Hi Perrone

Thanks a lot for the info :-)

I have been lokking at this one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/425812-USA/Canon_1242B002AA_EF_S_17_55mm_f_2_8_IS.html

Would that one do as a good starter taking the price in consideration too?

Thanks.

/Ulf

That is one of THE most popular sought after lenses by people moving to the 5D/7D. But most won't shell out the money for it. If you can afford that one GET IT.

Also, as you use that lens, you'll come to find yourself using a few focal lengths more than others. Especially indoors in low light. When you find what those are, it's time to buy fast primes on those lengths. The reason I am going with primes instead, is because I have Nikon still cameras, and I want to use the glass on both the Canon and the Nikon.

Since auto-focus and other features do not operate in video mode on the Canon's, I see no point in paying the bit money to use AF. And manual focus lenses feel SO GOOD when you focus them! :)

Thanks again Peronne

We distribute Canon products at work, so I get a "decent" price :-)

I'll definatly get that one - thanks for the recommendation.

/Ulf

A good laugh :-) Re.: T2i / 550D



/Ulf

brilliant!!!

and come to think of it, there wasn't any playing with dof in the film at all.....

If you ever plan on upgrading bodies, face it the Full frame versions are great, then stay away from the ef-s mount. It will save you money in the long run. I know it did for me in my upgraded bodies from the 300d to the 5dmkII.

Price is no object?
16-35L, 50 1.2, 85 1.2

Budget conscious?
17-40L 4.0, 50 1.8, 85 1.8, 135 SF

Thanks Joe :-)

/Ulf

Tamron makes a popular and more affordable 17-50 f/2.8 that I've been happy with for a few years. Versatile focal range and it takes great pictures, especially stopped down a little.

Lately I've been buying Zeiss primes in the older Contax/Yashica mount to use on my 7D and T1i with adapters. Auto-focus lenses are difficult to use when shooting video since they are often difficult to operate effectively in manual focus mode.

The Canon dSLR's look surprisingly good at 400 and 800 ISO so having the fastest lenses doesn't need to be a top priority like it was in the old days of slow films. A f/2.8 is plenty fast enough for most work.

To those considering a zoom for video work, get one with separate zoom and focus rings so that you don't change the focal length when changing focus. "One-touch" zooms are not good for video.

One touch zooms weren't good for photo work. I cursed those things back when they became all the rage.

Your comments about the 2.8 lenses is well stated. The "third stop" faster ISOs on the Canons tend to be the cleanest (especially in the darks) but you do sacrifice some highlight handling for it. I shot our movie mostly at ISO 160 or 320. I shot at ISO 100 when I had to outside, and shot at 640 for a couple of tough scenes indoors when we just couldn't get the light where we needed it.

I noted that the new Cooke Panchros are a F2.8 series that seem well suited to shooting on these digital cinema cams (for PL mount) and doing the same in Nikon glass can save a considerable amount of money. It also saves some money and time on having to do ND when shooting in brighter conditions when you want to hold your ISO at a certain place. I try to shoot ISOs like film stock. Pick an indoor one, and an outdoor one, and do the shoot. Keeps me from having to work up too much in the way of calibrating the meter.

OH! One other HUGE thing. At least on the 5D, the LCD screen comes set to automatically adjust it's brightness. TURN THAT OFF. Try to set it so that when your images are being properly exposed, they look properly exposed on the LCD and then LEAVE IT ALONE. Our camera op didn't know this and kept harrassing me about how it didn't "look right" in the LCD and made several camera adjustments to try and make things look right. We had several nasty surprised on the first day back at video village when I found out he'd changed ISO or SHUTTER SPEED away from my metered settings on set. The director was not amused.

I just got the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4. Love the versatility. Having used prime lenses with my Letus35 adapter on my EX1 I forgot how fun it was to be able to change your shot without having to change your lens! I know f/4 isn't always ideal but I love that it's an f/4 throughout the zoom. The stock lens drove me crazy as when you zoomed you would also have to adjust the shutter speed or ISO to make it brighter, a real pain. Here's some info about it though the review is geared towards still photography:

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens Review

The other that I just got and am in love with is the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. Really solidly built. It just showed up yesterday so no vid yet but should have something up soon.

- Ray
Underground Planet

Appreciating the discussion. I’m planning to buy a Canon T2i, even though I’m concerned about the rolling shutter issues, as soon as I’ve saved up enough (and my wife lets me). So in the penny-pinching meantime to distract myself I have been researching lenses. Lots of information (and mis-information) and opinions available in many places online. Here are two websites that I’ve found helpful, not necessarily for those looking for high-end recommendations, but for the impecunious among us: DVinfo T2i, and ninofilm.

Good lenses, as posters to this Sony forum often remind us, are expensive. Not being a professional, and recognizing that I could never afford really good lenses, my long-term strategy for buying lenses for the T2i is developing as follows:
1. Get the most out of the included kit lens. Not the sharpest picture, not the best low-light performance, but useable and has image stabilization.
2. Immediately buy the Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime. It’s only a hundred dollars (well, $130 in Canada), and gives more than acceptable performance. Equivalent to a portrait lens on a full-frame camera, could be useful in all kinds of situations.
3. A little later, buy a 30mm prime, under f/2, for around $500. Equivalent to a 50mm on a full-frame camera, which is usually considered a normal kind of view. Could be a work-horse.
4. Save $600 for a fast wide-angle zoom lens. Like the Tokina referenced by Mutley above. Good outside and in.
5. When ready (i.e., when I know the camera and am sure about going forward with it), buy the Canon 17-55mm f/2.8, about $1200. (As good according to the reviews as the Canon “L”-series lenses, this is the one referenced by Ulf and PerroneFord above. I probably should start here, but then I’d have to wait another year to get the camera and lens. It’s an EF-S lens, which Joe White pointed out won’t work with full-frame cameras. But I’m fond of the APS-C sized sensors which approximate the dimensions of Hollywood film. It’s the size I dream in.)
6. Buy a 70-200mm zoom lens, in the $1500 range. You know, just because.
7. By now the T2i will be a few generations old, and it’ll be time to buy a new body with all the newest etceteras. But if Canon is still in the game, I’ll have a second-body and a lens-base to make the decision easy and keep me happy. (And you know I’ll then start looking for an f/1.0 something-or-other.) As a young teenager in the late 60s with a hand-cranked 8mm (not even Super8!) with a rotating lens-mount with three primes, I thought I had it good then!

Wow! Wish-list reality-check: That would be $3900 in lenses. I better not tell my wife or it will be ix-nay on that amera-cay!

Tim Robertson

P.S. Interesting thing about lens prices: I was looking in an old photography magazine from a decade ago, and prices have pretty much remained the same: a lens that cost $1000 ten years ago, is still around $1000 today, some are a little more, some a little less.