I just purchased a refurbished 5d Mark III from the Canon website at significant savings. The camera was in perfect condition; I only had to reset the settings to factory default to make it the same as buying it brand new. I would definitely consider buying a refurbished camera or lens from Canon.

I highly recommend the Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS lens. it retails for $1,100, but you can get it a refurbished one on Canon's site for $920. It also regularly sells on Ebay for around $900 - most of those are new & sold from a camera/lens kit.

It's a fantastic lens over the range that it covers. You won't get the distance that you may want, but this lens will take care of everything else you are looking for.

The original link had a period attached to it. The link should be:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/full-frame-advantage.htm

I've used Parallels since I bought my MacBook Pro because there were a few programs I couldn't find an equivalent for on the Mac. It hasn't caused me any problems & I only start it up when I need it. Works fine for me.

I bought the Seagull model from Amazon. It has different eyepieces that fit Canon, Nikon, & other cameras. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CS40WY/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00

Remember, if you get the 70-200 2.8 and use a 2x teleconverter, you've turned the lens into a 140-400 f/5.6. I haven't tried it, but I've heard you lose a lot of sharpness with the teleconverter.

Lightroom has a 30 day trial as well. And the price has been lowered because a newer version is coming out shortly.

I have an Epson Perfection V600 Photo Scanner that I bought after reading the recommendations on UHH. I'm very pleased with it.

I set mine to scan @ 4800 dpi to tiff files & put 2 strips of color negatives in the holder. For the 8 scans it takes about 15 minutes. 4800 dpi is huge, but I'd rather scan huge and downsize later in PS if I want/need to. I first scan to a preview, which takes about 1 minute, then I can select any or all of the 8 pictures to go ahead and scan to tiff files.

The scanner does recognize the individual photos, no cropping necessary. And you can open the scanned files in PS or PSE as necessary after scanning.

I bought the Tamron 18-270 a few years ago and was very happy with it then. Recently, I got lens lust and bought a few Canon L series lenses. I'm no expert, but I can see the difference that the better glass makes. Now, the Tamron only makes it out of the bag when I only want to carry one lens and I'm not shooting anything special.

I bought the 7d w/ the 28-135 lens before Xmas for about $1,500. Love the camera, but didn't need the lens. I sold it on Ebay for $290, so after fees and shipping my 'price' for the camera was about $1,240. Then I took the money I saved & put it towards a 24-105 f/4 L lens. Now I'm very happy with both!

I highly recommend the 7D and look into getting the lens with it, but selling it.

Back in 1986, $40 million was good haul, good enough for #21 of the year. Well behind Top Gun and Crocodile Dundee II (wow, really?), but ahead of Pretty In Pink, The Fly, and Three Amigos.

I made the mistake of not reading the reviews of the sites & tried to buy a 70-200 f/4 L lens from Digital Hunter. They are a scam. First they said the lens was grey market & I'd have to send it to Europe for warranty service. I decided to opt for the US lens which increased the price by several hundred dollars. They said the lens would ship on Monday and I called a few days later and they said the lens had shipped but couldn't give me a tracking number for a week because too many people were re-routing their packages (never heard that one before). I called a week later & they said it hadn't shipped yet. When I talked to the shipping department, they were very nasty & told me they just received the lens from their warehouse. He said they were losing money on the lens (I doubt that). When he couldn't give me a shipping date, I cancelled the order and the guy started yelling at me. Fortunately I used American Express and they fought the battle to get the money back. It took almost 2 months, but Amex handled it all.

Definitely read the reviews on these sites and don't buy from Digitial Hunter.

I have both wired and wireless remotes for the same reasons others have said: wired from behind the camera when I want to remove any chance of camera shake and wireless from in front of the camera when I want to be in the photo and don't want to use the timer. I like the wireless better than the timer because I can take multiple photos easily without having to reset the timer.

I have the Tamron 18-270 lens & was very happy about it when I started shooting. I wanted one lens that I could walk around with and use in almost all situations and that lens did that. I recently bought a Canon L 70-200 lens and difference is amazing. I'm no longer a big fan of my Tamron and I'm looking to get the Canon 24-70 or 24-105 L lens to almost complete the range that the Tamron had. Yes, I'll end up spending almost 4 times what the Tamron cost me, but the difference in the glass is worth it to me.

I have the Canon 10-22mm and absolutely love it. I read a while back that this lens has "L" quality glass and I believe it. The lens is razor sharp and has great color. It isn't cheap, but it's worth the price to me.