Upgrade Plan - probably Canon

[cedmondson]

I'm starting to think seriously about upgrading my kit.
I have a 300D with kit lens, a 50mm F1.8 a rather poor Sigma 55-200 and a Speedlite 420.

I'd really welcome your thoughts on my 'plan' - does it make sense? Is it too unbalanced? Am I getting the right bits in the right order etc etc?

Probably staying with Canon makes most sense although I suppose switching to Nikon wouldn't be entirely unthinkable (and I am impressed with the D200) . Assuming I do stay with Canon gear, I'd see myself keeping the nifty fifty and the flash but the rest would get replaced sooner or later.

Although the 300D is probably a bit moderate by current standards my thinking is to invest in lenses first and replace the body later. On this basis, there will probably be a 40D by the time I upgrade the body and that's probably what I'll buy.

I've agonised quite a bit about which lenses to go for and although I'm still uncertain my thinking is to buy a really top notch mid range zoom that will cover a very high proportion of my needs and hopefully won't have me wanting to replace it again any time soon. Here I'm leaning towards the 24-105L. I've thought about the 17-85 (much more affordable but perhaps I'd still want the 'L' a bit later) and the 17-55 F2.8 (still quite tempting)

The downside of the L for me is that with a crop sensor I think I'll want to go a bit wider than 24mm sometimes (although not too often). I'm tempted by the Tokina 12-24 especially as One-Stop do it for £260. Not yet though -it just seems to be a necessary part of my argument towards the 24-105

It all gets a bit unbalanced (maybe) at the other end of the range. In truth I've had long lenses for film cameras for many years but rarely used them. It's hard to judge based on the way I use the present Sigma - I just don't like the results I get from it so it rarely comes out. I'm hoping that if anything the range of the 24-105 will diminish this further (part of the attraction is the idea that I can comfortably leave other lenses behind a lot of the time). However I've been impressed by pictures posted by some people here from the Sigma 70-300 APO and £120 from Hong Kong makes it a tempting choice.

Right now I'm just thinking of buying the 24-105L, so the other bits might change ....but does it sound like a reasonable way forward or not? I'd welcome some input here.

Cheers

[Astaroth]

Lenses will almost always well outlast your camera body and whilst there are still advancements being made (namely things like IS) they are no way near to the scale that changes to the bodies are. It therefore does make sense to upgraded lenses before bodies and to buy the best you can afford... buy cheap now and you will most likely want to upgrade again in the future.

The 24-105L is an exceptional lens as many on here will agree... I have to admit that I am a zoom rather than wide angle type of person as whilst I have looked at getting an ultra wide angle I simply cannot see myself using it even though I have a 1.6x crop factor body.

[stevegreen]

Sounds like a pefectly reasonable plan to me. The 24-105L is a great lens and it has stayed on my 350D for the majority of time since I had it. I have the Sigma wide angle lens but in many ways the Tokina is regarded over the Sigma, it has superb image quality and is faster at a f/4 constant.

The 300D will still produce great images and you will notice an immediate difference upgrading to L glass so then you can maybe have a bit more time to consider the body upgrade.