Canon 7D Kit choise

T

tomazin

Member
Hello,

Im buying a Canon 7D with kit lens and most of the time it will be used for filming. Despite viewing a lot of reviews I still cant chose which one to buy and I would like to hear your suggestions/experiences.

Im chosing between 18-135 or 28-135 ?? Some even say that on 18-135 you cant get fine video quality ?

thanks
 
Last edited:
The best zooms for what you want would be 2 zooms.

1) The 17-55 f2.8, which is the 2nd best zoom I've ever used. Constant aperture of 2.8 is important for video, otherwise you will get an exposure change and flicker in the image whenever you zoom. This lens is sharp, really low chromatic aberations and very sharp. good mechanics as well.

2) The 70-200 L f2.8 IS. The 1st best zoom I've ever used.

It's a lot of money, but worth every penny and you'll have it for years. Just remember, constant aperture is really important for video zooms. For stills, it doesn't matter, but for video it's huge.
 
tomazin said:
Im chosing between 18-135 or 28-135 ?? Some even say that on 18-135 you cant get fine video quality ?
Click to expand...

Both lenses have issues. The 18-135 has more distortion at the wide end than many other zooms at 18mm and the 28-135 is not very wide at 28mm. Both are variable aperture and slow at the long end. gene_ is right you will need more than one zoom to effectively work in those focal lengths but the 2 lenses he suggests may be beyond your budget.
If you plan to shoot primarily video with the camera, consider the 60D as an option. It has control over the audio and the flip view screen is very useful for extreme camera angles. I have shot with the 7D and it overheated all the time. My 60D has yet to overheat. The view screen generated a lot of heat and removing it from the back of the camera body moves some of your heat problem away as well.
If you can't afford the more expensive Canon lenses, the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 (non IS) is sharp and well built. I use one every day and the results are consistent. For the long end the Canon 70-200 f4L (non IS) is also very sharp and 1/3 the price of the 70-200 2.8L.
 
Last edited:
I think he needs to state how much money he wants to spend. (the original poster)

He might want to go the T2i, T3i or 60d route with a better lens.


As for the overheating of the 7d, it has happened to me many many times I shoot outdoors in the sunny California weather. It happened several times on a shoot. Pain! Anyway I was told in another forum that the 7d overheats because of it's dual processors. The T2i, T3i and 60d won't overheat because they do not have this.
 
thanks for answers.
for sure Im buying a 7D, Im just having a hard time choosing the lens since Im switching from HDV cameras like XH A1 and XL H1, ect,..

Budget for 7D kit is not a problem but I will use this lens for quite some time (eventually Im planning to get some wideangle and maybe some fisheye).

I like about 18-135 is a sort of "wideangle" considering 1.6x crop.
28-135 doesn't get so wideangle, I belive ? ( @ 1.6x crop).

Another option is 15-85, but here I dont get much zoom range. I know it is impossible to get all this demands packed in one lens :D but I would like to get close as possible (just for first lens)
 
draven4 said:
He might want to go the T2i, T3i or 60d route with a better lens.
Click to expand...

+1

I know its not what you are asking, but I wouldn't spend as much money on the 7D's camera body. Unless the HDMI out in full res is a requirement, or the weatherproof body, its not really the best option for shooting a lot of video for various reasons.

If you're coming from HDV cameras, I also think you might really appreciate Magic Lantern's firmware hack. These cameras are made to be still cameras first that happen to have video, but ML delivers features that make your still shooter more closely resemble a video camera (exposure zebras, live histograms while shooting, manual audio control and metering, live audio monitoring via headphones, focus peaking, control of bitrate, auto restart, etc). The 7D does not offer this, however the 5D and t2i do. The 5D might be a bit out of your price range, but the t2i is very cheap and takes the same quality footage as the 7D, along with the features that will make your camera more resemble the features you are used to.

As for lenses, the DSLR world is TOTALLY different from HDV. It looks like you are taking only zoom focal lengths into consideration here, but that's actually not nearly as important as the aperture and sharpness of the lens. Zoom isn't necessary at all- in fact, some of the best DSLR footage I've ever seen was shot on a 50mm prime. Remember, when hollywood shoots on film, they don't use zooms either.
 
look dont understand me wrong, Im not considering only zoom performance.
I have been using HDSLR from Canon and Nikon for video recording using just 50mm f1.4 and I love this lens. A lot of my work is outside in woods, mountains and so far my frineds Canon 7D worked just fine . I just want to be sure in what Im investing my money because currently I cant spend money on extra lenses with fixed aperture and a wide range of millimeters :D
 
tomazin said:
look dont understand me wrong, Im not considering only zoom performance.
I have been using HDSLR from Canon and Nikon for video recording using just 50mm f1.4 and I love this lens. A lot of my work is outside in woods, mountains and so far my frineds Canon 7D worked just fine . I just want to be sure in what Im investing my money because currently I cant spend money on extra lenses with fixed aperture and a wide range of millimeters :D
Click to expand...

You'll likely spend more in zooms.
 
If I were you I'd buy a Canon 18-55 IS f2.8 constant aperture zoom if you are hellbent on getting a zoom. It is L-glass in a cheaper lens body, literally. The constant aperture really helps to get some nice shots throughout the entire zoom range.
 
tomazin said:
thanks for answers.
for sure Im buying a 7D, Im just having a hard time choosing the lens since Im switching from HDV cameras like XH A1 and XL H1, ect,..

Budget for 7D kit is not a problem but I will use this lens for quite some time (eventually Im planning to get some wideangle and maybe some fisheye).

I like about 18-135 is a sort of "wideangle" considering 1.6x crop.
28-135 doesn't get so wideangle, I belive ? ( @ 1.6x crop).

Another option is 15-85, but here I dont get much zoom range. I know it is impossible to get all this demands packed in one lens :D but I would like to get close as possible (just for first lens)
Click to expand...


Any kit lens is a mistake. They're designed to be convenient for consumers, and that's it. The optical quality is dirt.

Buying a 7D and using a kit lens is like buying a Corvette for the purpose of pulling around a U-Haul trailer. If a "kit lens" is your objective -- you might as well buy a "coolpix" or "powershot."

The whole point of a DSLR camera is the lens. With each different lens it's an entirely different camera. Stick junk on it and your sensor will record junk. Stick something wonderful on it and your sensor will record something wonderful.

The correct answer is you want a prime lens on the camera. For the 7D I recommend the 50mm F/1.4 as an all purpose lens. The difference between that 50mm and "kit" anything is the difference between day and night. If you're on a tight budget, the "nifty fifty" (Canon 50mm F/1.8) delivers optically as long as you handle it with extreme care. If you've got a larger budget, add other prime lenses -- like the 85mm f/1.8 and/or a wider angle prime.

As I wrote in this forum somewhere earlier this week -- I'd rather have a T2i with a "nifty fifty" than a 7D with a "kit lens." Really, either of those "kit" options are trash, and there's absolutely no point in buying a 7D if you're going to stick a kit lens on it.

On the other hand -- put quality lenses on your 7D -- and with great content, yes, you can win major motion picture awards.
 
tomazin said:
I have been using HDSLR from Canon and Nikon for video recording using just 50mm f1.4 and I love this lens. A lot of my work is outside in woods, mountains and so far my frineds Canon 7D worked just fine . I just want to be sure in what Im investing my money because currently I cant spend money on extra lenses with fixed aperture and a wide range of millimeters :D
Click to expand...

What lens were you using when you had your friend's 7D?

As for shooting with just _one_ lens in the woods and mountains, even tho I own a 7D and T3i, my suggestion would be the GH1 or GH2 with the 14-140 kit lens instead. That worked well for me this past summer in the Rockies and driving across Canada.

You can get a GH1 or even GH2 + 14-140 for about the same price as a 7D w/o a lens. When I picked up my T3i, the store had a GH1 + 14-140 for just CDN$1000-.
 
50mm is not an all purpose lens, it's too telephoto. A lens that acts as a standard focal length is a 30mm like the Sigma 1.4 on a 7d.

Anyway the original poster doesn't seem like he wants to go the prime lens route so is asking about what is the best out of the zooms. So that's cool.
 
I don't see the point of going after the 7D either; its only advantage is the HDMI-out while recording, which I don't think you'll use much in the woods, and the weather-sealed magnesium body, which, yes, this one can be important depending on what those woods look like and what weather you think you'll find

so +1 for t2i/t3i/60D, unless you think you'll definitely need the weather sealing


and also zooms with a lot of range tend to be very slow and deliver very low quality images

so +1 for tamron 17-50 non-vc and canon 70-200
 
Kin Lau said:
What lens were you using when you had your friend's 7D?

As for shooting with just _one_ lens in the woods and mountains, even tho I own a 7D and T3i, my suggestion would be the GH1 or GH2 with the 14-140 kit lens instead. That worked well for me this past summer in the Rockies and driving across Canada.

You can get a GH1 or even GH2 + 14-140 for about the same price as a 7D w/o a lens. When I picked up my T3i, the store had a GH1 + 14-140 for just CDN$1000-.
Click to expand...

I have been using 50mm f1.4, sigma 70-200 and some tamron ?? and with nikon it was fisheye 16mm , 14-24mm, 70-200.

As far as my choice I will go for 7D + 15-85. Eventually when budget will allow I was planing to get tokina 11-16 and 50mm f1.4. I hope all this lenses will be possible by end of the summer ;)
I see a lot of you guys miss understood me. Im NOT searching some zoom lens so I can zoom in/out while recording, I just want get the best all around lens for start, after that be sure that I will buy some extra lenses
 
I see a lot of you guys miss understood me. Im NOT searching some zoom lens so I can zoom in/out while recording, I just want get the best all around lens for start, after that be sure that I will buy some extra lenses
Click to expand...

Why do people get confused about when we give them advice about a constant aperture. The reply back is always "well I'm not going to use it for zooming during the take". That's not the point. The reason we advise about constant aperture is because you'll get a consistent fstop throughout the lens, simply that.

If you do not have a constant when you hit the end of that focal length you'll lose stops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top