Rebel XTi Lense Overkill?

[ChrisL]

Anybody have an opinion regarding the purchase ofa EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM for a Rebel Xti. Would this be overkill for this camera? Or....Do you think I would be better served to spend the $$ on a new upgraded body and lens?

[powers_brent]

My friend has that combo right now. Loves it. Yes it does seem overkill, but he is planning on upgrading soon to full frame. From what I have heard/experienced though, the best upgrades you can make are glass, not bodies. Eventually though if you have all this nice expensive glass, you have to upgrade the body to keep up. If you have the money to buy that glass you got the money to buy a new body.

[WAFKT]

Go for the new glass - that's a great lens on any body. You can always upgrade the body down the road and still be able to use the lens.

[Mark Elberson]

It may look a little silly since that lens weighs 3x's more than your body [:P] but I'd go for it!. Below you can see that Colin started out having his EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS mounted on a Rebel before he upgraded his body.I think you'll find that most replies are going to be in favor of buying glass over a body upgrade. You will get SO much more impact on your photography with the purchase of the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L ISover a new body.


Here's an excerpt from a post Colinmade about buyingglass vs. bodies. I think he sums it up pretty well...

...I got a70-200 f/2.8 IS L. I was freaking THRILLED! I got a kick out of how ridiculous my little rebel looked on that tank of the 70-200, and the images ROCKED!...All lenses werefar more expensive than the body, and they were SO worth it...If anything, I'd actually recommend, between the choices, going cheap on the body as opposed to the glass. Good glass you'll probably keep for quite a while. The body is far more likely to become obsolete compared to something cheaper, far sooner...
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[Jon Ruyle]

I concur. I used to use my 70-200 f/2.8 IS on a rebel XT.


There are some lens/body combos that IMO don't make sense because there is a better, cheaper option (eg, I think a 200mm f/2 on a 1.6 fovcf body would be a little silly, since a 300mm f/2.8 on a full frame body would be cheaper and better in most ways, or similar for a very wide lens on a 1.6 fovcf body). There are also some lens body combos that don't make sense because the ability of one far outstrips what the other can take advantage of.


I don't think the 70-200 f/2.8 IS falls into either category. True, most people willing to spend the money for the 70-200 f/2.8 IS will be willing to buy a more expensive camera than the rebel. But the rebel + 70-200 f/2.8 IS is by no means a silly combination.


I recall seeing a bunch of great bird pictures taken by some guy with a sigmonster (sigma 300-800 zoom, which costs like $8000) mounted on a rebel.

[Jarhead5811]

Get the lens. I've got an XSi and don't plan to upgrade bodies until I've got some really nice lenses. It doesn't matter if it looks like the tail is wagging the dog.

[ChrisL]

Thank you everyone the quick responses! Looks like I will be dropping some $$ for the glass.

[clemmb]

The XTi is a great camera. Get the lense. If you get the battery grip for the XTi it will not look funny having such a large lense on a small body and have plenty of battery to last all day.


Mark

[ShutterbugJohan]

Would this be overkill for this camera?

I don't think it is possible to put too nice of a lens on a body. It is possible to do the opposite and put too nice of a body on a cheap lens.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

I shot with an XT and 70-200 f/2.8L IS for 1.5 years. Always invest in glass, camera bodies come and go. I've once seen a lady with an XTi and 500 f/4 L IS