This is my birthday present to myself (a month early). I’m such a giver.

The rationale for these purchases:

The gorillapod: Because sometimes you just don’t want to carry a full tripod.

The 50mm: I’m always reading about how great these lenses are for portraits, especially in low light, so I had to have one.  This shot was taken with this new lens.  The DOF will take some getting used to.  My face is slightly out-of-focus and I’m only at f3.2!

The 12-24mm: I’m moving to Montana at the end of the month.  Is there a better reason to get an ultra-wide?  This lens should rock on my full-frame 5D!

The 40D: Why get a 40D when I already have a 5D? Three reasons. 1. I wanted to have a back-up body when I’m at photography school.  I don’t want to be in the situation I was in two winters ago at a photography workshop in Maui where my camera (my old Digital Rebel) broke and I had to tape it back together in order to keep shooting. 2. I also own the Sigma 50-500mm lens.  I was happy with this lens on my old Digital Rebel with the crop sensor, but was really disappointed with it on the full-frame 5D.  It shows significant vignetting on the full sensor.  The 40D has a 1.6X crop sensor so I should be happy with it again.  3. I like wildlife photography and wildlife tends to move, often very quickly.  The 40D can shoot at 6.5fps while the 5D can only shoot at 3fps.  I figure the 50-500mm will stay on the 40D most of the time.  I’ll use the 5D for everything else.

I also purchased a couple of polarizers and some camera bags to carry all my new gear.