I Think The Internet Is Going To Make Me Convulse…

Overload.  I think I have just reached the point.  I never thought I would feel this way.  There was a time when the boundless information was a boon to researching things on the dear old interwebz, and you could find a reasonable number of points and counterpoints on a topic, and use them to make up your mind.  Today, however, I reached a point that I cannot process all the opinions about a product I am looking into, to formulate a reasonable assessment of the pros and cons of said item to potentially make a purchase.

The item in question is a camera lens.  I have the kit lenses that came with my digital SLR camera, and I have noodled around enough with it to learn a few things, and now feel that its time to move up and get a little nicer lens to sharpen up the photos I like to take.  We have some adventures coming up in the next 6 months or so that will give a great opportunity to utilize a nicer lens for photos.  It became quickly apparent that photography gear generates as many different opinions as there are photographers.  Times ten.

As I delve into forums, in several places, a pattern that would allow me to see a clear path to take, just will not unfold.  People are very passionate, and a good number are very well informed and experienced.  Trustworthy even.  But there is not a clear winner, within my price concerns.  So I am stuck, not wanting to make a huge investment that I may regret later.  The used market doesn’t offer that much of savings, and even then you may have no recourse if you buy a lens and there happens to be a giant scratch on it or a fungus growing in it.

Usually this kind of purchase is easier.  Read some opinions, see a trend, and follow it, and usually end up satisfied.  This trend looks more like an inkblot versus a line graph.