anoop6ue

While it is true that the 350D and the 400D have been released since, the 300D is still a good photographic tool if you can tolerate its (lack of) speed for CF card writes and image review. The high-ISO performance of the newer models may be a tad better but the 300D can still produce excellent 8x10-worthy images at ISO 800.

 

If you have the money for a 400D buy it instead. If you are on a limited budget, by all means buy the 300D and start shooting. I still haven't upgraded from mine. :)

If I were you, I would simply replace the Tamron 19-35 with the excellent Tamron 17-50/2.8, and keep everything else that you already own. And I'd still be left with $4,550 to spare. :)

 

Hmm, on second thoughts maybe I'd add a macro, say the Canon 60/2.8 or the Canon 100/2.8 or the Tamron 90/2.8, for closeups.

 

And if I really had that much cash saved up, I'd probably look into the excellent Canon 17-55/2.8-IS or the Canon 24-70/2.8L or Canon 24-105/4L-IS as a general purpose walkabout lens.

 

And I'd probably replace the 70-200/4L with a 70-200/2.8L-IS while I was at it. Mind you, I'd sell the 70-200/4L on eBay for a good three to four hundred greenbacks.

 

After doing all that, I'd still have an awful lot of cash burning a big hole in my pocket, especially if I sold all those pre-owned lenses on eBay. So I'd go on a two-week trip to Peru or Alaska or Greece. :)

I rented a 50/2.5 macro from my local camera store here last weekend. I got some decent shots but later on when reviewing my photos at home I realized that I really needed to be aware of the depth of field when I'm shooting macro.

 

Why don't you just rent a macro lens for a day or for a weekend? Should be fun, and it will let you decide whether or not macro is for you.

Whichever flash you end up buying, make sure you read the following excellent tutorial on using flash:

 

http://planetneil.com/faq/flash-techniques.html

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My walkabout lens on a 1.6x crop body is the excellent EF 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM. It has ring USM (full-time manual for those who like that), has good contrast with the hood on, and provides sharp pictures. It's only $300 so its a consumer grade lens but given its versatile zoom range and image quality I'm surprised it isn't mentioned more often on this forum. Excellent value for money. No IS though.

I have two lenses I use regularly.

 

My 50/1.8 is a great portrait lens for taking candid portraits in low lighting indoors, without flash. My friends and I have had much fun with portraits taken with this lens. Unless you are in love with USM, I don't think it's worth paying the extra for the 1.4.

 

My 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM lens is a great consumer-grade lens for outdoor shooting in not-too-low light. It won't work for weddings though it will give you a good idea of what these focal lengths can do until you save up for some L glass. It's an EF lens so it will fit a full-frame body as well. When used with the hood outdoors it has good contrast and no flare (so far). The range of focal lengths makes it quite versatile, even with my 1.6x crop body. Very little chromatic aberration, practically negligible. On a 1.6x body, the wide end is 38mm equivalent. I find that sufficient for all my needs, and I don't like the convergent-lines perspective of ultrawides anyway.

 

The 24-85 zoom is a hidden gem. I'm surprised it isn't mentioned more often in this forum.

<p> Since numeric ratings are highly subjective (beauty lies in the eye of the beholder) scrap them altogether. Keep the comments.

 

<p> Failing that, give the ratings numbers some meaning. Like </p>

 

<ol>

<li> Poor

<li> Average

<li> Good

<li> Excellent

</ol>

 

<p> As mentioned in comments above, 1 to 10 is too wide a spread for a meaningful judgment.

Didn't work for me in Toronto.

 

<p> It was a very hectic day, and they were short-staffed or something. I was told that since there was a long queue behind me for security check, it was either the machine or a ten-minute wait for a hand inspection. My flight was leaving soon so I chose the machine (no leadlined bag). I had no fogging problems with my film.