Time to upgrade! Help appreciated!

[Aszental]

Heya.

Well tonight i tried to shoot and outdoor night event and i realised my gear isn't up for the task.

Atm i have a 30d. with a

17-70 sigma
50mm canon
580exII

the main problem i had was that the sigma wasn't fast enough in the low light and both of them had a horrible time trying to focus.

So im thinking of either the canon 24-70 and them sometime in the future a 10-22, or the 17-55 cannon 2.8 IS.

(i'm overseas atm but at home i have access to a 70-200 2.8 IS basically whenever i want)

what do you guys reckon?

thanks

[ozimax]

This is very complicated question. First of all, your 30D is a fine camera, no problems there, just raise your ISO to 800-1000 in low light.

Secondly, I assume you have the 50mm F1.8. This is a faster lens than the 24-70 F2.8 (eg faster meaning bigger aperture which in turn lets in more light). When selecting a lens, focal length is what you really need to consider. Are you planning on photographing moving subjects? If so, then the faster the lens the better.

If you are shooting stationary objects eg landscapes, then consider using a tripod and lower shutter speeds. The 10-22mm has an extremely wide focal length but is only F3.5 wide open.

You most probably need to include some more details about your requirements to enable some better informed responses.

Cheers,

Ozi.

[dviv]

If you have the 580 mounted directly on your 30D you shouldn't have focusing problems. The 580 uses an infrared beam to help the camera focus.

When I had my 350D with the 580 mounted on it I was able to take in-focus pics in complete darkness (stalactites/mites in a cave) - the beam from the flash helped the lens focus. You can actually see several red lines on your subject when you half-press the shutter release.

If you like the 17-70 but want a faster lens consider the Tamron 17-50 2.8 - very nice lens for the money. Although as Ozi said, your 50mm 1.8 is faster than any zoom anyway.

[Aszental]

well the 50 mm is certainly fast enough, however i find the auto focus extremely inaccurate and its hunts trying to lock onto something...

Couple this with moving people it makes it nearly useless.

the 17-70 once u zoom in abit it drops the appeture to 4 which i find isn't fast enough for indoor/nightime events...

thanks guys