7D - What 3 lenses if you had to pick 3?

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drivinhard

Active member
$$ no object and buying Canon lenses for a 7D, if you had to pick 3 (wide/med/long) in any combo of prime, zoom, which 3 would you get?

if buying a kit, would you get the 28-135 or 18-135? (have no experience with either)

thx
 
Well don't buy a kit bad idea unless your going to sell the lenses. If I could only have three lenses I would have to say:
Tokina 11-16mm,
Tamron 17-50mm with vc,
and Canon EF 70-200mm f4.0L IS USM.

That would pretty much cover all of the focal lengths I use. I know they are not all Canon but there still great lenses. You could also get the Canon 17-55 instead of the Tamron if money is NO object. I would also recommend getting some old Nikon Ai primes there really great considering how cheap they are. Also you might want to think about getting the T2i instead of the 7D and use the extra money to buy some more lenses!!!!
 
I chose these but for stills shooting:

Canon EF 10-22mm L
Canon EF 24-105mm L f/4 IS
Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS
(plus a 1.4x teleconverter)

Although the lenses aren't that fast, they're really sharp wide open. The last two have IS so f/4 isn't too much of an issue in low-light in terms of hand-held if you have a good breathing technique and take multiple exposures. I can get tack sharp shots at 1/6th second if I take about 10 exposures at 8 fps. (at least one or two will be tack sharp)

For film-making I use vintage Zeiss Jena primes which are extremely sharp and fast (and massive beasts)! The Flektogon 50mm which is rated at f/4 is comparable at f/4 to the Nikon 50mm 1.4 at f/1.4 in low light!

(whatever you do, stay away from the EF 16-35mm 2.8 - at least the Mark I, the Mark II looks a lot better. It's horribly soft especially t the corners, however the one cool thing is that it doesn't breath at 35mm!)
 
It depends, do you want primes or zooms?

Money no object?

Primes:

Canon 14mm f2.8 L

Canon 50mm f1.2 L

Canon 300mm f2.8 L (god I love it... rent it every chance I get.)

Zooms:

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8

Canon 17-55mm f2.8

Canon 70-200mm f2.8

just my 2 cents... :beer:
 
jideobi said:
Sigma 30mm 1.4
canon 17-55mm 2.8 is
canon 70-200mm 2.8 is
Click to expand...

Tack on 1-2 fast primes and yer good ta go. You'll be sad if you don't have at least one fast lens.

The canon 50L 1.2 is in-credible. And it's only 1,500.00!

Perhaps also a 24 - 1.4 Canon
 
All primes, fast and sharp.

24mm 1.4L Canon
50mm 1.2L Canon
85mm 1.2L Canon

Wish you would say four lens. Because I think four is ideal at the least for filmmaking. I would add the tokina 11-16 2.8f or canon 14mm 2.8L


The 24mm 1.4L is the most beautiful lens I've seen in my opinion.
 
Zeiss ZE 21mm f/2.8 (or 18mm f/3.5)
Zeiss ZE 35mm f/2
Zeiss ZE 50mm f/1.4


+ Kit Lens to cover in between ranges and for IS - 24-135 - yeah it's flimsy, but optically it's not bad and it's cheap.

This would be for narrative stuff - I have half a mind to put in the 85mm f/1.4 as well, but that's pretty long on a crop sensor camera.

Must say though it all depends on what you want to shoot - it's hard to make recommendations without knowing that - how much speed you need, etc.

For a full on kit I'd fill this out with the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 and either the ZE 85mm f/1.4 or the Canon 85mm f/1.2 L
 
draven4 said:
All primes, fast and sharp.

24mm 1.4L Canon
50mm 1.2L Canon
85mm 1.2L Canon

Wish you would say four lens. Because I think four is ideal at the least for filmmaking. I would add the tokina 11-16 2.8f or canon 14mm 2.8L


The 24mm 1.4L is the most beautiful lens I've seen in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I like the way you think, if not going for Zeiss this is how I'd go.

I've got the older Canon FD 24mm f/1.4 L using it on my GH1 - maybe my favorite lens of all time.
 
I would say it totally has to depend on the type of shooting you do. For just pristine narrative stuff I'd buy the best and fastest primes first (as mentioned above). How often do you zoom in a narrative really, unless you are going for a doc look? If you need some sort of rare shock zoom (but you normally don't need one) rent one for a day. For me, I have a zeiss 50mm f/1.4 and use it all the time. I could see the Tokina 11-16 being a zoom that is used with a prime line-up because wide shots can often be tricky with camera-subject distance. Recently, my needs have changed because I'm doing more doc-related stuff, and my clients actually want those little out-takey zooms and things. So I'm going to pick up either a Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC or the Canon EFS 17-55mm IS. I'm naturally a tripod composing cinematographer, but I'm having to do handheld work on the job so IS and zoom is becoming an need for me.
Good input from all!
 
Really surprised nobody mentioned these...particularly the first one.

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM (replace with 70-200mm L f/2.8 if you know you need longer.)

Mods can we please move this thread to 7D lens discussion?
 
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It really helps to know what kind of projects you plan to shoot in order to give you recommendations. The Tokina, Tamron, and Canon zoom combination mentioned earlier is probably the best all around solution. If you want to get primes, definitely check out the old M42 Russian lenses like the Helios 44 for your 50 something prime, the Mir 24M for your 35mm prime, and a Helios 40 for your 85. Russian glass has a cult following and since they don't have the same cachet at Japanese or German lenses, you can get them for next to nothing if you have a good source.
 
As Ben B said
You will need a fast prime like the 50mm 1.4
I haven't that lens, instead I have an old manual rikoh rikenon 50mm 1.4
Recently I bought the Tamron 17-50 2.8 and I'm really surprised for the good job is doing the VC (stabilization) while shooting handheld!
Ok, it's not the 17-55 from canon but It costs the half of the price but it's value is more than the half of the canon 17-55.
What I not like is the focus ring, is reversed so I get some confusion while switching from the rikoh and the tamron.
I wold then suggest the 70-200, you can get it from every manufacturer but I would suggest a stabilized one.
The canon 70-200 L f/4 is a fantastic zoom and it has stabilization
 
You raise a good point about the focus rings turning in different directions on lots of these lenses. As I am now planning on getting either the 17-50 Tamron or the 17-55 Canon, this is a concern for me. I currently have some lenses that don't match in this way and it is actually a pretty big issue for me. Just a note, if you want the Tokina 11-16mm, the focus spins the way of the Tamron 17-50, not the Canon 17-55 (and other Canons). But the Sigma 30mm 1.4 spins like the Canon, I believe.
 
Actually I am not surprised it was left out as it is well known that even version two of the 16-35L f2.8 is arguably no better then the 17-40L f4. I sold mine after trying the 17-40 which is lighter and cheaper and just about as sharp. I guess unless you need the 2.8, which tbh would be more of an advantage if it was 1.4, you could easily get just as much from the 17-40...

I would put the 24-70 2.8 and many others way ahead of both those on the ultimate 3 list either way... but hey it just an opinion :smile:
 
I've a total of 8 lenses for my Canon 7D (used for filmmaking). I usually film glamour models, so think that those are my prefered for portrait filmmaking and interviews:

- Canon EFS 17-55 mm IS f2.8
I see this lens as a cheap construction equivalent of the EF 24-70mm f2.8 L optimized for the APC chip. The L series have a better construction, but the EFS 17-55mm lens have a nice image stabilizer that helps you a lot to get quiet films when not using a tripod. None of the L series equivalents have it. I got most of my best shootings with this lens, and I keep it using it when I want a macro zoom lens instead a prime.
The 17-55mm has a perfect zoom range for little chip APS, so this lens will replace the tokina 11-16, the Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L or the popular Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L if you only have to choose 3 lenses. The lens are not cheap coompared to the L series and have a constant aperture along the zoom range with incredible sharp image for movies. All filmakers love this lens when using the 7D and there is the need of a macro zoom.

- Canon 70-200 IS f2.8 L
Again a lens with image stabilization, always requiered when not using a tripod when filming movies. This tele will allow you to get images with a nice deep of field, I use this lens for portrait films -close ups and face angles- It's totally worth for the money you pay despite is not cheap, and I use it in all my films, This is the only unremplazwable piece of my kit.

- Canon 24mm f1.4 L.
You will need a prime with a wide aperture. I always doubt if I use my Zeiss Distagon 35mm f.2 or the canon 24mm, but if Ive to choose one I'll chose the 24mm because the operture f1.4 allows me to work on low light conditions. You can use a candle as main light and you'll get a sharp film without noise. This lens is a winner. I also have the Zeiss 50mm f1.4 but I find most usable the 24mm since the 7D uses the APC chip, so the 24mm will be like a 35mm in a normal camera. Expensive lenses, but you get what you pay. As an option you can get the Sigma f1.4 equivalent for much less money.
I recommend this lenses, but i usually use and prefeer the magic of the Zeiss 35mm f2 rather than the Canon 24 f1.4 L.

With this 3 lens I'll not miss any other of my other 5 lenses in any kind of work. This is the rest of my kit:
- Tokina 11-16mm f2.8
- Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L
- Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L
- Zeiss 35mm Distagon f2 (wooow lenses, incredible!)
- Zeiss 50mm f1.4 (for Contax but with Canon adaptor)
 
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