Gear Lust
I have been looking around at gear that I'd like to get for my camera.
First and foremost, I've been considering a new tripod.
My current tripod is made by Slik. It's fairly heavy duty and sturdy. The problem I have with it is that it's made for video. So, it has a fluid pan head which is great for panning, but terrible for moving the camera fast toward a subject. It also doesn't have a lot of vertical tilt, and the legs dont't go out very wide, which makes it difficult for macro photography, low angle photography and taking pictures straight down.
I've decided that if I'm going to get a tripod, I'm going to get one with a center column that can be removed and rotated around. I also want a ball head that can pan and, at the same time, move a sliding plate back and forth for macro stuff. I think I've settled on a vanguard set of legs and a pan head (with an extra long slide) for ~ $250. I'll decide on that later.
Secondly, I want some wide angle manual focus lenses.
Samyang is releasing a 14mm f/2.8 lens in March for somewhere in the $300 price range. It's getting me quite excited. Granted, I already have a fisheye (10mm on my rebel and 15mm on my 5D), which has a wider angle of view, the 14mm provides an extremely wide rectilinear field of view, which can be difficult to achieve with a fisheye.
Samyang is also, apparently, releasing an ultra-fast 35mm lens. It's rumored to be f/1.4 at the very least, and possibly f/1.2 on Canon mount. If the price is similar to the 85 f/1.4 ($250 or thereabout) and the supposed price of the 14 f/2.8, I'll definitely pick one up as well.
Aside from that, I've also been considering picking up at Tokina 17mm f/3.5 or an Olympus 24mm f/2.8. Each can be adapted to my Canon body and each is supposed to produce fine pictures. The reason I haven't jumped on the Olympus yet is because I already own a Canon EF 20-35 f/3.5-4.5, which I feel is a mighty fine lens. The f/2.8 and increased sharpness seems like it would be awesome, but I can't reconcile the price...just yet. As for the 17mm lens, I just haven't found a copy on ebay or elsewhere that I really liked for the price. I'll just wait around. No hurries as they'll still be around.
Third, I've been thinking about some more lighting kit.
I like my flashes, but they can be a real pain to use. One falls asleep and requires an ETTL cable and the optical slave that I use is prone to not firing if the first flash isn't strong enough or it's being partially covered. I think a pair of beginner studio strobes would be fun to use. I just haven't decided if I should spend the money on it yet.
For the time being, I'll leave all of the above as merely lust.