Post by greaneyr on Jun 30, 2007 15:06:53 GMT 12
Hey everyone
In a recent change of jobs, I have found myself on the receiving end of a nice exit package and severance payment. The majority of it will be invested, going to either cover my annual leave (assuming my new employer won't allow me to take leave until such and such a time) and to supplement our family assistance payments that IRD feel we're no longer entitled to BECAUSE of the severance payment. However, this has still left me with around $2500 to play with.
I'm probably going to earmark a certain amount of this and just stick it in my photography account as a nest egg so I could theoretically replace my camera if it were to pack in (Canon 300D and is over 3 years-old). My wife, our recently-born son and I living off just one income is a bit of a stretch at times and I know that if my camera gave up, it would be an indefinite length of time before I could get the finances together for a new one. So I'm just planning ahead. Eventually, I plan to make enough money from my photography so my gear can start paying for itself. However, there's a bit of a gap in the focal lengths of my current lenses I'd quite like to fill by spending some of the remaining money.
At the moment, I have the following equipment in my camera bag:
Canon EOS-300D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
Canon EF 100-300mm f4.5-5.6
Marumi 58mm circular polarizing filter
As you can imagine, there have been times when 55mm has been too short but 100mm has been too long (it's usually at close-up displays like helicopter firefighting demos and opportunities you don't want to miss, but you end up missing most of it by changing lenses all the time!). So the logical thing to do is to bridge that gap with a third lens. I don't really rate the 18-55mm lens at all, but also don't want to spend money to replace it with something marginally better that offers no real advantage in terms of focal length.
What I want to start doing is more 'people' photography. This ideally will help bring in some of the elusive $$ that aviation photography doesn't. But, I'd also like to get something that benefits aviation work as well.
I have it down to two choices:
Canon EF 85mm f1.8
Canon EF 70-200mm f4L
85mm:
Well.. it's a prime. I've always found it difficult to actually take that step and buy a prime, fearing that I'll find them too limiting. Some have suggested that you learn to move around more and that a zoom just makes photographers 'lazy'. The key attraction with the prime is the huge aperture and low-light performance. It would be nice to have a lens I can rely on when all the others start needing a tripod, without having to spend $$ on IS. It's a well-regarded lens and performs nicely. Although I have reservations about it's practicality in aviation work.
70-200mm
It's an L-series lens. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it's an L but bad because I've read that once you get a taste of L quality, you never go back. It could open a pandora's box.
On the other hand, it's a zoom and could work in a number of situations where I would previously have used the 100-300 but found it a little too long.
In terms of price, there's no comparison. The 85mm prime is $649 including GST at a parallel importer with a 1-year warranty. You could land one from the US and after paying shipping then GST on the item and shipping, you'd get it down to around $600.
The L is around $1299 at a parallel importer with a 1 year warranty. Landing it from the US will set you back around $900 incl shipping and GST all up.
So that's a price gap of $250-300
The other lens that's potentially of interest is the EF 28-105mm F3.5-4.5 II USM. I have found reviews of the rev 1 that mentioned good image quality but compromises everywhere else. Having looked at images of the two, Rev II has a focus ring (rev 1 does not) and II also costs more. At $449 incl GST from a parallel importer, it's by far the cheapest but how good it is I don't know.
I like the idea of this purchase being something that is going to give me superb quality images and I'm not sure that a sub $500 lens is capable of doing that. That is also the reason for leaving out so many other lenses covering the 55-100mm range.
So, does anyone have any advice? How realistic is it to use a prime in aviation work? I know they make L primes in 200mm, 300mm, 400mm and more so it figures they have to be useful for more than just portrait work.
I'd be interested to see what others think.
Regards
Richard
In a recent change of jobs, I have found myself on the receiving end of a nice exit package and severance payment. The majority of it will be invested, going to either cover my annual leave (assuming my new employer won't allow me to take leave until such and such a time) and to supplement our family assistance payments that IRD feel we're no longer entitled to BECAUSE of the severance payment. However, this has still left me with around $2500 to play with.
I'm probably going to earmark a certain amount of this and just stick it in my photography account as a nest egg so I could theoretically replace my camera if it were to pack in (Canon 300D and is over 3 years-old). My wife, our recently-born son and I living off just one income is a bit of a stretch at times and I know that if my camera gave up, it would be an indefinite length of time before I could get the finances together for a new one. So I'm just planning ahead. Eventually, I plan to make enough money from my photography so my gear can start paying for itself. However, there's a bit of a gap in the focal lengths of my current lenses I'd quite like to fill by spending some of the remaining money.
At the moment, I have the following equipment in my camera bag:
Canon EOS-300D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
Canon EF 100-300mm f4.5-5.6
Marumi 58mm circular polarizing filter
As you can imagine, there have been times when 55mm has been too short but 100mm has been too long (it's usually at close-up displays like helicopter firefighting demos and opportunities you don't want to miss, but you end up missing most of it by changing lenses all the time!). So the logical thing to do is to bridge that gap with a third lens. I don't really rate the 18-55mm lens at all, but also don't want to spend money to replace it with something marginally better that offers no real advantage in terms of focal length.
What I want to start doing is more 'people' photography. This ideally will help bring in some of the elusive $$ that aviation photography doesn't. But, I'd also like to get something that benefits aviation work as well.
I have it down to two choices:
Canon EF 85mm f1.8
Canon EF 70-200mm f4L
85mm:
Well.. it's a prime. I've always found it difficult to actually take that step and buy a prime, fearing that I'll find them too limiting. Some have suggested that you learn to move around more and that a zoom just makes photographers 'lazy'. The key attraction with the prime is the huge aperture and low-light performance. It would be nice to have a lens I can rely on when all the others start needing a tripod, without having to spend $$ on IS. It's a well-regarded lens and performs nicely. Although I have reservations about it's practicality in aviation work.
70-200mm
It's an L-series lens. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it's an L but bad because I've read that once you get a taste of L quality, you never go back. It could open a pandora's box.
On the other hand, it's a zoom and could work in a number of situations where I would previously have used the 100-300 but found it a little too long.
In terms of price, there's no comparison. The 85mm prime is $649 including GST at a parallel importer with a 1-year warranty. You could land one from the US and after paying shipping then GST on the item and shipping, you'd get it down to around $600.
The L is around $1299 at a parallel importer with a 1 year warranty. Landing it from the US will set you back around $900 incl shipping and GST all up.
So that's a price gap of $250-300
The other lens that's potentially of interest is the EF 28-105mm F3.5-4.5 II USM. I have found reviews of the rev 1 that mentioned good image quality but compromises everywhere else. Having looked at images of the two, Rev II has a focus ring (rev 1 does not) and II also costs more. At $449 incl GST from a parallel importer, it's by far the cheapest but how good it is I don't know.
I like the idea of this purchase being something that is going to give me superb quality images and I'm not sure that a sub $500 lens is capable of doing that. That is also the reason for leaving out so many other lenses covering the 55-100mm range.
So, does anyone have any advice? How realistic is it to use a prime in aviation work? I know they make L primes in 200mm, 300mm, 400mm and more so it figures they have to be useful for more than just portrait work.
I'd be interested to see what others think.
Regards
Richard
