OK, so here is what I have ended up with after spending WAY TOO MUCH MONEY!!! (I raided my next years holiday fund)
40D camera body
17-85 IS USM lens
70-200 F4 IS lens
Tamrac Adventure 7 bag
Induro A2 Tripod and Head
UV filters for the lenses
Polarising filter for the 17-85
And the explanation goes like this:
Obviously if you get a body you need a lens. I had about $1k to spend so I had a couple of options available. The 17-85mm is included as a kit lens (wasnt in my instance) as is the 17-55. So I did lots of reading and thinking and opted to go with the 17-85 as it gave me enough wideangle to play with and enough zoom to be useful. And it get universally good comments about IQ (Image Quality) as well as the general build quality of the lens itself. I wanted a nice quality useful general purpose walkaround lens. And I have been quite happy with it.
Bags were a bit more problematic – I wanted a backpack for comfort, and I found out you could get some that had camera space in the bottom and backpack space in the top, which really appealed to me (room to put suntan lotion, lunch, a hat etc) I initially looked at Lowepro – they do a great Rover bag but it was HUGE on me. And then in a bag discussion I was reading someone made a really interesting comment. Lowepro are universally recognised as a camera bag – easily identifiable by someone wanting to pinch your stuff. So I looked at other options, and found the Tamrac – the Adv7 is LOTS smaller, and very light, and had the half and half option (and netting bits on the side ideal for water bottles)
Its been a bit of a squeeze to fit the camera and both lenses in, I have had to dismount both to fit at this point, but still playing.
