my budget says 20D. Unless I buy a kit lens ...</p>

<p>Nathan: yeah, I agree as to the unpredictability and it does make sense to move the tripod forward but I am using an Acer Netbook with a 10" screen... though this can be supplemented with an external LCD monitor and an extra gig of RAM will always help. Oh, and congrats on the wedding.</p>

<p>Alan, agreed on buying the tele 1.4 and the 135 together. I must admit I may change this as I anticipate moving to South Africa soon and a 70-200 / 4 may be a more sensible purchase but for the most part it's where I want to go in terms of gradually being able to buy good glass.</p>

<p>I'd buy the 20D and a 50 /1.8 - shoot, shoot and learn.</p>

<p>My five-year purchase plan: buy everything in year one, and then use it in years 2-5. Life is short; year 5, or 4, or 3, or 2 may not materialize. </p>

<p>To my astonishment, having seen some previous efforts at this sort of planning, I think your 5-year Plan makes good sense. The 20D has enough pixels and good enough performance overall to serve you well. The EF-S 17-85mm IS has a few compromises (but any other lens of the same sort of range shares these to a greater or lesser degree). The 20D is still a favorite of mine - even though I have two other Canons with more pixels.<br>

If you can stretch to a EF 50mm f/1.8 you may be able to find it on eBay for a quite reasonable price. It is a good choice for low light and street shooting on an APS-C body.</p>

Why not the 18-55 IS kitlens? Cheaper than the 17-85, for longer you have the 100 and in it's range it's better than

the 17-85. (lacking USM though)

 

Have fun, Matthijs

Why not the 18-55 IS kitlens? Cheaper than the 17-85, for longer you have the 100 and in it's range it's better than

the 17-85. (lacking USM though)

 

Have fun, Matthijs

Scrap the 20D.

 

Buy the tripod for use with your G9.

 

In a year or two buy a T2i with a kit lens.

<p>Photography is about creating pictures more than it is about owning cameras and bits. How about a couple of different "five year plans"</p>

<ul>

<li> How you expect your photography to develop in the next few years. How your subjects and approaches might change. What portfolios you'rd like to develop; what you might want to achieve in that timeframe. You never know, you might even get a better idea about what camera equipment you're going to need to get the job done rather than just planning equipment purchases in isolation.</li>

<li>The places you'd like to visit in the next five years to aid your photographic development. Personally I've always put travel to places I need to photograph to put together the images I want ahead of buying equipment. I only buy anything when I need it to achieve something specific in my photography. </li>

</ul>

<p>Photography is about creating pictures more than it is about owning cameras and bits. How about a couple of different "five year plans"</p>

<ul>

<li> How you expect your photography to develop in the next few years. How your subjects and approaches might change. What portfolios you'rd like to develop; what you might want to achieve in that timeframe. You never know, you might even get a better idea about what camera equipment you're going to need to get the job done rather than just planning equipment purchases in isolation.</li>

<li>The places you'd like to visit in the next five years to aid your photographic development. Personally I've always put travel to places I need to photograph to put together the images I want ahead of buying equipment. I only buy anything when I need it to achieve something specific in my photography. </li>

</ul>

<p>In five years time everything we are using now will be redundant. All post processing will be done incamera. All image file formats will be replaced, rendering all your archives lost. <br>

Windows will be dead, so will the internet and Iran will have nuked Israel.<br>

The US and the UK will have gone broke and China and India will rule the world.<br>

I'll be growing organic food on a farm and there will be no mobile phones anymore when we realise that we can be tracked down to 5m.<br>

But I'll still have my film cameras and will be able to make beautiful images without a computer.</p>

<p>My plan is not driven totally by budget. I know that the bulk of my shots are between 1X-8Xmm; ISO average between 80-800, and 2/3 at variable apertures from f/3.5 and up. I reckon the 20D can handle that.</p>

<p>I do some low light work but mostly its daylight stuff. I dont see this changing much.<br /><br /><br>

Jim, if I was to go a prime-only route the 50 would not be my lens for daily shooting; I'd rather go for the 28/2.8. Wide and fast enough and new, costs as much as the 17-85.<br /><br /><br>

Stephen, yeah, if I had the money I'd buy it all now, and, because I intend trading my old kit from another brand, I will be getting more than my $800 will buy me. But that will only be when I rerturn to my home country where I know I can get good prices for used equipment. While I am on the road I intend taking advantage of the pricing here, on average 20-30% less!<br /><br /><br>

Matthijs; Why not the 18-55 IS kitlens? - well, the lack of USM is a factor. Would you say it's better in terms of IQ than the 17-85? In terms of focal length I agree, the 100/2 has me covered. Only I won't be near it for another month or two. Though you have raised an interesting point:<br>

> buy the 18-55 IS AND a 50/1.8 for low light, supplementing it with the 100/2 in a few months time.<br>

<br />Dan South; yeah, I have in the past toyed with the idea of just using the G9, and it's great for daylight photography, but at night or indoors... I have a bunch of images that are unusable because of noise when I made my once and only attempt to photogrpah an indoor concert with a Point n Shoot. Never again.<br /><br /><br>

Shadforth; ya, I hear you. 2012 is around the corner and I am tempted to buy a Nikon EM, 75-150/3.5 zoom and 50/1.8 E-Series lenses just in case. Funnily enough the only two images I have had published were made with that setup. No auto nothing, no more than 1 FPS, AF my tochus... Should never have e-bayed it :(</p>

<p>David, thanks for your thoughtful response. Having thought about it I realise that my photography has developed due to my location. When I moved to Israel 6 years ago I had a Nikon EM which I was using to happily snap shots of friends and random street scenes. Id done a course and knew how to work in a darkroom and handle my own printing. But at the time, as an immigrant, I never had an opportunity to set up a darkroom, etc and so I moved on, like so many of us, to digital.</p>

<p> Having left crime-ridden South africa I was suddenly freed up to photograph everything and anything: my cameras went with me everywhere. Every morning now I walk to the neighbourhood bakery and take my 6MP dSLR with me - I would NEVER do that in South Africa, it's way too dangerous.</p>

<p> Some trends have become apparent:</p>

<p> I'm living in a small town with a lot of art galleries; I'm frequently asked to take shots of paintings and jewelry. I used my G9 for this until it broke but I have toyed with the idea of lashing out on a setup that would allow me to do product photography. You know, a flash, tripod, macro lens, a couple lights, an umbrella and softbox.</p>

<p>I do have in mind to shoot something to illustrate a Jewish prayerbook for the festival of Passover next year. Are you familiar with the work of Israeli photographer, Yuval Nadel? Check out http://yuvalnadel.com/</p>

<p>I quite enjoy his depictions of religious Jewish life and I suspect that if I go this route I will need a tele in some form or another in part because the religious are somewhat anti-photography. That said, if I was to work on a special project i would get permission prior to shooting.</p>

<p>So yeah, that's it. I may be fortunate enough to visit Asia and the USA over the next five years if I can get steady work but will see how that goes.</p>

<p>What do you think? I realize this kinda clashes with my original list but hey, sometimes one has to go with the flow</p>

<p>Bearing the above in mind, yours and my previous responses, here's an alternative list:</p>

<ul>

<li>20D</li>

<li>18-55 IS</li>

<li>50/1.8 or EF-S 60/2.8 Macro</li>

<li>Flash, 2x lights, stands, softbox, umbrella, tripod n ballhead</li>

<li>External LCD monitor, external drive, 1GB of extra RAM</li>

</ul>

<p>What do you think? I realize this differs from my original list, and it's not time-specific (rather it depends on whether or not I have that much money to spend on my hobby right now) but...</p>

<p>no flash, pocket wizard, SOFTWARE, printer, money for marital counseling...</p>

<p>i like the S-10 V8 though :)</p>

<p>You're right, how could I have forgotten the printer? I must say that's something I am looking forward to, tired of looking at my stuff on screen.</p>