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My Camera Gear

My Camera Gear

A few years ago, for reasons lost in the ethers of time, I decided to get my first dSLR: a Canon Digital Rebel. Compulsive gadget collector that I am, that probably wasn't the best of ideas as it just started me down another road of expensive things to acquire and play around with. Between then and now, I've moved through the Rebel XT, Rebel XTi, 30D, and finally, the 5D. And that's just the camera bodies. Don't even get me started on lenses.

Suffice to say, my "everything but the kitchen sink" days of lens buying is behind me as I've tried to just keep what I believe I'll actually use. Currently that leaves me with 5. Ideally I wanted to cut down to 3 but eventually settled on 4 as being more realistic. So I still have to whittle away a bit.

As for the 5 that I currently have, starting from left to right in the photo above:

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L - This is my everyday walk-around lens, heavy as it is. I chose this over the Canon 24-105 f/4L IS because I was never really that impressed with the two copies of that lens that I've had and I figured if this was to be my standard lens, I'd rather have the extra stop of light for any type of indoor shots than the IS which would work well only for still subjects. Plus the bokeh on the f/4L IS was a bit disappointing when compared to the f/2.8L. I went through 4 copies (2 used, 2 brand new) of this lens before finally settling on the one I currently have as I finally figured out that maybe I was just being too picky. Better if I just get out there and use it.

Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II - I picked this up to replace the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 that I traded away along with the 30D when I went full-frame with the 5D. I may wind up dropping it as I'm not really a wide shooter. Whenever I use this lens I tend to keep it at 16mm so ideally I'd pick up a prime next time if I want to shoot that wide. Unfortunately, Canon doesn't have any regular primes at that focal length. They have a 15mm prime that's supposedly awesome but it's a fisheye and they also have a 14mm that's not so good and is more expensive than even this lens. So I may just not bother with the sub-24mm range.

Canon 50mm f/1.4 (mounted on the 5D) - The newest addition to my set, this is actually my second copy. The first one I had sold after deciding that I preferred the Canon 35mm f/1.4L much more with the 1.6x crop bodies I had at the time. Originally I wanted to get the f/1.2 model but reports of auto-focus problems at close distances stopped down made me put that on hold until Canon resolves it. This focal length is pretty ideal on a full-frame body and this particular lens is tiny compared to everything else I have.

Canon 85mm f/1.2L II - Affectionately nicknamed (by me) "Fat Bastard, " this is THE supreme indoor portrait lens. On a crop body I found the focal length too long for my liking but on a full-frame, this baby shines. On the 5D you can actually stare into the front of this lens and see right out the viewfinder in the back. If I had actually gotten the Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens, I would probably have let this one go but not without reservations. It's just too good.

Canon 70-200 f/4L IS - I previously posted my comparison between this and its f/2.8L IS predecessor here. Obviously I kept the f/4L IS and dropped the f/2.8L IS. It's a superb lens for its size and weight and since I use it mostly outdoors, I figured the f/4 wouldn't be much of a handicap. Although the bokeh in photos with a busy background can be a bit not-so-nice when compared to the f/2.8L IS.

So that's currently my lens kit. If Canon actually fixes the 50mm f/1.2, I can achieve my 4-lens goal, maybe even 3 if I drop the 16-35mm as well. As for the other accessories shown in the photo, the 5D is flanked by two 580EX flashes and has the ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter mounted. I'm currently not much of a flash user but any day now I'll finish watching this DVD. ;-p I also have a Slik carbon fiber monopod and a Feisol carbon-fiber tripod but don't use them much.

So that pretty much wraps up my camera gear at this moment in time. One of these days I'll finally stop fiddling with it. ;-p

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on July 9, 2007 12:32 AM.

The previous post in this blog was New Bags! (Part 3 of 3).

The next post in this blog is Console Hater - Musical Style.

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