The Photography Expansion Path

So what are my options for photography purchases, beside getting a decent book or two on how to use PS CS4? 

First, a bit of a warning: the December 2009 issue of Consumer Reports has page devoted to SLR lenses.  All zoom lenses and none are in the quality category I'd consider.  On the other hand, they do recognize what they are doing and give none of these lenses an 'excellent' rating for image quality (though most get 'very good').  Then again, this may be the right sort of recommendation for someone who goes to CR for buying advice on SLR lenses. 

So what are my options?

1. Most realistically, I need a bigger monitor than my current 19  inch Dell Ultrasharp 1907FP.  I do have an old 1997 24 (?) inch Sony CRT in my basement in CT, so I'll give that a try first.  Two monitors in parallel would be nice, if I can get the old monitor to interface with my current machine.  But I don't know if the color and resolution on this CRT is going to be good enough.  But it is something to try first.   But there probably is a new 24 or 27 inch LCD screen somewhere in the future, hopefully a WSXGA 1680x1050 or a WUXGA 1920x1200.  Photo editing on a 19 inch screen just isn't feasible with PS CS4. 
2. As for lenses, there are no obvious choices right now.  I tried out the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 last summer, but sent it back for front focusing -- like many many copies of this lens -- on my 40D.  I could try again and send the lens and camera in to Sigma for calibration.  But I wasn't blown away by the lens and I'm not sure it's worth it.  But getting some practice might help, as well as a lens that focuses well.  Besides this lens, there is a long list of obvious lens choices, but none that stick out as terribly compelling.  On the short end there is a wide angle fast zoom like the Tokina AF 11-16mm f/2.8. I've not been too happy with the performance of my Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom at the 17mm end, feeling that it could have better resolution, and I'm not sure a wide angle zoom will solve this complaint: there seem to be inherent problems with zooms at wide angles (though a specialized zoom might do better), something reflected in the cost of good wide angle primes -- and even those seem to have problems.  Finally, these resolution issues may simply call for getting a full frame camera.  The next lens is the highly regarded Canon 35mm f/1.4 L, which everybody seems to like...but it is expensive.  There is also a new version coming at some point, not that this necessarily matters.   This would get me two stops more light than my zoom and better contrast and color.  On the long end the 135mm f/2 (see this 700+ posting thread on flickr) and the 200mm f/2.8 are the obvious choices and ought to be quite useful for shooting indoors and at dusk, as well as being optically good lenses.  I'm not sure I want to go the 1.4x extender route for my 70-200mm f/4 IS, but that would be another option, but I'm not sure I want the compromises that entails.  No way to know without trying it out though.  A macro lens might also be a good idea....as you can tell, I've not zoomed in on any particular lens. [Update: turns out that the Canon EF 300mm f/4 USM L IS lens falls into the price category I'm considering here, something I'd not been aware of.  This would, also with the 1.4 extender, get me into serious bird/wildlife range on 1.6 crop camera.  Bigger than my 70-200mm f/4 IS lens, but light for a 300mm lens. Over 10 years old, so the IS isn't up to modern standards. Not weather sealed.]
3. Finally, cameras: there are three choices, or rather realistically two choices here.  I'm locked into Canon due to my existing lenses, even if Nikon currently seems to have the better cameras. Canon may be remedying that situation somewhat.  The newly released 7D is the obvious and most affordable upgrade from my 40D.    The 40D has three main issues: resolution/color/dynamic range due to a crop sensor (hard for me to assess given my lack of experience with a full frame sensor and the fact that these image characteristics stem from many sources), low light noise and color, and autofocus performance when tracking.  The 7D may help with the autofocus and maybe a bit with the high iso shots -- I need to see more reviews, but the reviews so far sound like the 7D AF system is a significant improvement for tracking -- and the 40D 'ssystem is pretty bad.  The 5D II helps with a full frame sensor and good high iso performance, but it's tracking autofocus is most likely less good than the 7D.  It is also more expensive.  Out of my price range is the 1D IV which should improve all all dimensions, even if it is a 1.3 crop sensor. So the 7D may not be worth it, especially given the option of waiting for next year's 1.6 crop camera. At the same time, without a full frame camera is may make little sense for me to buy better lenses like the 35mm, 135 and 200mm lenses mentioned above.  Also, the full frame 5D II doesn't work with my EF-S 17-55mm zoom and I'd need a new zoom or I'd need to rely on prime lenses still to be purchased for everything below the telephoto range.  And it isn't clear that there are good zooms for the 5D II -- primes may be required, though there are longstanding rumors of a improved EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L with IS coming soon.  But that's an additional cost.  Without the lens quandary I'd probably make the jump to full frame. 

So it's waiting for now, with maybe a new monitor at some point.

Gratuitous old food photo with 100% crop (Iso 400 & flash, 55mm, f/7.1 -- most issues are I think sensor size issues, not lens issues, but who knows, some of the color issues my be lens related): [Incidentally, I did not buy the Mott's apple sauce.]