Canon 7D for making film, which lense?

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FieldDog1

Member
Hi, well I am just about to order my first Canon 7D. My friends and I are making a film project and are trying to get three different looks from the camera, and thats where I need help deciding on lenses. Since I am new to this, I would appreciate any help with somewith some experience. Under the $500 range hopefully, but I know you get what you pay for.
1. I need to get an image that is very wide angle and has a human/first person look to it.
2. Need some plain scenery shots with a open depth of view.
3. Any lense that looks as close to real 35mm movie quality would be great!
 
This is a good place to start:

www.usa.canon.com/html/eflenses/

I'd suggest a 28mm, a 50 and an 85 with a zoom as well to start- $500 is not enough budget IMHO for all lenses needed to shoot a good-looking feature. And there's no such thing as one perfect lens for all shots.

Noah
 
Lots of companies have made manual focus/aperture primes over the years, and they're usually available on ebay and private listings since, with the advent of auto focus and exposure, they're useless for most photographers. Olympus, Nikon, Canon etc. all have lots of listings on ebay for cheap, and adapters are cheap also. I would suggest shelling out a little bit more for AF confirm adapters, as they'll generally be better made, and are useful for framing and setting focus initially.

My preference would be for the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 for "extreme" wide angle, 24-70mm f2.8 Canon USM L lens for mid to long, and the 70-200mm f4 Canon IS USM for a very long telephoto lens. You could throw in a few cheap ebay primes from Nikon or Canon for a lighter run'n'gun type set up, should you not need the zoom, as well as something like a Canon 50mm f1.4 or f1.8 (very cheap lens - pretty much a necessity!) for low light and very shallow DOF stuff.
As I mention, that is just my preference, you might find that shooting exclusively on primes is more your style - and will definitely be in the range of your budget!
 
It's a very popular choice, but it wont cover all your bases. If you have any money left over I seriously advise you looking into the Canon 50mm f1.8 also, it's a beautiful lens for close ups.
 
Would the Canon 50mm f1.8 be the best start, I still need a lot of practice with the camera then ill probably branch out and buy the better lenses. The Canon 5mm seems pretty cheap, what about the 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens?
I probably need a good practice lense for depth and then move onto wide angle.
 
Yeah the 50mm is an awesome practice lens. You could shoot a whole movie on one- though it would make it tricky in smaller locations. But it's very fast, looks great and teaches you about exposure.

Noah
 
Exactly. In terms of learning your craft it's also a very good lens to start with. The depth of field makes it a challenge to rack focus between two subjects, for example, as you can easily over/under step your mark, and you wont achieve perfect pin-sharp focus.

The kit lenses are excellent value for money, and you will still be able to create fantastic imagery with them - their draw backs are the higher lowest aperture (I think that made sense... f3.5 on the 28-135) meaning it wont have quite as much shallow depth of field, the build quality, and in some cases slower focusing - however the latter doesn't apply to filming with them.

A good technique you could employ would be to get the 50mm and a kit lens that can do wide to long such as the 15-85mm f3.5-5.6. This will allow you to have some shots with the beautiful shallow DOF that these cameras are renowned for, as well as have great utility in having a single lens that can cover most of the angles you'll need - albeit at a slightly larger DOF.
 
Id start with this combo

Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 (nice wide zoom lens very versatile for run and gun shooting and any other types, constant aperature for some nice DOF and decent low light). (Can be had easily for $300 used). I would strongly recommend this over the tokina for a first lens as its MUCH more versatile in its range. The tokina has a very small zoom range at 11-16mm and while its a good lens to have i would def had something like the tamron first, or you may find you are kicking yourself when you need to be more than a couple feet from your subject.

50mm 1.8 or nikon 50mm 1.4 - Both can be had for around $100, with the nikon you need an adapter, slightly reduntant with the tamron but for the cost and the epic DOF its a must have in any camera bag.

That leaves you with $100 or so to get a cheap zoom.

I went with the Vivitar 70-210mm 3.5 (nikon mount). With the adapter it cost me about $65 shipped. Not the best lens ever but it will easily hold me until i can afford something better. the cool thing is it also has macro so extreme closes galore now! (This is a push and pull lens, and im still trying to get used to zooming that way)
Lens-scope4.JPG
 
No prob. I filmed 5 short films, a documentary and an add with these 2 lenses on my D90 (before i got my 7D i have now)

50mm nikon 1.8 $90
24mm nikon 2.8 $90

Just those 2.

I really love the versatility of the tamron i have now, again that vivitar is a push pull and i just got it so havent shot a ton with it yet. Im not sure i really like the push pull system, but for the price i just couldnt help but try it out. I will likely get an 85mm 1.8 prime if and wehn i can afford it but im having trouble finding one for under $3-350

Im def on a budget, so i try and save where i can. I just shot a 4 min short the other day with just the tamron. I got my glidecam for $100, built my slider for $60, etc... etc...

I realize that some peopel will come in here thinking that a $1,200 lens is cheap, but for people like us its just not feasible. Plenty can be done with some vintage stuff ;)
 
FieldDog1: I can't help with finding you a lens in the US. You can check to see if digitalrev ship to America. They sell kit lenses on their own. Another alternative is ebay.
 
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