In Desperate Need of an Upgrade

rjsphotography

Current wedding camera kit.
Canon 40D with EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6
Canon EF 70-200mm L f4
Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon Speedlite 550EX
Back up Camera
Canon 10D with 28-135mm f3.5-5.6
I know I'm well behind in regards to current technology and kit, however I've successfully been photographing weddings for over 13 years and have had lots of happy clients throughout that time. I do feel I'm lagging behind the current, "modern" pros now though.
A 5D Mark 2 and some of the Canon L lenses, whilst highly desirable, are probably beyond my budget at the moment (new baby)
Any suggestions on a new set up would be greatly appreciated.

RyanS

Have you considered renting specific gear you want until you have enough revenue being generated to justify an equipment purchase? It would be fairly difficult to provide any specific gear recommendations without you providing specifics such as budget, equipment you've narrowed down, etc. Honestly, I have to ask, isn't this stuff you should already know having done this for over 13 years?

I'm not trying to be rude, it just strikes me that I may not be understanding what you really wanted.

Overfocused

If I were you I'd work on getting rid of the 10D and the 28-135. If you're not in the range of a MKII I'd personally sell the other two and swap them out with something like a 5D classic and a 3rd party 28-70 F2.8 lens. There's nothing wrong with used equipment if it's well taken care of and works. The performance of that would destroy the 10D with the lens it has and even the 40D would become a secondary camera if you do lots of low light stuff. The 40D could be a dedicated telephoto after that.

But yeah I was thinking what Ryan was... I'd think you'd know what you'd want after 13 years?? If you're worrying about keeping up with having the newest and the best, that doesn't really matter since you've been successful with the tools you have. The main difference it'll make is that it'd be technically easier on you to get the right shots and grab stuff you normally couldn't with extended low light capabilities. If you personally want that and feel you've outgrown some of your equipment, that's when you should be concerned. Otherwise, it just becomes keeping up with the Joneses.

rjsphotography

Thanks for the responses so far. You both make a fair point. The cameras and lenses have served me well and I have got some lovely results from both. My concern is that the technology, particularly in low light and noise etc...has left my equipment behind. I am looking at lenses such as the 24-105L, 28-70L and using these on the existing body for now until I get the funds together for a new body. My toss up was between a 5d Mark 2 and a 7D. Price wise the 7D is the winner but I hear whispers of a 5d mark3 or a 6d? Will that drop the 5d mark2 more into my price range? I hope so. I'm not one for having the latest equipment but feel that I should really upgrade. I'd like to have the 40D as a back up and get a new main. Budget £1500 approx. Thanks for your help

Overfocused

rjsphotography wrote: »

Thanks for the responses so far. You both make a fair point. The cameras and lenses have served me well and I have got some lovely results from both. My concern is that the technology, particularly in low light and noise etc...has left my equipment behind. I am looking at lenses such as the 24-105L, 28-70L and using these on the existing body for now until I get the funds together for a new body. My toss up was between a 5d Mark 2 and a 7D. Price wise the 7D is the winner but I hear whispers of a 5d mark3 or a 6d? Will that drop the 5d mark2 more into my price range? I hope so. I'm not one for having the latest equipment but feel that I should really upgrade. I'd like to have the 40D as a back up and get a new main. Budget £1500 approx. Thanks for your help

You are left behind in terms of noise at the moment more with your lenses than your 40D. I'd invest in better glass first. Personally, if I had your stuff, I'd want to get rid of the 28-135 and 17-85 lenses and get some good solid constant F2.8's. You're shooting with some relatively slow lenses for low light, and I think you'd have an amazing time with a 24-70 F2.8 and a 17-55 F2.8 IS Ef-s lens. Those are just my suggestions though. Keep in mind the 24-70L is rated for full frame chips, so it would actually be 38-110MM F2.8 on the crop bodies you have. That'd compliment the 17-55 perfectly, IMHO. Each lens would have a little overlap, but one is for super wide and the other would cover general telephoto range very very well, all while staying at F2.8 constantly, and having amazing IQ to boot. 17-110MM @ F2.8 for the whole duration of a wedding shoot? I'd be extremely comfortable with that.

Order from the U.S. and save a heap of money, too. B&H ships internationally:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/HelpCenter/Shipping.jsp

This very moment a pound is ~1.6 USD, so even though insured shipping might be $30-60 USD for a body it'd be worth the hundreds in savings since camera manufacturers don't convert prices between pounds and dollars. There are also used lenses for a couple hundred USD less but you can hawk around for that stuff if you want to. Either way, you can afford them with 1500 pounds, and if you sold the 2 lenses you could make some back and spend ~1000 pounds overall if you bought both Canon lenses. The sigma/tamron are even less than that.

rjsphotography

Thanks very much for the advice.