i am looking for a new lens and wondering what the hot item is now. i photograph everything from portraits to landscape but the lens doesn't have to be general it can be more landscape or portrait specific.
In short I don't thing you need more glass. maybe trade up
Maybe it's time to think about a wider range of options. What you are doing is trying to make one type of camera work for everything. Actually the DSLR is best only when you need portability and speed. If you don't need to carry your equipment a long distance and your subject can wait a minute of two then you don't need portability and speed
I always like to address a problem by thinking "In a perfect world what would I do?" then later add some real-world contraints like "OK I can't spend $50K..." But start your thinking big...
For example if all you were shooting were landscapes and you never go more then 100 feet from a road what camera would you pick? Seriously? I think an APS-C size DSLR would be your
last choice. Why not shoot Velvia on 4x5 size with a Schneider 80mm lens? Why not? No money to buy that kind of equipment? Don't worry about that now
Think about portraits. What's lacking in them right now. I'd bet it's not that you don't have the "correct" lens but that you do not have perfect control of the light and you are having to make do. What you might want is a studio lighting setup. three or more lights, stands reflector, softboxes and so on. Expensive? Yes but worry about that later.
You can do this for every genre of photography.
Next look at the price of various options, assuming you can afford only one, see which will make the most dramatic impact on your portfolio of work. My bet is that if you spent $1,000 on a new Canon lens the effect on the portfolio would be very minor, a few images might have slightly more "punch" but you'd need a skilled eye to see it.
On the other hand if you spent half that on lighting equipment your portrait and small product (table top) shots would change dramatically in appearance and you could get shots that were now imposable. Same if you were to spend $500 on a 40 year old used 4x5 system. In both cases your work would move into a different league. When you already own a bag of lenses adding another, even a high end lens make at most a small difference But even if you were to buy a $20 Holga if would open up an entire new area and make a dramatic difference.
We see the same thing in sports too. Skiers will have several pairs of skis, When I was into kayaks and racing I owned 8 boats. Now I own two bike, one road bike and one with fat knobby tires. It is really good when you can match the equipment to the task. I think to many SLR owners try to solve problems by buying a lens when they should be buying a second camera system. And the costs are comparable
