Need Man Help... quick!

[Steve U]

All I can say is that all women everywhere are on to you guys and your little sly and sneaky strategies BUT ...it is obvious that you are not on to us ...yet & I have taken the oath of silence to not divulge any further information on the subject!

I have your back ladies!!

I couldn't agree with you more Denise. Those pesky guys think they have us fooled with all their clever strategies. Oh bugger, I just chipped a nail. I wonder if Stephen can fix my nail in Post. Hope so, I love that new liquify tool that PS6 has, that he had to have and I paid for. Bless him.
Girl power Denise.
Stephanie
xxoo

[Steve U]

Right... somebody needs to start a fake account as a woman, befriend Denise and get as much out of her as possible.

I'm thinking Steve could be Stephanie???

Pretty sure, i got this covered Ben. Great plan.
Cheers,
Steve/Stephanie
This will work a treat.

[Trowski]

I would suggest keeping the 17-40mm lens for the trip. I really think you'll appreciate the wider angle and versitility. Maybe hold off on buying the 24 f/1.4. It's really more of a special purpose lens. You could also still sell the 17-40mm and buy the 16-35mm instead. This is probably one of my most used lenses on vacations for landscape shots.

One thing my wife and I do is put 10% of what each of us earns aside for ourselves. Each of us can buy whatever we desire with that money, no questions asked from the other person. Your budget might not allow for such a plan, but it certainly eliminates any arguments about purchases in our household.

Oh, and if it helps, I got $1500 for my 24-70mm f/2.8L mark I. I bet you could get close to that as well.

[btaylor]

Thanks Trowski. I should have clarified - after selling a few bits and upgrading others this will be my kit:

Canon 5D Mark III
Samyang 14mm f/2.8
Canon 24mm f/1.4L OR Canon 35mm f/1.4L
Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens (only if I go with the 24mm, no point if I have the 35mm)
Sigma 85mm f/1.4
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
Canon 580 ex II speedlite

So I'll still have the wide angle covered with the 14mm prime. I have found it extremely easy to manual focus with due to the deeper DOF at 14mm and have been generally using it at f/4 or narrower unless I'm in lower light. So I don't think I'll miss AF at the wide end.

Still debating between the 24mm and 35mm. It will likely be on the camera a lot as a walkaround lens so I think the 35mm will be better suited. I know it's a stellar lens, it's just getting a bit old (I think it was released in 1998?), even so it's very nice and the age doesn't bother me very much. If it provides me with good IQ then I'm happy.

Looks like I've found a couple of local photographers to buy the 24-70 and the 17-40 which is good. It's hard to get decent gear out here so I think I'll fetch a pretty good price for them.

Still have the 5D2+grip and 2x extender iii if anyone's interested!?!?!

[btaylor]

Just sold the 24-70 and have a guy interested in the 17-40, getting closer! Haven't put the 5D2 up yet, should do that tonight.

[btaylor]

And there goes the 17-40, what a good night for sales!

[Dr Croubie]

Wow, some good suggestions here for keeping the purchases secret from the missus. I think my plan works perfectly:
- Get all ebay stuff purchased sent to my mum's house (my main excuse is that she's home during the day, my house is unattended, and she likes me dropping in to say hi, even if i'm there to get new lenses more than talk to her).
- Keep a complete mess of a room where all the lenses are, the messier and more spread out the better.
- When a new lens appears, just add it to the pile at the back, she'll never notice one more inamongst all the others.
- Occasionally she says something like, "have I seen that camera before?". "No honey, I've had this for years, remember that time when...?" and prattle on, at which point she gets bored and gives up (even when it's the truth she won't 'remember when...')

Now my problem is that I got my tax refund cheque the other day, and foolishly I showed it to her. I worked for the last 6 months of the financial year, so only got a half-years' pay, but paid at a full-year rate, so I was expecting a few grand, but this was a lot more than I thought (it's enough for a 5D3 and 70-200ISII and change left, even at aussie prices).
So now she's on at me that she wants a clothes dryer and a new fridge and all (although I want the new fridge too, then I get the old one for a beer fridge), so there's probably not going to be much left over for camera equipment at the end of it (except a few small purchases, eg a focussing screen for my m645af and a better-scanning fluid-mount). And then the rest will have to go towards the mortgage.
Sigh, this is what I get for being honest. If i'd bought a 5D3 and sold the 7D she wouldn't even have noticed, they're both about the same size...

[btaylor]

Haahaha the conundrums of photographers are many, but this one certainly can be the biggest hurdle. I've got two years worth of tax returns coming and I'm expecting a significant return also, however it's going straight to the financial advisor (the real one, not the wife) to be invested. So no new toys out of it.

Speaking of new toys, ordered the 5D3 last night. Should be here by Monday. Highly excited!

Still have a 5D2 and 2 x extender III for sale if anybody's interested.

[FastGass]

I think your setup looks pretty good except the 40mm pancake, it doesn't make any sense in a fast prime setup. I would replace it with the Canon 50mm f/1.4 or Sigma.

Also are you upgrading to the 5D III mostly for AF or noise? Because if you don't want to miss to many shots because of AF you will miss WAY more shots switching lenses than the AF difference between the 5D III and 5D II. Think about it, it takes at least 7 or 8 seconds (unless you are freakin fast!) to change out between lenses. That is way more than the AF difference!

The other logic is that primes get you shots that zooms can't match, so I would reconsider selling your 5D II just for AF. If for noise and an all around great camera then full steam ahead!

Cheers,
John.

[ahab1372]

Croubie, you might be shedding a tear or two over the missed opportunity, but you are a good man