Advice on best choice Body & IS Lens

largelylivin

I am thinking about making the jump to Pro for an opportunity that involves photographing from a boat. I've always been an Olympus fan and have an om-4 and om-4t and a lot of lenses, so I originally thought about the e-300. Now this other need for shooting from the water has come up. The couple times that I have looked through a Canon IS lens I was SO impressed.

I think that I definitely need IS probably with a first lens in the 70-200 range. I am not really up on the consumer-pro level of cameras and don't know much about Canon. MOST Prints are going to be 8x110, 11x14 after cropping. Lots of high-contrast and high-glare situations because of the ocean. I think that in the beginning I'll stay with film for back-up - $$ limited.

I am thinking I need a good used 8Mb Cannon body, and IS Zoom like 70-200, a sorter non-IS zoom, and a wide angle for potential interior shots. Which body, esp. Used? MUST I BUY THE WHITE BODY 70-200? Is cannon the way to go? Are there pro / consumer-pro bodies that I should avoid? (You know, specs look good but performance at margins or under stress just doesn't cut it.)

Terrence

I shoot the Rebel XT and a Canon 100-400L IS and love the combination. I know the 30D and Mark IIN have excellent reputation, but I have never used them. I honestly do bnot think you can go wrong with any camera in Canon's line, and it all comes down to what you really need. Look at the features across the product line and see what you can live without. With the Mark III coming out in a few months the used prices on Mark II, Mark IIN will definitely drop a lot and the 30D price may drop too.

As for glass, the 70-200 f/4 IS will probably do the trick for you. Stretch for the 70-200 f/2.8 IS if you can since faster is always better. There is a really wide choice of wide angle lenses from Canon, Sigma, Tamron and Tokina that have great reviews. That's going to take some research.

My suggestion is you read the reviews on cameras at http://www.dpreview.com, read the reviews of Canon lenses at http://www.the-digital-picture.com, search the forums here and at http://www.fedmiranda.com and of course ask questions.

For asking questions, I strongly endorse sticking with DGrin. I am only in this hobby for about a year and in less than one month I have gotten more and better advice here than I have from my local club that is packed with 20 year veteran photogs.

georges

Consider Anti-Shake built into the body
Consider the Pentax K10D. Shake Reduction is built into the body. Any lens you attach to the camera uses the feature. No need to buy a bag of very expensive IS lenses.

The K10D is fully sealed against water and dust. This may be of interest to you since you'll be shooting from a boat.

That being said, I'm not sure that any manufacturer's IS/SR/VR is meant to counteract the bobbing of a boat. I'm not saying it doesn't, I'm saying I don't know and it's worth checking out.

Only you can determine what will work for you and your budget.

LiquidAir

If you are shooting from a boat, a weather sealed body would be the best choice if it is in your price range. Given that the 1D mark III was just announced, I'll bet there will be a flood of used 1D mark II bodies on the market so that would be my first recommendation. If you are looking for weather sealed telephotos in the Canon system then, yes one of the white bodied leses is the best best. Shooting from the deck of a boat in midday the 70-200 f/4 IS might be your best choice because it has Canon's latest and greatest IS system. Of course the 70-200 f/2.8 IS is the classic lens in that range ans will give you better AF performace because of the wider apeture.

20DNoob

I intially thought of the 70-200 f/4 IS, but if your getting into the world of paid shooting you may want the 2.8 IS so not to be kicking yourself later.

Are you going to be shooting on fresh water or salt? If on salt, I wouldn't care less if the body lens combo was sealed or not, I don't want salt residue all over my gear. You could always get a rain coat for the set-up, much cheaper than a sealed combo.

Regardless of what brand body/lenses you get, don't forget one of the most important things when shooting water is involved, a CP filter.

Oh, and a pelican case wouldn't hurt either.

Good luck.

harjtt

If you like Oly and want IS - then you might want to have a look at the PanaLeica DMC L1/Digilux 3 + 14-50D (28-100)IS lens. Its not weatherproof and the Leica D is a wee bit short for what you want but you do have the option of using any of the Oly lenses that are weather sealed. Also theres two tele zoom IS based Leica D lenses due within the year, although personally I think theyre a bit slow 40-150 f3.5-5.6. The other Oly option is to wait if you can and see what PMA brings to the table - there's three new cams coming and you never know that the E500 replacement could well be weather sealed and have inbody IS. If you cant wait then either pentax/Canon/Nikon will be fine and the new canon 1DMKIII looks pretty amazing (although not my kind of cam).

Cheers

HarjTT