New camera body or lens??

kayla.r · May 12, 2016

So I currently have the canon t3i.
I am interested in car photography, both at shows and on the track..
My question is, should I go ahead and upgrade my lenses (24-70mm and 70-200mm) or invest in a new camera body instead??
right now all I have is the basic kit lenses and a 50mm. just looking for feedback

JacaRanda · May 12, 2016

If you have the budget for both of those lenses, I would get them first. Use them with the t3I until you discover where/if the camera is lacking before deciding on the body you may or may not need.

kayla.r · May 12, 2016

thank you for the feedback!

ruifo · May 12, 2016

Lenses first, always.

kayla.r · May 12, 2016

okay thanks

Moly · May 13, 2016

If you may eventually upgrade to full frame DSLR bear this in mind when selecting lenses that are good enough to hold on to. Full frame DSLRs don't work with ALL lenses.

beagle100 · May 14, 2016

full frame like the 6D is better for indoor photography but like others have indicated you may have to upgrade your lens

Punisher911 · May 16, 2016

regardless of what Canon body you use or upgrade to, you cannot go wrong with the 24-70 and 70-200 f/2.8 mk ii variety....

manaheim · May 16, 2016

Moly said:
If you may eventually upgrade to full frame DSLR bear this in mind when selecting lenses that are good enough to hold on to. Full frame DSLRs don't work with ALL lenses.

Stressing this point.

I had a policy when I had a DX camera that I would never invest more than $300 on any lens that wasn't FX. Investing a ton of money in a "good" DX lens... that eventually you won't be able to use at all... is generally a bad plan.

When I was in this world (I had a D300), I did the following...

Nikkor 24-70 2.8
Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR2
Nikon D800

It was really painful to have to wait nearly two years to get to an FX camera, but it was absolutely the right thing to do.

As a side note, why the hell does Nikon brand it's lenses as Nikkor (and with TWO ks instead of one).

manaheim · May 16, 2016

Ah...

Nikkor is the brand of lenses produced by Nikon Corporation, including camera lenses for the Nikon F-mount.

Nikko parent company brand, from which the Nikkor brand evolved.
The Nikkor brand was introduced in 1932, a Westernised rendering of an earlier version Nikkō (日光), an abbreviation of the company's original full name Nippon Kōgaku ("Japan Optics"; 日本光学工業株式会社).[1] (Nikkō also means "sunlight" and is the name of a Japanese town.) In 1933, Nikon marketed its first camera lens under the Nikkor brand name, the "Aero-NIKKOR," for aerial photography.[1]

Nikon originally reserved the Nikkor designation for its highest-quality imaging optics, but in recent history almost all Nikon lenses are so branded.

SOURCE: Nikkor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

fmw · May 23, 2016

Lenses are almost always more important than camera bodies. It is the lens, after all that forms the image. The camera body simply records it. Unless your current body fails to handle something you need, the lens is the way to go.