I know, I know...

My name is Kelli and I am probably the most spoiled person I know.

Canon has a rebate offer on till the end of the month. One place in town had the lens I wanted, one husband wants some major bike parts, one wife wants to start shooting semi-pro(whatever that means), and one lens was calling her name.

I sold my Sigma lens, for a lot less than I would have liked, but let's face it, it was not the right lens. It was a good lens, but after taking the photography class, I realized it was not at the high end of good. Everyone was talking about wanting, needing and getting a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 or f/4. I didn't think I'd need one. But then I saw what people were doing with it, and I put it on my list.

I was pretty sure I was getting the f/2.8, just made sense for low light situations, but it also cost about $1000 more than the f/4. We won't go into exact numbers, but it's a Canon, it's a good piece of glass, that's photog talk. Anway, we went to Lens and Shutter. I knew I would never be taking indoor sports shots. The kids are past that, so I knew a f/2.8 might be over kill, but for lowlight mountain biking, it would be great. But how much do I do that? $1000 to do it a few times a year? No, so I said gimme the f/4. But then I said "Can I hold the f/2.8?" They very knowledgable sales person put it on a 50D for me to test the weight of both. Here's where the story gets sad...

I didn't mind the weight of the f/4 at all. Very managable. But the f/2.8 made my spine compress under the sheer weight of it. Kerry snickered, he said there was no way he was listening to me complain about carrying that thing up and down the hill. We, along with the sales person, agreed that was not the lens for me and my upper body strength of a kitten. Walk all day, sure, pack something in my arms or around my neck for 20 min., no way!

I'm so sad that my lack of strength was the deciding factor on the type of lens I got. Not sad enough to start weightlifting just yet, like the sales person recommended. She said to start, then sell the f/4, good re-sale value, and then get the f/2.8 in a year or so. I don't know if I'm up to having to sweat to get a lens.

Here's a comparison so you can see the difference, I know you want to ... The middle one is the f/4, the one I got. The one on the right is the f/2.8, I believe the lens weighs 4 lbs. add that to the weight of the camera, the battery pack and god forbid a flash...my arms hurt just thinking about it.

What did I have to promise to do for the lens, because that's how we roll? To put myself out there and take pictures. And maybe some other stuff that's not blog worthy...