See this thread: http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...nd-some-shocks!

Are you sure you want a 28-300? It's very expensive, very heavy, and rather slow. I'd have thought you'd do better with something like a 70-200 or a 100-300, even a 100-400, plus a general purpose zoom. Even a cheap GP zoom wil out-perform a 28-300 at the short end, and any of the lenses just mentioned will be superior at the long end.

Yes, you'd need to change lenses from time to time, but if that bothers you, just get a second body. To keep costs somewhere near sane, I'd look at something like this:

  • 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS (not much more than half the price of a 28-300, half the size, not much more than half the weight, and by all acounts simply superb quality)
  • Your choice of the many general-purpose zooms (a 15-85 maybe, or a 24-70/4, even a kit lens will match the 28-300 in the normal range, and anything better than a kit will outperform it easily).
  • A pair of 80D bodies.


The whole lot will cost about the same as a 7D II and a 28-300, weigh about the same, and give you unparalled flexibility.

Better yet, see if you can pick up a second-hand 100-400 Mark 1. These excellent lenses should be readily available now that the Mark II is out, and be very reasonably priced. The amount you save there would go a fair way towards upgrading one of your 80Ds to a 7D II, or (if you'd rather go that way) to a 6D, or (if fine fast glass is your thing) upgrading the GP zoom to something like a 24-70/2.8L.