Upgrade Path

[HDNitehawk]

You will find one without the click, just keep swapping till you do.

Your question was to wide to nail down really pointed suggestions.

This was your breakdown;

• Family events-~25%
• Dedicated "portraits"-~10% (usually friends or family)
• Landscapes-~25%
• Wildlife/BIF/etc-~25%
• Misc-~15%

If I were to analyze my needs I would prioritize them. I would suggest you do to.

I take quit a few portraits, but it is not my passion. I play with lighting a bit and friends and family ask me to do shoots and I take it as a challenge to try.
It may comprise 10% of my shots but the end results are not as important to me. So as portraits go, I have the 100mm macro IS and it does fine for the portraits I would want.

Family events for me are documentation time. When I look back at the pictures they are bringing back memories. I don't know about you, but other than as a photographer I do not remember bokeh. So as lenses go for my kit you would have it well covered for the family.

Landscapes, I like landscapes. It would be my second favorite. From looking at your work over the last few years it appears to be a big focus for you as well. I think you could benefit form the 24mm TSE or the 24mm f/1.4. Perhaps even one of the Zeiss primes. Even though you are buying the 24-70mm II I would still suggest one of the primes. While the zoom may be as sharp the primes still win in other areas such as distortion and flare.

Wildlife, my favorite. Sometimes BIF but really wildlife in general. I know you like it to, and I know that you backpack and as you mention Kayak.
So the 600mm might not be the wildlife lens for you. The 300mm f/2.8L II lens would be somewhat portable, but carrying it on a Kayak? Do you find the 100-400mm to be to large on the water? It would be simple for me, I am land locked and the 600mm or 500mm would be the choice. Size and how large would be to large would be a good place to start the decision process. Possibly even use this type of thinking, if I am in a boat on the water I might choose my wife's t4i and a 300mm f/4 before the others. Why? Because dropping a $2000 rig in the river is much more acceptable than dropping $20K

[Kayaker72]

Thanks Everyone...this is doing exactly what I wanted, in that it is provoking thoughts and looking at this from different angles. Ultimately, I am considering making a pretty good sized investment and want to feel a bit better about it. I also need to take a step back from looking at charts and reviews to make sure this is something I really want to do.

Your question was to wide to nail down really pointed suggestions.

Understood.....I think this is broad as I am essentially considering blowing up my whole kit. It is an odd conclusion that I have been coming too, as I am mostly happy with it. I started off thinking I would augment the kit with a specific lens here or there, say the 135 f/2, or the 24 f/1.4. But then I starting thinking of the 85 f/1.2 for portraits, the 35 f/2 IS or f/1.4 and a TS lens. And, as has already been mentioned, I set my sights on the 600 f/4 II for my big white.

Very quickly what was augmenting my kit was getting very costly and the shear number of lenses I wanted was getting large. So, right now I am in the process of circling back to look at my core kit. Perhaps if I improve it, I wouldn't want so many other lenses.

What I have been thinking about for a little while is:

• Ultrawide---unknown at this time...shoot to develop a need and there are only a few times that I've wanted more than 24 mm.
• General purpose: 24-70 f/2.8 II (but still considering 24-105 augmented with primes)
• Telephoto: 70-200 f/2.8 II (but still considering f/4 IS with primes or keeping the 100-400L)
• Macro (which I do very little of)--keep the 100 mm L, but I am debating this.
• Big White---Rick, you already mentioned it, but because of travel, potentially kayaking, and $$, the 300 f/2.8 II.
• 1.4x and 2x TCs

Then my primary travel kit would be the general purpose lens + telephoto.

I can see waiting a while and shooting with the above kit to develop a need, say something at 24 mm or maybe the 85 f/1.2. Of course, I am not sure I can afford the above kit right now. But instead of building a kit by piecemeal, I am trying to decide the overall kit I want and start working toward it.

BTW, I hear you on having $20,000 on a kayak. I am actually concerned about travel. I was fine having $3,000 worth of gear on my back while traveling. Now I am thinking of having my travel kit be ~$8,000??

[Joel Eade]

• Big White---Rick, you already mentioned it, but because of travel, potentially kayaking, and $$, the 300 f/2.8 II.
• 1.4x and 2x TCs

Then my primary travel kit would be the general purpose lens + telephoto.

The 300mm f/2.8L is a fabulous lens and it takes the 1.4 X TC very very well. It will also produce excellent images with the 2.0 X TC III but it is a little more demanding in terms of having good light to really get excellent sharpness and detail such as feathers on a bird. It is smaller and lighter of course than a 600mm f/4L II but the images will not be as good and keep in mind the fact that the 600 also does very well with converters.