7D about to get a 7d, can you help me pick how to start?

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dajavudesigns

Well-known member
first, are any new cameras supposed to be coming out soon in the same price range that are better than the 7d for video? im about to order a 7d from bhphoto today if not

im just going to get one lens to start, my budget is between 2000 and 2350, what lens would you get if you only had 2,000 to spend total, what would you get for 2350 (only spending what these artists are paying me for now and thats going to be 2,000 or 2,350), i would like to be able to achieve this kind of a look assuming i had the lighting and post taken care of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCBQQmx5iG0 (was shot with a 7d)

i would like to have an IS lens for photography if possible but it isnt essential if that hurts the video side of things

i just remember when i got my vr lens for my nikon it really helped when i had to work fast

thanks for your help
 
My short answer…

- Canon T2i
- Zacuto Z-Finder
- Canon EF-S 17-55 f2.8 Lens (IS)

The long answer…read the threads in the 7D and T2i forums.
 
for video the GH1 is better and half price.
The t2i is almost the same as the 7D (except for the monitoring where the t2i really sucks) and is a lot
cheaper.
And if your intent is to shoot professional stuff (like teh clip you mentioned) , i would consider 2 bodys.
 
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Look into the T2i. It's practically the same for video but about a grand less. Ditch the kit lens and get Canon's EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS.

This is unless you're seeking higher end photo features.

Edit: Not bad—three replies in 6 minutes.
 
stephenmick said:
- Canon T2i
- Zacuto Z-Finder
- Canon EF-S 17-55 f2.8 Lens (IS)
Click to expand...

+1 more.

And get at least one extra battery if you plan to have long shoot days.

It's been mentioned in this thread, but you might want to consider a second body. Both the T2i and the 7D have a tendency to overheat. When that happens, the camera must be powered down for a few minutes (i.e. lost productivity). Switch to the second body and you're back up and running in little time. Plus, for your stated budget, you can get two bodies, the Z-finder, a couple of good lenses, and an extra battery.
 
Just changed over from the D90 to the 7D myself so I had to go through the whole process of testing out lenses, research etc etc. Personally I like a good lens so I bought the body only, I haven't tested the kit lens but I doubt it's that great.

A great general purpose lens is the kit lens that comes with the 5D - the Canon 24-105mm L. It's slow at f/4 but quite sharp wide open. It's not that wide but I'm more into close-ups and portraits so it's the perfect lens for me. Perhaps not ideal for movies though as there is slight focus breathing. IS is a MUST IMO for stills (but it also stabilizes the shots in video mode too so you don't get horrible hand jitter) - if I shoot multiple exposures with an IS lens I can get about 1 in 3 shots sharp at shutters as low as about 1/6th sec! Great for low-light stills but that's not going to help for video in low light situations I suppose. If you check the charts of the other lenses available they're quite soft below f4 anyway and this lens is pretty sharp wide open for a zoom so I think it's great. I also got the 70-200mm f4 for tele situations but no focus pulling on that one. It's VERY sharp wide open and the more expensive 2.8s are quite soft except for the new 2.8 MkII which is sharp wide open but way out of my price range. I'm going to get the 10-20mm EF-S for wide shots (rave review by Ken Rockwell). All these cover general purpose focal lengths for most photography and can be used for movies though certainly not the best for raking focus during shots, nor very good for low-light film-making.

On the video side of things, I've tested the Canon EF 16-35mm L (no IS) and was surprised that at 35mm it does not breathe at all so this could be a valuable lens if you want to rack focus during a shot. The MkII is a lot sharper though and I wasn't that impressed with the MKI's sharpness. I'm still doing research on which lenses breathe and which don't as the info is difficult to find but there are a few other in the Canon L range that are worth looking at. some of them also breathe slightly but they breathe in the same direction as your'e pulling focus so it's not that disconcerting to view and cn be hidden if you're not shooting handheld or shoulder-mount since breathing is most visible in the corners. The 70-200mm breathe 'opposite' to the direction of the focus change so you get a kind of "tromboning" effect. Not critical to film-making but this is important to bear in mind when choosing a lens and your style of cinematography. There are also some vintgage lenses that I'm reserching - the Zeiss Jena "Zebra" range that could be good in terms of breathing but I don't have them yet so I'm not sure. I tested one with a nikon adapter held u to my 7D and it didn't seem to breathe at all. Very cinematic look and fabulous focus throw. Strill waiting for my Canon adapter to test this properly.

For monitoring the Z-finder is top notch but I found a cheaper solution. The hoodman hoodloupe now has a hoodmag 3 attachment so you can get 3x zoom on your LCD. You can also glue it on to one of these so that it can just snap on and off:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...739138&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_2516wt_988

Or you can get the Cinema straps from hoodman but they're a little finicky. The Zacutos are probably a much better build quality just pricey.

In terms of support I'm also looking at the Pro-aim range of shoulder mounts, follow focus etc but haven't purchased these yet so I can't comment. I'm also looking at the Battery grip which takes two batteries for extended shooting and a set of 3 1K red-heads for lightling. All of this adds up to a pretty considerable investment.

Do your research on the lenses though and make sure to try them out in the shop preferably supported so you can check focus breathing. Check sharpness by shooting a flat textured object and use the LCD's zoom function.

Enjoy!
 
maybe i should have said it like this, unless there is a camera with better video coming out real soon, like within the next month, a dslr, im going to get the 7d and start with one lens, im looking at the tamron 17-50

i want to be able to do good video and photography, and the photography end is very important, this will be used as a second camera alongside my hvx for video but it will be used as my only photography camera so i want the 7d

looking at tokina 11-16 for the second lens and the sigma ap 50-150 for the third, heard they are all good for video and id have my main range covered

thoughts?
 
IMO, the #1 most essential accessory, even over the Z-Finder is the Fader ND or at least some NDs. Because without NDs, you cannot get correct exposure when shooting outdoors, unless you adjust the shutter speed which is something I wouldn't do for video (some people do it, but conventional methods say no).

Lightcraft Workshop just came out with a new Fader ND that's suppose to correct the softness issue of their past product.
 
yeah that was one accessory on my to get list, didnt have a brand picked out yet but its up on the list, will check into that brand, thanks
 
Tiffen, or Hoya are great for ND ! Also a rotating Pola is a must , or Tru Pol for Matte box!
Using manual lenses allow quite a bit of stopping down as well!
Cheers
 
This is the new version of the Fader., the one Philipe Bloom recommended

http://www.lightcraftworkshop-shop.com/product-list/4

Suppose to be improved. I have the old version and it work very well. You can get proper exposure very quickly and shoot at whatever F-stop you want. I'm getting a Z-finder soon but I can focus well without it, although I do blow a shot from time to time. The z-finder is important, but without a Fader, most of your shoots would be compromised.
 
Talking about ND filters, Cokin makes a cheap plastic mount that you can pack filters into with an adapter ring that screw onto your lens. Not a replacement for a proper matte box but good and lightweight for stills work. It's also cheaper because you just need an adapter ring for your different sized lenses and then can use the same filters across all of them.

PS: There's also the Canon 70-300mm DO IS (fresnel lens) which I read about last night on Ken Rockwell's site. No breathing AT ALL and a fantastic range AND it has IS. Only flaw is it's not very fast and some reviews say a little soft but I guess you can't have everything in one lens. You might test it out because at a focal length of say 200mm you're still get fantastic DOF even when stopped down to 5.6 - so the only real issue would be low-light. Could be worth looking at as a general purpose lens and for film-making but it' expensive in my country. amazon has them for $1,113.42.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/70-300mm-do-is.htm
 
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