Good Video Lens for T2i?

askclifford

askclifford

Member
Hi
I have a Canon T2i and the Kit Lens. I have been shooting a whole bunch of low light footage with it recently and am not satisfied with the quality. I am going to ask for a new lens for my birthday, and hear are my requirements:

Price needs to be $100-$200. $200-$300 is pushing it.
I am ok with used equipment, as long as its convenient to purchase
I think you can use a Nikon lens with a Canon as long as you have an adapter, and I am ok with stuff like that too.

Have any suggestions?
 
I have seen them, but am having trouble deciding on a good one. I'm not really impressed at any of the ones in my price range. Could someone help? Any lens must be better at night footage then my kit lens.
 
If it's lowlight footage you want, then get the 50mm f/1.8. It's about $100 new, and two-stops faster than the kit lens (this equals four times as much light hitting the sensor).

There are some cheaper used options out there but it's hard to find good copies from reliable sources, and buying used can be difficult if you don't know exactly what you are looking for, as well as what to avoid.
 
+1 for Canon 50mm f/1.8. Note: you may not like it if you must adjust its focus ring all the time (well, you probably don't care, as your kit lens isn't much better in that either).
 
Is there anything better then the Canon 50mm? I don't want to be walking around with a cheap plastic lens that costs as much as my kit lens. Its ok to go a little over $200. Are there any other options? I really appreciate all the help. Thanks! Will
 
Canon 50 f/1.8 works. It does. For both stills and video. It just doesn't look or feel good. Canon 50 f/1.4 doesn't look good but feels better. Canon 50 f/1.2 looks and feels good too. This is about their only major difference beyond aperture and price.


There are inexpensive lenses < 50mm with max aperture < or = f2.8. You could use then one of them instead.
 
I think I should add a note to my previous post: by "look good" and "feel good," I was referring to the physical lenses, not the video shot through the lenses.

Other than the obvious facts that f1.8 lens can't shoot at f1.4 and so on, I really don't know what obvious differences among these 3 Canon lenses you can identify with certainty based on any video footage. In other words, if you review a video randomly shot with the 3 lenses at f1.8 or smaller aperture, I doubt you can say for sure which part is shot with which lens, especially after the footage has been properly edited. I personally like my 50 f1.2 because of the look of its f1.2 (obviously) and the feel (heavier, and its focus ring is tight; I don't really care about its physical look, though it's a good looking lens). I have 50 f1.8 too. I'm okay with its look and its image quality (esp. when manually focused), but really hate its feel in my hand. But it's a perfect lens for my son (he has small hands and do not need faster than f1.8 ;-).


There are tons of beautiful stills and video shot with these lenses. And Canon 50 f1.8 is probably the best selling lens ever made for DSLR shooters.

Knowing their different characteristics, just pick one that fits into your budget, and you'll be good to go. Or, look for something else. A fast lens around 30mm is probably better to you (as already mentioned).
 
Have you shot anything with it I can see? When I look at test videos on Youtube, its just a whole bunch of shaky video with bad image stabilization.
 
What kind of video do you want to see?

I don't own Canon 50 f/1.4. Comparing Canon 50 f1.8 with Canon 50 f1.2 seems to be unfair, as one is over 10x more expensive than the other. Even so, the image quality differences between the 2 lenses seem to be much less obvious in video than in still photography - even if you do find a "big" difference (excluding the obvious max aperture difference), in real world it probably does not really matter. I don't know about other people on this, but to me, to my naked eyes, I can't distinguish 50 f1.8 and 50 f1.2 based solely on video footage, except by the unique shallow depth of field from f1.2, which is very noticeable on close up shots. For stills, the imperfect (or say, less beautiful) bokeh from 50 f1.8, if exists, serves as a good hint. But in video that seems to be less obvious too. In terms of sharpness and price, 50 f1.2 can't beat 50 f1.8 at all, as Canon 50 f1.8 is one of the sharpest SLR lenses ever made (see: http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Lenses/Camera-Lens-Database/Canon/EF50mm-f-1-8-II).

If you do a Google search for "50mm f1.8 video vimeo" you'll see a ton of HD videos shot with 50 f1.8. They reveal the image quality of 50 f1.8 as a video lens, if you watch them on a big HD monitor or HD TV.

(Canon 50 f1.8 has 2 versions. Some prefer v1, but I think v2 is a bit better overall.)

Hope this helps.
 
The problem you're going to have with any 50mm is that it's like a portrait perspective telephoto on your T2i. It's going to be very tricky to hand hold and even on a shoulder brace will be somewhat difficult to hold still.

With practice you may be able to do it.

Something like the Canon EF 28mm f1.8 is almost perfectly suited to general purpose video, marginal light, but is likely way out of your budget range.

I'd go for the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 and "make it work". It is a sharp lens.
 
the point is your really dont have much choice because of a lack of funds. the 50 1.8 is a SUPERB visual quality lens for the price. the focus ring is CRAP. but guess what...u learn to make it work. It will be a bit telephoto on ur camera but thats just how it goes. U want low light and good quality for cheap...thats the lens to get. I can handhold that easy with my Zfinder attached to the back of my 7d. But you dont have the $$ for a Zfinder. maybe you will be able to squeeze this into the budget though. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GLDHFO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A1KM4QXTQQPGX4 . If you can also get 77mm ND filters (Tiffen or B+W). Nd .9 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/58716-REG/Tiffen_77ND9_77mm_Neutral_Density_ND.html and.6 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/58654-REG/Tiffen_77ND6_77mm_Neutral_Density_ND.html and a couple step up rings for your stock lens and the 50. This combo will give u up to 5 stops of ND. Now u can shoot at 50/60 shutter speed and have shallow DOF. I think this combo is the most budget friendly in your case to get you going to have INFOCUS footage and be able to shoot at film frame rate to get a more filmic image instead of the high shutter, shakey jittery footage you have been seeing.

This was shot on with the 7d and that lens with some good lighting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp6oiso0RdA




edit :also an option : http://www.amazon.com/NEEWER-DSLR-F...3G6Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1318092248&sr=8-4


video review http://vimeo.com/25464445
 
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A few things:

-I can spend three times as much as this 50mm lens costs, so if there is a better option, let me know!
-Would any viewfinder I can find on Ebay or Amazon work?
-I want to see cinema quality HD video at night, or at least as close to it as possible.
-I saw Bokeh mentioned, I actually want to try this with video. Will this be possible with this lens?
-Could you explain to me the benefits of getting a ND Filter?
-Unrelated question: How can an ISO be fast? Just saw that term. I thought it was only for adjusting light.

Thanks!

EDIT: I meant Bokeh Shapes.
http://cheesycam.com/diy-bokeh-photography-effects/
 
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http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-30mm-Ca...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1318097884&sr=1-1 this is your best bet if you are going more expensive. other than that (or a good find on a vintage lens) then its the 50mm 1.8

No not any viewfinder on amazon or ebay will work. the 2 I linked you on are probably the most cost effective good solutions.

Bokeh refers to the blur or out of focus parts of the frame (image). different lenses have different characteristics and renders Bokeh (shape) differently. Its not something you do.
 
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There is no reason not to get the 50mm f/1.8. It may not have as good build quality as the Canon or Sigma f/1.4's but its optics are excellent. And it is 1/4 of the price.

Most of the other lenses in the under $300 range are not worth considering - for that price all you usually get is slow consumer zooms with no constant aperture, poor build quality, poor optical quality, etc. It's not until you get to the $400 mark that you really get some decent lenses to choose from like the Tarmon 17-50 f/2.8 or Sigma 30mm f/1.4. But for Under $200, you won't get a better lens than the 50mm f/1.8.
 
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askclifford said:
-I want to see cinema quality HD video at night, or at least as close to it as possible.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the only way to do this is to add light. Even the fastest lenses will not give 'cinema quality' imagery at night withough proper lighting.

See, all those night shots you see in movies are not just shot under streetlights at night-time with a good lens. They are flooded with light from multiple angles to give just the right balance of light. Or, they are shot inside a studio during the daytime with lighting and colour grading that is designed to give the impression of nighttime (blue light cast to simulate moonlight, lots of practical lights, etc).
 
As others have mentioned earlier I'd find a vintage 28mm f2 or 35mm F2.8 in the classifieds for under $50. Olympus Zuiko, Tokina, Kiron, Vivitar and others made decent offerings that will give fantastic results while you learn your craft. You should be able to find an Olympus Zuiko 50mm F1.8 for $25 - $35 that will bring everything and more to your arsnel, but the autofocus. Save your money and pass on all these cheap modern lenses in favor of much less expensive tools that can help give a "look" to your work for next to nothing while you learn the ins and outs of composition, framing, lighting and pulling focus.

With the money you save here you can buy a slider or glidecam and really bring some cinemetography to your works with that $250 budget.

Just my $0.02 for whatever that's worth :)

Cheers,
Pete
 
askclifford said:
Hi
I have a Canon T2i and the Kit Lens. I have been shooting a whole bunch of low light footage with it recently and am not satisfied with the quality. I am going to ask for a new lens for my birthday, and hear are my requirements:

Price needs to be $100-$200. $200-$300 is pushing it.
I am ok with used equipment, as long as its convenient to purchase
I think you can use a Nikon lens with a Canon as long as you have an adapter, and I am ok with stuff like that too.

Have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

If budget is the requirement I'd try some Olympus Zuiko OM manual lenses with an adapter.

Here are a few you can get under your budget. You can also sell them later and not loose much money

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-Zui...67177598?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item3cbce53c7e
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-85m...87427477?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item1c1f7de095
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-OM-...88744306?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item1c1f91f872
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-OM-...90730084?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item27bdf5d864

But if I were you I'd find a used Tamron 17-50 2.8 non VC and sell your kit lens. I've been using this lens for a year and it's the most useful sharp, best value lens available.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamron-AF-1...09016580?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item27bf0ce004
 
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