My wallet is now significantly lighter (Final Camera Thread)

[backpack]

I just made the big camera purchases, and all I can say is . I've never spent so much money in one sitting in my life.

In case you're wondering, I got:

Canon RebelXT/350D (body only)
Canon EF-S 10-22 + EW83-E hood + 77mm thin filter
Canon EF 100 Macro + Rubber hood + 58mm filter
Canon EF 70-300 IS + Rubber hood + 58mm filter
Canon EF 50 1.4 + Rubber hood + 58mm filter
Canon 430 EX Flash
NB-2LH Battery (x2)
Rechargeable Batteries (8xAA, 4xAAA)
Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly
Visible Dust Sensor Clean
Tamrac SLR Holster Bag
Tamrac Large Lens Cases (2)
Sandisk Ultra II 2GB SD
Wolverine 60GB photoHDD
Silica Gel packets
Silica Gel small box
Canon SD500
Canon WP-DC70 Waterproof Case for SD500
250GB USB2 Hard Drive
12x USB2 Dual-Layer DVD writer
100 DVD+R Discs
50 CD-R Discs

It should be interesting to see how all this works out.

[Nate Dogg]

I just made the big camera purchases, and all I can say is . I've never spent so much money in one sitting in my life.

In case you're wondering, I got:

Canon RebelXT/350D (body only)
Canon EF-S 10-22 + EW83-E hood + 77mm thin filter
Canon EF 100 Macro + Rubber hood + 58mm filter
Canon EF 70-300 IS + Rubber hood + 58mm filter
Canon 430 EX Flash
Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly
Sandisk Ultra II 2GB SD
Wolverine 60GB photoHDD
Silica Gel packets
Silica Gel small box

Still still to buy:
Canon SD500
Canon WP-DC70 Waterproof Case for SD500
NB-2LH Batteries (2)
Summit's 50 1.4

It should be interesting to see how all this works out.

I wish I knew what any of this means, probably that it is a really sweet camera I'm assuming. You'll have to post some pictures that you take with it so this camera jong can figure out just how good it is

[Steven S. Dallas]

Sounds 'spensive.

[Vicious]

What was the final tally?? (If you don't mind me asking)

[MeatPuppet]

Cool. I was wondering what you settled on.

It looks like you got 10mm-300mm covered pretty well. No flash ring?

You mentioned an underwater case for your SD500, are you planning on using the flash while your diving? I know some places don't allow it because the flash can blind certain fish. If you won't be able to use it, you might check into a waterproof housing for the XT/50 1.4. That would give you high iso as well as RAW. Those combined with the 1.4 aperature on the 50mm and you would have an 8+ stop advantage over the SD500 with ambient light.

Have a great trip!

[iggyskier]

Canon SD500
.

Get it for sure. I love mine SO much. It is amazing and tiny. Super impressed with Canon optics and 7 megapixels is super sick. Everyone always goes nuts over it.

and the rest of that stuff sounds dope too.

[backpack]

Cool. I was wondering what you settled on.

It looks like you got 10mm-300mm covered pretty well. No flash ring?

You mentioned an underwater case for your SD500, are you planning on using the flash while your diving? I know some places don't allow it because the flash can blind certain fish. If you won't be able to use it, you might check into a waterproof housing for the XT/50 1.4. That would give you high iso as well as RAW. Those combined with the 1.4 aperature on the 50mm and you would have an 8+ stop advantage over the SD500 with ambient light.

Have a great trip!

The part that won't be covered so well is the 22-70 (35-112) range, but unfortunately I have a budget and I ended up having to decide between the macro or a mid-zoom, and the macro won out. Basically, the equivalent view I'll have with the 1.6x crop sensor with these lenses is 16-35, 80, and 112-480.

I decided that the 430EX would be more useful all-around and it was 1/2 as much as a ring flash. I'm hoping that it'll work ok for macro if I bounce the flash.

As far as the underwater stuff goes, I know I would get much better photos with a housing for the rebel, but the sd500 housing is about $170 while a good XT housing is more like $1200, and realistically I'm not going to be using it all the time and when I do it will be at 10' or less (snorkeling), so available light should be ok when that's all I have. I think the biggest issue is the lack of RAW support for underwater white balance tinkering, but in theory the sd500 and other new canon point and shoot cameras have an "underwater" mode that compensates for the lack of red light.

Plus, the SD500 is good for taking around when I don't want to carry the SLR in public, at night in Quito, etc.

Thanks for the ideas, though. I wish I could use the XT underwater.

Oh, and Vicious, I'd rather not say exactly... it's almost embarrasing how much I spent. Let's just say for the same price I could have 6 snowbasin student season passes.

[backpack]

Get it for sure. I love mine SO much. It is amazing and tiny.

Just bit the bullet and got the SD500 last night, along with a second battery for the big camera (I had a $45 off $400 coupon and with the battery to bring it over $400 I basically got the battery for free).

Now just the SD500 waterproof case, third battery, and the 50 1.4 remain.

[Cirquerider]

Merry Christmas backpack. Enjoy

[Huck_Schmuck]

I have a Rebel. I love it. Only have the kit lens and a Canon 100-300 USM III. I could spend so much money on glass. Looking forward to March / April for some great scenes here in Yurp.

Great choice & superb setup. Enjoy it.

[wicked_sick]

If i was a comissioned salesguy selling all that to you, it'd be a very merry christmas indeed.

I hope to see some good pics in the near future

[The Jackamo]

did you buy all of it new? cause if so...damn. i was just looking at that macro lens not a week ago, and lets just say it was a wee bit out of my price range. awesome setup though, you should definately have fun with it.

[backpack]

did you buy all of it new? cause if so...damn. i was just looking at that macro lens not a week ago, and lets just say it was a wee bit out of my price range. awesome setup though, you should definately have fun with it.

Yea, all new. Most of the good used stuff isn't much cheaper, though. Especially when you have dell 20% off plus $45 off stackable coupons, and there are mail in rebates to take another chunk out. The 100 macro is actually the cheapest lens I've bought so far...