My track record:
1) Buy Olympus 510 with two kit lenses. Spend 700eur and think that wil buy great image quality. Buy cheap ($100), but sturdy tripod.
2) Dissappointment in massive scale, especially on poor bokeh with kit-lenses and lack of High ISO to shoot indoors.
3) Learn to understand what f-numbers and ISO really mean. Read a lot and field test the camera for hours by shooting the same subject with different apertures, timings and ISO.
4) understand that DSLR is about SYSTEM (lock-in through lens investment) and that micro-four-thirds is not for a serious DSLR-photographer, neither are crop-sensors. Have to go full-frame
5) Buy Canon 5D with 16-35mm/2.8L and 50mm/1.4mm. Attach the 50mm lens, take few photos and cry out of euphoria. Near endless studies and huge investment on cameras have bearen fruit. it is large aperture that matters.
6) buy 70-200mm/2.8L in the same buying spree
7) realize that 200mm on full frame is not really long. Buy2x extender and get disappointed on its quality
realize my tripod is too bulky. Buy compact travel-tripod. Usd 100, but works for me.
9) realize that changing lenses on a trip is burdensome. Buy 24-105mm/4L IS
10) Slowly drop carrying many lenses on trips, but 24-105mm only
11) upgrade to 5DII and enjoy the high ISO performance. Drop carrying flash often
12) buy Sigma 180mm/3.5 macro + Canon ring flash. Save some money by not buying the twin-flash.
13) Take wonderful macro photos, mostly hand-held.
14) Go crazy into macro and by MP-E65. Realize that the lens is useless without twin-flash (ring flash does not get close enough), electronic focus rail and HelioFocus stacking SW.
15) Move into a country with limited macro opportunities. Put further macro investment on hold
16) Buy 85mm 1.4f prime. Good lens, but does not zoom close enough. Bit limited usage, but good addition to portfolio
17) Realize minimal usage of 16-35mm until I got. Baby. Close-ups with 35mm works well.
18) Considering to upgrade the
- 180mm macro to new Sigma 2.8/IS. Maybe go for 150mm to save some money (and re-use he ring flash)
- get the twin-macro flash, electric focus rail and heliofocus
- get 35mm/1.4 prime (for the baby photos, of course)
- upgrade 70-200/2.8IS to new version
- get either Mirroless or second DSLR to avoid lens switching on the road
- … some day, some day

Had I known what I know now, I had started with 24-105/4L and 50mm/1.4 and skipped the 16-35/2.8 and MP-E65 (until I have budget for the full set). Although I think the 16-35/2.8 will turn out to be a great lens once I learn to us wide-angle properly.

I definitely evaluated what lenses I wanted first and spent 5 years with my D40 before upgrading to a d700. Even with all that consideration there were things that popped up that I wasn’t expecting. It’s good advice.

i decided to read ALL your stories after this one. This is MY story

Now I’m finally there – i think….

20D, 30D, 40D, 5DII & now the III

17-40L, 24-105L, 70-300L, 100-400L, 100MacroL, 8-15L, TS-E 17 and soon a Shorty 40. Not to forget all the EF-S that are now on their way to ebay-listings

However, I would like to add one thing…

Although I own a plethora of excellent lenses, I shoot 90-95% of my imagery with 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses on a pair of 1.6x cameras (I use the 40D and the 7D). My standard travel kit is comprised of those two lenses and cameras plus, the 12-24mm f/4 Tokina ATX which I occasionally use. I also carry a pair of flashes 430EX and 550EX along with a pair of Joe Demb Flash Diffuser pro diffuser-reflectors. The hotshoe flashes along with the DFD will give me excellent lighting in a variety of venues.
I chose the 70-200mm f/4L IS instead of an f/2.8L (series) lens becauseof its lighter weight. I can carry the f/4L IS lens AND THE EXTRA CAMERA at the same weight as carrying the f/2.8L lens alone. I have never left home without the f/4L IS but, I read multiple postings on vatious digital seminars about photographers trying to decide if they want to carry the f/2.8L lens on a trip because of its additional weight.

here’s my setup. >>> http://destinationewan.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/my-cheap-macro-photography-setup/

Love the blog and website. I always drop in when I feel jaded from reading through posts on a forum or two. This place brings a smile to my face usually and an occasional wince, when I read something on your lens tests that I can commiserate with.

I recently had a friend who is actually the owner of a camera shop, who said that we wanted to sell his Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRI as he doesn’t use it much, preferring to use the 70-300 consumer zoom. He also shoots a lot of weddings, so I was surprised that he didn’t use the 70-200 as it is a workhorse zoom for so many wedding pros.

Although I am not a professional, I for one find my f2.8 zooms indispensable in situations like weddings, since there are so many variables in light, people movements and activities, that even a fast prime doesn’t quite cut it for guerrilla split second shooting. So I told him that he’d better keep the 70-200 as he would end up regret selling it eventually and have to buy another one. So when I read the part of your story about selling all the f2.8 zooms after not using them much, and then having to buy the set again when the kids took sports up again, it brought a smile to my face.

I am fortunate that my route followed a reasonable route that has seen me only getting rid of one lens, a Tokina 11-16 that I really wasn’t using enough. I kept my sole “kit” lens as a loaner lens on my first DSLR body (a D90). I now run full frame with a lot of kit that I think I will hang on to, hopefully not to the point of opening up an Asian version of lensrentals…

Keep up the great articles and splurge of your thoughts!!!! This place is truly unique.

I have been wondering for the last couple of months if a manual focus rangefinder would bring my enlightenment. haha…