A question that has been on my mind

[UmiKaibutsu]

Take out a loan and buy everything you want. That will maximize your satisfaction. By the nature of the market you will not be fully satisfied unless you do so. Also, when you go shooting, hire a very subservient and knowledgeable laborer to carry all of your gear. Laborers are cheap.

Please do it. Do it now. Show us the pictures of your satisfaction.

[HDNitehawk]

Take out a loan and buy everything you want. That will maximize your satisfaction. By the nature of the market you will not be fully satisfied unless you do so. Also, when you go shooting, hire a very subservient and knowledgeable laborer to carry all of your gear. Laborers are cheap.

Please do it. Do it now. Show us the pictures of your satisfaction.

Worst advice so far. Debt is bondage. If you have to borrow money to fuel your hobby then it might be wise to rethink your finances.
Still this is more in line with comments I would expect to see in the CR forum.

[Sean Setters]

Worst advice so far. Debt is bondage. If you have to borrow money to fuel your hobby then it might be wise to rethink your finances.
Still this is more in line with comments I would expect to see in the CR forum.

I think we can all agree that particular comment was made tongue-in-cheek. ;-)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

[Local Hero]

I think we can all agree that particular comment was made tongue-in-cheek. ;-)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

My families approach to finances is to avoid debt at all costs. So naturally I have to save up before making any kind of purchase. Having an engineering background I approach this in a very orderly fashion and with a plan of attack. Hence me trying to plan out where I will go next months (hopefully not but potentially over a year) in advance.

[Sean Setters]

Hence me trying to plan out where I will go next months (hopefully not but potentially over a year) in advance.

I used to plan out my purchases well in advance. I'd comb over the reviews and know absolutely everything before I plunked down the investment. However, the bar on that effort is getting a bit higher.

Case in point - I bought one of the Zoom H2N Digital Recorders that was posted to the news section today. I've been using a Tascam DR-07, but I wanted to try something new. Knowing that the reviews on the H2N were pretty good, I went ahead and bought one without doing my usual week of research and 1-2 months of waiting.

I guess what I'm trying to say is - the planning is proportional to the investment. ;-)

[HDNitehawk]

I think we can all agree that particular comment was made tongue-in-cheek. ;-)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

A dig or a pun, sometimes the meaning gets lost in the translation and one questions which.

[iND]

My choice is the 24-70 hands down, it is my wedding lens and I have two of them.
They are on all day.

Specialty shots below 70 I use a 50 1.4 and 24 1.4 for real low light situations (the 24 is great for a dark church with no flash)

I use the 17-40 for the wider group shots.

[Kayaker72]

I mounted my 24-70mm II on my 5D II and it is my walk around kit now. This is the most accurate lens I have ever had on my 5D II.

However if I had to choose just one I would go with my 24mm F/1.4L II (or the TSE 24mm or Zeiss 21mm). This is why; my way of thinking and philosophy is that I would first want to have a lens that does what it does great. The reason I would go with the 24mm rather than other length is that I prefer landscape and streetscapes over human subjects. The subjects that require versatility are secondary to me. For instance I want the best picture I can take of the Tetons, but when I go to the Zoo I like to photograph everything and if I get a good one so be it. The Teton pictures I hang on the wall and show off. The Zoo pictures I may do something with, but are not first passion.

Edit; Brant you did mention my comment about the "Best shot of the day". The thing is while it was the best shot of the day IMO, it wasn't necessarly the most liked picture of the day. I think the 24-70mm was the best choice for that day. But then that type of photography isn't my favorite.

Rick...thanks for the response, some very good thoughts. I think you highlight the difference between the two options well. Both are excellent, but there is a very slight trade off between level of excellence and convenience. Having just gone FF, I am slowly mulling what I eventually want my kit to look like. I am probably in the phase where I will obsess over everything that Sean was describing. Ultimately, I ended up with the 24-105 f/4 due to its good reputation, but also because it was a heckuva deal as a kit lens. Once I have sold my APS-C gear, I should have some funds to do something. That could be buy a prime lens, upgrade to the 24-70 II, maybe something in the 70-200 mm range, or I may just wait for a bit as I like to shoot until I identify a need.

Thanks again.
Brant

Edit---thanks also to the others for your posts, and iND, I missed your post while writing this response. Thanks all...

[Kayaker72]

Take out a loan and buy everything you want. That will maximize your satisfaction. By the nature of the market you will not be fully satisfied unless you do so. Also, when you go shooting, hire a very subservient and knowledgeable laborer to carry all of your gear. Laborers are cheap.

Please do it. Do it now. Show us the pictures of your satisfaction.

Ohhhhh so tempting.......

But then I would be denying myself the joy of slowly figuring out exactly what I want and what best fits my needs. Nope, glutteny is not the answer. Enjoy the journey and take pictures along the way.

[HDNitehawk]

Rick...thanks for the response, some very good thoughts. I think you highlight the difference between the two options well. Both are excellent, but there is a very slight trade off between level of excellence and convenience. Having just gone FF, I am slowly mulling what I eventually want my kit to look like. I am probably in the phase where I will obsess over everything that Sean was describing. Ultimately, I ended up with the 24-105 f/4 due to its good reputation, but also because it was a heckuva deal as a kit lens. Once I have sold my APS-C gear, I should have some funds to do something. That could be buy a prime lens, upgrade to the 24-70 II, maybe something in the 70-200 mm range, or I may just wait for a bit as I like to shoot until I identify a need.

Thanks again.
Brant

Edit---thanks also to the others for your posts, and iND, I missed your post while writing this response. Thanks all...

Brant,

I thought with all of your nice water fall pictures you would trend toward the primes rather than the zoom first. That would be my guess.