I feel like doing a big spring cleaning on my gear!

I'm a bit compulsive about acquiring new camera gear, especially lenses. It goes back to when I had my studio and needed a large assortment of gear for working projects. I had several camera systems from 35mm to 8 x 10, each having a different set of lenses for each format.

Now I only have my R and M series Canon cameras. And there are a couple of lenses I want to own but in order to keep my post retirement hobby cost neutral I feel I need to sell before I buy.

My go to RF mount lenses now are the:
RF 16mm
RF 24-105mm
RF 50mm (non L)
RF 70-200mm
RF 200-800mm

I would love to own these:
RF 100-500mm
RF 14-35mm
RF 1.4 tele extender

I am most likely not going to use the following anymore:
RF 800mm f/11
Tamron 150-600mm G2
Tamron 1.4 tele extender

And it's been 3-4 years since I used either of these lenses:
Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 (Loved it for portraits but it's going on 16 years old now)
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 ART (Another super nice portrait lens)
Samyang 14mm f/2.8 EF AF (got it for Milky Way shots I did once)

I will also give up:
Tamron Tap console
Sigma lens Doc
RF 35mm f/1.8 which I hardly ever use

I will probably do a trade in with mpb.com, their prices are fare and the process is less of a hassle then eBay or FB Marketplace. I will probably buy through Canon Price Watch using their Street Price for unadvertised specials or maybe refurbished at the Canon store.

Either way, my camera gear closet will have a lot more room now.

Chris Summers said:

I'm a bit compulsive about acquiring new camera gear, especially lenses. It goes back to when I had my studio and needed a large assortment of gear for working projects. I had several camera systems from 35mm to 8 x 10, each having a different set of lenses for each format.

Now I only have my R and M series Canon cameras. And there are a couple of lenses I want to own but in order to keep my post retirement hobby cost neutral I feel I need to sell before I buy.

My go to RF mount lenses now are the:
RF 16mm
RF 24-105mm
RF 50mm (non L)
RF 70-200mm
RF 200-800mm

I would love to own these:
RF 100-500mm
RF 14-35mm
RF 1.4 tele extender

I am most likely not going to use the following anymore:
RF 800mm f/11
Tamron 150-600mm G2
Tamron 1.4 tele extender

And it's been 3-4 years since I used either of these lenses:
Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 (Loved it for portraits but it's going on 16 years old now)
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 ART (Another super nice portrait lens)
Samyang 14mm f/2.8 EF AF (got it for Milky Way shots I did once)

I will also give up:
Tamron Tap console
Sigma lens Doc
RF 35mm f/1.8 which I hardly ever use

I will probably do a trade in with mpb.com, their prices are fare and the process is less of a hassle then eBay or FB Marketplace. I will probably buy through Canon Price Watch using their Street Price for unadvertised specials or maybe refurbished at the Canon store.

Either way, my camera gear closet will have a lot more room now.

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The 100-500 is stellar, Chris just out of interest how you finding the 16mm?

Arbarthisti said:

The 100-500 is stellar, Chris just out of interest how you finding the 16mm?

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I had the 16mm and for the price I found it excellent. I found I didn't use it as much as I thought. Not my focal length of choice. Tired of editing out my feet out. That was more with my old Tokina 11-16.

I just use my RF 24-105 F4 for all my walk around, landscapes, etc. If I want wide I just take a few snaps and stitch. I have also found at my age I'm tired of changing lenses and carrying the 16mm around, even if small. By best friend and shooting buddy has found the same.

These days I only have the R6II, R7, 24-105, 100-500 add 1.4 TC. This group seems to cover most of my needs. I go away for 2 months every year and I never had to try and decide what to take.

After shooting for a few years with the 1.4 TC I have decided to not use it on my R7 and 100-500. It's OK but I find my keeper rate goes down and the image can break down quickly when cropping.

It is stellar on my R6II and was on my R5 as well so depending on what body you plan to use it on Chris that may be food for thought to save a few dollars. The 100-500 is spectacular. I did think about the 200-800 but decided to stick with eh 100-500.

Here is a shot with the R7, 100-500 and 1.4. I was in a blind and this bird came from the left. I only had seconds and was lucky to get it within the frame right away. You can see a bit of rolling shutter effect (ES mode) in the eye and I know the bill is a little elongated. I did not have to crop this very much which is rare for me.

By the way I did the mass purge in 2019 when I sold off all my EF gear. I never looked back. I'd kill for a 500 5.6 similar to the Nikon PF. If I won a lottery I'd buy the RF 600 F4. If I was still shooting events I'd likely have the RF 24-70 and 70-200.

Chris Summers said:

Now I only have my R and M series Canon cameras.

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…and a Sony Mavica….

I had to look that up.

Arbarthisti said:

The 100-500 is stellar, Chris just out of interest how you finding the 16mm?

Click to expand...

I like it for when I really want to go wide, in my EF days I always had a version of the 16-35mm but now with the 24-105 I felt a 16-35mm would overlap too much and I also try to go a bit lighter in my gear bag. The 16mm is sharp enough but you do need to do a lens profile correction in post as it has distortion and vignetting.

Only RF said:

After shooting for a few years with the 1.4 TC I have decided to not use it on my R7 and 100-500. It's OK but I find my keeper rate goes down and the image can break down quickly when cropping.

It is stellar on my R6II and was on my R5 as well so depending on what body you plan to use it on Chris that may be food for thought to save a few dollars. The 100-500 is spectacular. I did think about the 200-800 but decided to stick with eh 100-500.

Here is a shot with the R7, 100-500 and 1.4. I was in a blind and this bird came from the left. I only had seconds and was lucky to get it within the frame right away. You can see a bit of rolling shutter effect (ES mode) in the eye and I know the bill is a little elongated. I did not have to crop this very much which is rare for me.

View attachment 33587

Click to expand...

Having a 70-200mm and the 200-800mm would be ok as far as a good range but everything I have heard about the 100-500mm is that it is the jewel in the crown so to say. I figure I might take into the field my R7 with the 200-800mm and then the R6 MkII with the 100-500mm with or without the 1.4 TC. I'm hopeful that Canon will eventually release an improved R7 MKII with a vertical grip and less rolling shutter and other issues.

Geez....and I thought it was just me!

With this last Canon refurbished sale I have just finished completing my full EF to RF changeover and now I am in the process of completing my more Rf to less Rf equipment, as it is rather excessive and duplicative.

I shoot landscapes, wildlife, and portrait photography for relatives and friends. Birds are my thing, however, and more specifically hummingbirds.
I also don't really like heavy lenses and prefer to hold my cameras rather than use tripods. I mean I could probably swing for a big white, but there is just something I enjoy about holding that camera and lens with my hands. When I retired I did make a business out of my photography, but after a couple years found out it was turning back into a job again which kind of took the fun out of it for me anyway. So I opted out.

The problem with camera lenses is that they are very similar to good scotch. They are just fine until you try the better ones. Once you try 18+ year old scotch or a Canon L lens it is really tough to go back. But I still have a habit of trying to save some money and start with the less expensive stuff, which inevitably leads to several more purchase back up to the good stuff. But I think I am finally there. At least for a while. And I too, like Chris, go the mpb.com, cpricewatch and yearend refurbished sales route to make the checkbook balance out. At least here in the US the November and December refurbished sales are rather extraordinary. Often times half off the retail price, making some ridiculous purchases very affordable.

So now I have four L lenses that work beautifully on either the R7 or the R6ii. The 24-105L, The 70-200 f2.8L, The 100-500L, The 1.4x, and most recently the 50L f1.2. The 24-105L is good. The other 3 are simply amazing and work fantastic with either camera. Extraordinary patience and the 70-200 and 100-500 has made for some very satisfying hummingbird portraits. I did acquire the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 for my R7 and that one is a winner too. I also have kept my rf100-400 as it takes great images and is super light. I generally travel with the R7/sigma 18-50/rf100-400 when I want to keep things really light and small. I did try to order the 200-800 for like 6 months, but in the interim I bought the 100-500 and 1.4x refurbished, and ended up not needing it when it did finally become available. I am very happy with the 100-500 +1.4x combo even with the goofy extender issue. And F10 seems to work really well with either the R7 and R6ii. The R7 is more of a challenge because of its low diffraction range and I have to limit my ISO to 3200, but it still gives me some good shots. But then again I really think cropping without the converter is the way to go on the R7. The 800mm F11 did give some good shots on the R6ii, but it was too restrictive for me and made little sense since I had the 100-500 1.4x combo.

Just finished selling off the 24-105 4-7.1, 50mm f1.8, and 800mm f11. However am keeping the 16mm f2.8, 24mm f1.8 (great lens for both the R7 and R6ii by the way).

So I finally think I am set for what I can handle and what I shoot. At least my wife certainly hopes so! The only thing I know I will get if it specs out good enough is the R7ii when and if it comes out (Perhaps next November or December). I really would like it to have a greater buffer, faster readout sensor, and a bit better autofocus, but I also am very pleased with most of the images it gives me. I have zero issues with the R6ii, even with the 24mb sensor. It just seems to work for me.

I feel the same. I love the R6II and it will take a lot to for me to upgrade. I like the R7 but I will save my money for version II if it comes out. Better buffer is a good one. I would like either a quieter shutter or ES that has minimal or no rolling shutter. I'd even take this but I don't think we will ever see it. Stacked sensors that will eventually lead to global shutter for all bodies which is where I think the tech is headed.