Hi Silkylead,

First off, welcome to the forum!

Regarding the lens selection, it would be helpful if you could elaborate on what you like to shoot and where you have found yourself limited. The EFS 15-85 is a great lens. While I do not shoot crop anymore, it is still one of my favorite general purpose lenses as it provides very good IQ over a very wide and useful focal length range. The 50 f/1.8 is a great value. I owned it and really liked the images I got from it at greater than f/2.8. I upgraded to the 50 f/1.4 for faster AF and really liked the images I got off that lens at greater than f/2 (at least center frame). So, there would be a potential upgrade I could recommend, if you view that as a need. I've heard good things about the 70-300 IS. I never owned one. Generally speaking, I would almost call the IQ between the 70-300 IS and the 55-250 STM to be a wash. It seems that which lens has better IQ changes with each focal length. So, if you like your 70-300 IS, I wouldn't change it. If you have issues, you may want to consider an upgrade say to a 70-200 f/4 (1 more stop, slightly better IQ) or 100-400 II (more reach, better IQ), depending upon your budget.

Regarding the camera body, I would expect some improvement in IQ between the T2i and 70D, and slightly better control of noise. But the real changes have been improved specs. Of course, this gets down to if any of these interest you, but what would interest me would be:

  • Almost double fps
  • Better battery life
  • 19 cross type AF points
  • Multiple AF point selection modes
  • Ability to AFMA
  • Better viewfinder
  • Less shutter lag
  • Physical size (Rebels do not fit in my hand well)


For me, there are some nice features there that would help me capture images. But that is what I shoot.

But, at least my experience, the biggest jump in IQ is going from P&S to a DSLR. Upgrading to the 70D would not be the same kind of jump in IQ. But, there are still nice benefits. Jumping to FF would be a bit more of an IQ jump. But, to me, still not as big as going from P&S to a crop sensor DSLR.