Am I doing the right thing

Hey all,

After posting a few things on the site, I must admit I have learnt a lot of things. I am the proud owner of a 60D, and even though sometimes I regret not buying the 7D, am happy. The swivel screen sold me. Anyhow, I have the kit 18-200 lens at the moment and have been searching for a new lens for some time. As I am having a baby boy soon, I am eager to get a prime lens to take great shots of him and his background. As we all know the crop sensor I have makes everything that little more......well 1.6 if you know what I mean.

Confused by this at first I did some research and found the initial choice (50mm1.2L) was not going to work. The shot was not what I wanted. I wanted to stand closer to the subject and get more out of the picture. I started looking at the 35mm and thought the same. So now I am fixated on the 24mm1.4LII. I love it love it love it love it.

I know you will all tell me how expensive it is and in some respects I agree. To be fair to myself, I am just about to start lessons at Canon and know that if I get one or 2 great lenses it is better than getting 4 or 5 crappy ones. The other reason for this choice is obviously build quality, weather proofing and the fact that it is the fastest lens at that focal range. I LOVE taking blurred background and the next best thing has an aperture of 2.8 I think.

When I was looking at the 50mm1.2 I was told it ws hard to use and had focus issues. Is this the same for this lens? I guess I just want to know if I am making the right choice (price excluded). I know that this is essentially a super wide angle lens but the 1.6 sensor brings it to a normal wide angel....I think. Although this is not typically used for what I will be using it for(portraits, body shots), I feel like when I get my 18-200 and put it on 24mm, this is where I want to be. The 24mm focal length is perfect for me.

Coupled with this is the aperture it provides. I am a little confused why it does not come with Image Stabilization. The answer is obvious to all you pros out there but I am clueless to that. Another thing I like about it is that it doesn't move in or out when manual focusing. That is very minor but I like it.

ATM I do not have a tripod but am extremely close to buying one. I already have the head. It's a Manfrotto 324RC2 which I got some time ago. I am looking at the Manfrotto 055xprob as my tripod. I hope this is going to be OK. As well as that I will be getting the padded bag. The Canon school prefers users have tripods and I will use mine heaps. I also got the wireless and wired remote (TC80N3) which I had to get an adapter for because it does not fit on the 60D.

The only real thing I am totally unsure is whether it is OK to buy my L lens from China or Overseas. The Australian price (whee I live) is around $2100 and the overseas price is $1300 upwards. Is the only difference no warranty or is there build quality difference as well?

My God, I have almost given my life story. What I want to know is :

1. Am I making the right lens choice?

2. Am I making the right Tripod choice?

3. Can I buy my lens overseas (China/Hong Kong) or should I buy from home(Australia)?

4. Is the lens I have chosen hard to use for a beginner like myself?

5. Is it really as good in low light as they say it is?

Thanks for reading and sorry about the length of the post.

Adrianandmel