Am I dreaming or did I really spend 8 grand on gear?

[wickerprints]

Without knowing what kind of subjects you are interested in shooting, there's no way to recommend a first prime lens.


If you like shooting landscape (judging from the images you elected to post), a wide angle prime would be ideal. Something like the EF 14/2.8L II would be impressive, but expensive and not necessarily the most cost-effective lens for an APS-C sensor. All the wide-angle primes are best used on 35mm sensors. You would also be unable to use any front filters except perhaps for ND grads handheld. The EF-S 10-22 that you got is probably best suited for landscape on a crop body.


If you like shooting fast action and/or low light, then the 50/1.2L or 85/1.2L II are the widest aperture lenses in production for the EF lineup. They are also very nice portrait lenses. But IMO, the 85/1.2 is the better of the two lenses.


If you like portraiture, in addition to the above f/1.2 lenses, you could get the 135/2L. Headshots are even possible with a 200/2.8 or 300/4. Some photographers like using telephoto lenses for portraiture.


If you like sports or event photography, then the 200/2L IS, 300/2.8L IS, and 400/2.8L IS are the appropriate lenses, but they are all extremely expensive.


And if you like wildlife, then prepare to sign all future earnings away to Canon because then we're talking about the 500/4L, 600/4L, and 800/5.6L (all IS). If you want to photograph birds in flight, or get that elusive nature shot, it is not a question of "if" you will buy one of these, but when. The 500/4 seems to be the most popular, as it is the lightest and most affordable of the group by far.


That's my quick overview of most of the L primes. There are some that I haven't mentioned, such as some of the wide-angles, macros, and smaller-aperture superteles. They too have their purpose! Personally, I find there's something very "zen" about macrophotography. The 100/2.8L macro IS works beautifully.


Now, there are situations where you buy a lens that opens up a whole new subject for you--for example, I was not particularly interested in wildlife until I got my 70-200/2.8L IS and discovered I kept using it @ 200mm. But for the most part, I think you have to explore and think about what subjects interest you most, then find the appropriate prime to suit that style of shooting. The zooms are there to facilitate that kind of exploration.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

The best way to learn about the technical aspect of photography is to shoot a lot, recognize your mistakes and figure out how to fix those mistakes. You are set for every type of photography with the line up of gears you listed, so I suggest you hold on to buying anymore gears and concentrate on shooting and finding out a specific discipline. Good luck!