Better Low-light - buy 17-55mm 2.8 or upgrade to 5d MK II

MattMyster

MattMyster

Active member
Looking for some more information and suggestions on my issue here...

Had a corporate shoot last week, using a canon t2i with ML and 24-105mm f/4 IS in a factory type setting. Lighting wasn't the best and had to bump my iso up to 1250 to which I got some noise/grain on some shots. I do a lot of video's in these situations so what's my best option - buy the canon 17-55 2.8 or upgrade to the canon 5D MK II which would be better in low light and usable with my current lenses (50 1.4/24-105). 24-70 2.8 is out of budget.

Thanks
 
Do you need a zoom? What about a couple of Rokinon f1.5 lenses, or even the canon 50 1.8, all pretty cheap and way faster than f4.
 
Can you rent where you are?

Here in Toronto you can rend a Canon C100 for $125 per day, and a C300 for $250 per day. Both of these cameras are about as good as it gets for low-light shooting. ( 20,000 ISO with 12 stops of dynamic range )
 
MattMyster said:
Looking for some more information and suggestions on my issue here...

Had a corporate shoot last week, using a canon t2i with ML and 24-105mm f/4 IS in a factory type setting. Lighting wasn't the best and had to bump my iso up to 1250 to which I got some noise/grain on some shots. I do a lot of video's in these situations so what's my best option - buy the canon 17-55 2.8 or upgrade to the canon 5D MK II which would be better in low light and usable with my current lenses (50 1.4/24-105). 24-70 2.8 is out of budget.

Thanks
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I would find a 5Dmk2. You already have the 24-105 and the 50 1.4. I had a t2i then a 60D and 600D and although they are very good cameras the 5Dmk2 is better in many ways. Now with ML ability to shoot raw with the CF card it's becoming a very affordable option to much more expensive cameras. Raw will be the standard soon and already is with BMCC so better adjust to the raw workflow sooner than later. I'm selling my 60D and replacing it with a 5Dmk2. That will give me raw and ff at the same time.
 
I have done a couple hundred of such videos for the aerospace industry. It seems to me probably the best cam to do that type of work is not a DSLR, but something a bit simpler like the HMC150. I say this because when filming factory operations, I was often (or rather filming manufacturing processes) viewed as something not necessary by the workers, or as a threat to their job security. Therefore the ability to capture what you need with the least set-up time or intrusion into the processes you are capturing sounds like the best path to follow.
 
sewolla said:
I have done a couple hundred of such videos for the aerospace industry. It seems to me probably the best cam to do that type of work is not a DSLR, but something a bit simpler like the HMC150. I say this because when filming factory operations, I was often (or rather filming manufacturing processes) viewed as something not necessary by the workers, or as a threat to their job security. Therefore the ability to capture what you need with the least set-up time or intrusion into the processes you are capturing sounds like the best path to follow.
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I think the OP is looking for low light capability. If he's hired by the factory to shoot, I assume nobody is going to stop him. Also DSLRs attract much less attention than even the smallest video camera. I shoot in locations I could never use a video camera without being immediately approached and told "No video cameras".
 
both the f/2.8 lens and the move to the 5D2 will give you the same low-light advantage: you get one stop
switching for a D5200 with f/2.8 lens, or a NEX with a speedbooster, would give you two
the sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 also gives you two extra stops, and it seems it's an incredibly sharp lens, but range is limited
 
This might sound like a dumb question, but is adding your own lighting out of the question? I've had to shoot demonstrations in a factory / warehouse situations back in the DVX100 days, and I told them we either add lights or everybody will look grainy. They let me add 2 lights from my kit which helped tremendously.

Meanwhile, if that isn't an option, I'm honestly surprised you tried to use an F/4 zoom for this, especially when you have access to a 50 f/1.4! I never start with anything above F/2.8 indoors unless I have my light kit. A poorly lit factory at F/4 must have been a nightmare! Your F/1.4 lenses should be glued to that thing in that situation, and let your feet be the zoom!

Meanwhile, if you really need to zoom on a shot and the Canon 2.8 zooms are too expensive, you can consider the 3rd party alternatives (Tamrons are pretty popular in the 17-50 range, but it looks like you might be looking for something a bit more on the telephoto end). However if you are considering a 5Dm2 upgrade, I'm not sure how that's cheaper than a new lens. Yes, the 5D is better at low light, but you are still starting with F/4 which means your ISO will be on the higher end as opposed to just investing in lenses that let more light in to what you have.

Also, the 6D test that Iyrov mentioned above- the problem with that test (as someone pointed out in the comments), is that they mistook the 6D's line skipping and upressing as less noise at high ISO. The truth is, as they pointed out, the C300 in that test was capturing and compressing a sharper image off the sensor with far more detail. The 6D, like most of Canon's DSLRs unfortunately, isn't actually capturing 1080p but rather upscaling a lower resolution image with a good percentage of the pixels thrown by the wayside, then smoothed out for good measure. The skipping causes the dreaded moire and aliasing that we talk about so much, and the upscaling causes the softer mushier picture (which they did point out), which has the side effect of hiding noise and grain.
End result is that the noise is still there, you just lost it by blurring the detail.

Bottom line: If you can swing a 5Dm2, you can probably swing a better zoom. But even with the 5D, I'd still opt for the 50 1.4 if I were you!
 
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