Leaderboard

Wife gave me the real go ahead. Now to shop until I stress too much.

Almost

Based on what you listed above my choices would be Incriminator amps. IMO they a much much better amp all around. The IA3.4 would do the job very well. As far as tweeters, SSA is very close to having one for sale. If waiting a little longer is an option?

This.

And yes, I REALLY want an 85mm 1.2...but am sure it will fuck up more of my shots than fix. The ones it fixes though will be epic.

I do not EVER watch the video though, lol. Piece of mind I have it.

This may help: Canon 40d, 10.1Mp -> 3888x2592 so on my 1080p tv I can crop it to 1 quarter of the picture and still be FULL resolution on my 70" tv. Used should be under $200 Canon 60d, 18Mp -> 5200x3492 so on a 1080p tv you can almost go to a 1/9th section of the picture and crop for Full resolution. $400 used or so The capability of you as a photographer between the two to not have to crop that extreme is minimal. The two major (enough so I almost said only) differences are: video & noise reduction. The latter only effects you if you have less than stellar light. How much better I am not sure as I haven't compared, but at least a stop of light and it could be two. I doubt it is more. Would be worth peaking if video isn't worth $200 to you. I bring this up for 2 reasons. 1st, trying to save as much for glass as possible and to make you realize what it means resolution wise. Almost ridiculous...but hopefully lets you know why I asked about printing above.

Mirrorless the equivalent can be a great idea, but not financially. BH Catalogs make browsing nice.... Sony 50mm f1.8 $248 Fuji 56mm 1.2 $999 Oly 45mm 1.8 $399 Sigma 50mm 1.4 $949 Tamron 45mm 1.8 $599 Panny 42.5mm 1.2 $1597

If you get a Canon or Nikon you need the "nifty fifty" no matter which brand.

If this didn't require an adapter for real lenses I'd probably have grabbed one: Of course, the picture is a good example of what a real lens will do. It is artistic because it draws you to what the photographer wanted you to see. In this case the camera. The rest of it is blown out of focus gentley. Could be a weirdly painted dump truck in the background but it doesn't matter it looks good. Softens across the hand and arm so that you only focus on the camera. I REALLY want Canon to step up and make the true crossover. If so, I'd have one of the above with a 50mm sitting on the kitchen table 100% of the time. An 85 1.8 on my current body in the living room. Bring my wide with the small body and the 50 when traveling. For packing small to travel right now I only carry my ultra wide and the 50mm. 50mm is GREAT for this as it weighs nothing and you can even just put it in your pocket when you walk around.

I have a 17-55 2.8. It is supposed to be the wide to get. I don't like it. 55 and 2.8 is pointless. It does nothing unless your target is WAY away from something in the background. I am never in a situation like that. At 17mm 2.8 is actually nice since really even at 2.8 everyone in a group will be in focus. Going faster in this range or wider is stupid. I do own a 11-16 2.8. It is almost always shot at f11

20 mm, Fstop shot usually 4 or 5.6 so that I get all the people in the shot in focus. Here I'd like to learn to use a flash better to get the shutter speed down and keep the F stop high. 50mm, Fstop shot usually at 1.4. For true headshots, you actually need to go up to 1.8 otherwise ears are out of focus. Step back a foot and you are fine at 1.4 though. 85mm, Fstop I'd love would be 1.8....but damnit I want vibration reduction too because always shooting at shutter speeds of higher than 1/150th is really hard lightwise. I do hate having to use shutter speeds slower than 1/200th for any moving target, but when it is dark you have to start to compensate 200mm, fstop 2.8. Is really fine. Sure You could use a little more without ruining the picture, but I would surely spend dough making other ranges faster first.

Here is my shooting in a nut shell: -single people in my family friends -> portrait lens -groups of people at gatherings or the fam -> wide -buildings and things -> ultra wide -basketball & soccer games -> telephoto and portrait ie, I basically shoot at 80 portrait, 20 wide, 10 ultra, & 200 tele Out of the times I use them I only need to change at gatherings. Then it is 80 & 20 mostly with a little 150-200 I could get away with shooting at 80.

Mike, for those portraits the 50mm would be pretty good. Might be a touch zoomy in some situations but its a good length for those types of pics. When the little monster is running around....... Well, make sure you have plenty of practice and its ok to only like 1/150 shots until you get it down. :-) I find camera work and shooting to be extremely similar. Equipment limits you massively, but only once youre good enough for it to even matter. My bag of equipment is WAY better than I am. But i justified it by making some side $$$ and I keep growing into those lenses. I can also say I could not have taken some of those shots without that level of equipment.

Some example photos!

Sean is spoon feeding this well. I shoot a lot differently and I would tell you to go a different route. However we probably have much different goals.

And if you get crappy glass you won't use it, get good glass and you'll have friends asking you to shoot their kids too.

Problem with a 50mm on a crop is that you have to get too close to the target and they see you ( fine for babies ) but once you get to 70mm sometimes the house is too small to get far enough away. The 70-200 (40-150 mirrorless) buys you a lot of flexibility in that regard but is really better suited to a full frame. The sigma crop is real interesting but you need image stabilization (at long reach)nd it doesn't have it. I could easily and happily replace the big whitey with an 85 and a 200, but that would cost me more dough and not less. The zoom is mostly useful to me for sneak pics and at ball games chasing the kiddos.

We always love hearing back from customers (or professional installers in this case) and sharing their results. Nothing beats real world testing of great American made noise & heat insulation products. Bruce at HCA has some awesome data he shared with us via email and we are passing it along. Using Damplifier Pro to clean up the structure borne sound in his clients Mitsubishi Evo has greatly decreased the noise level which will greatly increase the amount of music you are able to hear or just to enjoy a more quiet trip down the road on daily commutes. Always insist on high quality American made sound insulation products....Second Skin For The Win!!!