Canon EF 28mm f1.8 vs Canon EF 50mm f1.4

Back to the topic at hand... if you were to only get ONE lens to start, then yes, you'd want to get the 28mm, given it's closer to a 'normal' viewing area on the 7D. The 50mm on a 7D is much more of a telephoto lens, and while cool, you'll probably find its a little more limiting to use, especially in tighter spaces.
 
Kholi,

Do you understand that the operator will be using the lens on a still photography camera with a 1.6x crop factor and not a cine camera ?
 
I think that Kholi's inadvertently caused more confusion than he intended to clear. We were doing OK working with crop factors...

The problem is that the OP does not know what any given focal length looks like on any camera. Whether or not there's a "crop factor" is irrelevant. The OP does not have any frame of reference, not full-frame and not S35.

The other problem is that people use lenses differently and have different tastes, which limits the usefulness of any advice. In the FF still photo world, some people consider 24mm too wide and prefer 28mm, some consider 24mm wide enough, and some like to shoot even wider than 24mm. In the end, someone who's trying to decide on a wide prime lens still has to try lenses for him- or herself before he/she can really know what's best for him/her.
 
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ydgmdlu said:
I think that Kholi's inadvertently caused more confusion than he intended to clear. We were doing OK working with crop factors...

The problem is that the OP does not know what any given focal length looks like on any camera. Whether or not there's a "crop factor" is irrelevant. The OP does not have any frame of reference, not full-frame and not S35.

The other problem is that people use lenses differently and have different tastes, which limits the usefulness of any advice. In the FF still photo world, some people consider 24mm too wide and prefer 28mm, some consider 24mm wide enough, and some like to shoot even wider than 24mm. In the end, someone who's trying to decide on a wide prime lens still has to try lenses for him- or herself before he/she can really know what's best for him/her.
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Well said. These are photography cameras, we have to play by their terminology. ESPECIALLY since there are FF and crop options available. While a 28mm lens on the 7D is still a wide angle lens, we all well know practically that just isn't true when compared to a 28mm on a 5D.

Yes, a 5D isn't FF for cinema standards, but these aren't exactly cinema cameras...
 
Okay, this makes sense and it's Valid.

From where I come from (defined as working environment) this crop factor stuff is nonsense and useless. But, if it works-- in an obviously counter productive fashion-- to constantly try to measure up to an image that you wouldn't even get ANYWAY because you're not using a Full Frame image... I guess that's fine?



Jean -- I used the 28-70mm (I'm not about to add up silly crop factors that don't make a lick of sense even thinking about in a Cinematic Environment) on that video. I can't remember where the 50/1.4 came up.

If you want to see what a 28mm or 35mm lens looks like, watch any movie in your collection. Most of the shots are probably comprised of 25mm's or 35mm focal lengths (... which would be what in Full Frame????) aside from a Wes Andersen film which is probably mostly around the ultra wide end, say 18's and such. But I guess that's like 11mm in Full Frame.
 
I think we should go to the 5D2 forums and start complaining that an 85mm lens became a ~50mm lens when on the 5D2. :-)

Seriously though, for anyone reading this, if you have no intimate knowledge of FF field of views already, instead of fudging around with crop factors and equiv. FOVs, just take 5 minutes to remember this:

On APS-C cameras:

< 17mm = very wide
17-28 = wide
35 = "normal"
50 = medium telephoto
85 and > = telephoto

That's it! Just forget the FF equivalents!

-X
 
xbourque said:
I think we should go to the 5D2 forums and start complaining that an 85mm lens became a ~50mm lens when on the 5D2. :-)

Seriously though, for anyone reading this, if you have no intimate knowledge of FF field of views already, instead of fudging around with crop factors and equiv. FOVs, just take 5 minutes to remember this:

On APS-C cameras:

< 17mm = very wide
17-28 = wide
35 = "normal"
50 = medium telephoto
85 and > = telephoto

That's it! Just forget the FF equivalents!

-X
Click to expand...

Gahd thank you.
 
Kholi said:
From where I come from (defined as working environment) this crop factor stuff is nonsense and useless. But, if it works-- in an obviously counter productive fashion-- to constantly try to measure up to an image that you wouldn't even get ANYWAY because you're not using a Full Frame image... I guess that's fine?
Click to expand...

From another (working environment) perspective, it depends on your reference.

My visual reference is based on photography's 35mm frame. Yours is presumably S35. Whichever lens we call for is based on that visual reference. I know what an 18mm looks like on both full 35mm and crop, just as you do.

With two cameras out there with different sensor characteristics - that are CURRENTLY being compared to each other - is it not important to understand the difference? Like you, I prefer the 7D's FOV for production work. I have little interest in the 5D, but why is there issue when acknowledging the difference?

Unfortunately it's starting to boil down to terminology again, but some kind of uniformity would save headaches down the road :beer:

p.s. I would shoot for the 28mm. The 50mm is a standard lens for photography, but the 28mm is - as said by others - a solid choice for this format
 
Taylor Rudd said:
With two cameras out there with different sensor characteristics - that are CURRENTLY being compared to each other - is it not important to understand the difference?
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Comparisons between the 7D and the 5D are on the decline here, as far as I can see. They certainly don't dominate the threads here. And usually when the 5D is mentioned for comparison, it's only about differences in image quality or other functionality (like frame rates and audio), which have little do with crop factor.

Like you, I prefer the 7D's FOV for production work. I have little interest in the 5D, but why is there issue when acknowledging the difference?
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The issue is that the difference only needs to be acknowledged when comparisons with other formats like FF appear in discussions. We are starting to see that the overwhelming amount of discussion in this forum is about the 7D only, which means that raising the matter of crop factor is typically unnecessary and often confusing for the many readers here who don't have FF photography as their accustomed frame of reference.
 
Just thinking the same thing. I agree with you on all points - though for the sake of education I thought the difference would be important to acknowledge/address. To each their own?

I had typed up a lovely post detailing the differences and the database died for a second :(

One site for reference: http://photo.net/learn/fov/

And the ultimate explanation, from a photographer's point of view (though notable food for thought for video adaptation)
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/dslr-mag.shtml
 
I just want to thank everyone for all the knowledge they shared and time they gave to answering my questions and helping me out. After reading through this thread a few times, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go with the Canon EF 28mm f1.8. I might even grab the EF 50mm f1.8 (it's only $125) just so I can learn about different fields of view.

Thanks again everyone, much appreciated!!! :)
 
Go to a camera store and put a zoom on a DX nikon (roughly same size sensor), look thru the viewfinder and move the zoom to 24, 28, 35, 50
voila! Then u will know
 
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Yeah, I keep wondering why the OP won't just go to a camera store and try a few lenses for himself. He spends more time here with conjecture than he would with some quick, hands-on tests.
 
J Davis said:
Go to a camera store and put a zoom on a DX nikon (roughly same size sensor), look thru the viewfinder and move the zoom to 24, 28, 35, 50
voila! Then u will know
Click to expand...

Or...well...you know.... Canon cameras at the store should work nicely too. *Exactly* the same sensor size.
 
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