Help with buying lens.

Canadafirst

Canadafirst

Carbonite Member
I have a GH1 and a Rebel XTi.

I would like a premium quality lens for both video and photos.

Here is my short list:

1.
Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM

2.
Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM

3.
Tamron SP AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD IF Macro Lens for Canon(some reviews have said its image quality is on par with the Canon 70-200L)


4.
Zeiss 85mm f1.4 ZE Planar T* - Canon Mount

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
 
Those are all good lenses. Keep in mind though that with the GH1, you have a 2x crop factor and with the Rebel XTi, it's a 1.6 crop factor.

With that in mind, you might want to replace the 24-70 with a 17-50 so you have a wide to tele zoom in the mix. Hope this helps!

Chris W
 
I don't understand how you can compare #1 & #3 (which have the same focal length and max aperture) to #2 and #4 (which have different focal lengths and, in the case of #4, different max aperture).

That said, if you are primarily concerned with "premium quality" over budget, I would go with the Canon 70-200 over the similar Tamron (or Sigma, for that matter) if for no other reason than the AF on the Tamron will be slower and noisier than the Canon on your XTi.

HTH - Mark
 
I'd go with a wide fast prime. 85mm on the zeiss is going to feel really long. If I had to pick one from your list I'd pick the 24-70. IMO, it makes the most sense out of those for the gh1 or rebel. But I'd still go faster than 2.8 if possible. Nothing wrong with primes :) They tend to be cheap, sharp, light, small, and fast. Sigma makes a 1.4 (30mm i think)- That would make sense as your normal lens for both cameras.
 
Canadafirst said:
I have a GH1 and a Rebel XTi.

I would like a premium quality lens for both video and photos.

Here is my short list:

1.
Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM

2.
Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM

3.
Tamron SP AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD IF Macro Lens for Canon(some reviews have said its image quality is on par with the Canon 70-200L)


4.
Zeiss 85mm f1.4 ZE Planar T* - Canon Mount

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

How are you controlling aperture with the EF glass on the GH1? Are you just setting it on your canon and then moving it over?

I would suggest getting a cheap fast 50mm, 1.8 or 1.4, and a 24mm at 1.8...these are the two lenses I use the most. The 50mm gets really nice closeups and the 24mm makes a nice normal lens, although the DOF is not quite as shallow as what a normal lens should be, but it's fast, so you can use it at f/2 or so and it's pretty shallow.

Anyway, I don't know if they're requirements but they're what I use the most. You're probably ok with that 24-70 f/2.8 but you might want to consider a 50mm f/1.4 because that 85 is pretty tight on the GH1.
 
Another idea:

Get a Zeiss 50mm prime and a 2x extender.

or

Go with the Nikkon 70-200 2.8 which is $400 cheaper than the Canon 70-200 2.8
 
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even 50mm is too long for your main lens. That would be great close-ups, but you'll want to be wider a lot of the time. Go for something 20-30mm for your normal lens. Then build off that later.
 
I use my sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG "macro" a ton and I love it...it's great on my GH1 or my 35mm slrs.
 
out of those, the Canon EF 50mm f1.4.
Do you mean the Lumix 20mm 1.7? That is a good lens to have, but won't work on your canon. The canon's have the advantage of easily adapting to your GH1. I believe you wanted lenses that will work on both cameras- if so, buying canon lenses is a good bet. Get the 50mm f1.4 and also get something wider. Ben_B's suggestion of a 24mm f1.8 would work nicely on both cameras for ya.
The lumix 20mm f1.7 has the advantage of beings really small, which I why I picked one up. I'd say I like my Zeiss 50mm 1.4 better, but is bigger and heavier, esp. when adding an adapter (it ends up being about the size of the 14-140 kit lens).
 
shortnstout said:
out of those, the Canon EF 50mm f1.4.
Do you mean the Lumix 20mm 1.7? That is a good lens to have, but won't work on your canon. The canon's have the advantage of easily adapting to your GH1. I believe you wanted lenses that will work on both cameras- if so, buying canon lenses is a good bet. Get the 50mm f1.4 and also get something wider. Ben_B's suggestion of a 24mm f1.8 would work nicely on both cameras for ya.
The lumix 20mm f1.7 has the advantage of beings really small, which I why I picked one up. I'd say I like my Zeiss 50mm 1.4 better, but is bigger and heavier, esp. when adding an adapter (it ends up being about the size of the 14-140 kit lens).
Click to expand...

It is worth pointing out that the only way to set aperture with ef canon glass on the gh1 is to first put it on the canon, dial in the exposure, and swap to the gh1....I think this works though I have never done it. Also worth noting that the ISOs on the canon xti may be different than those on the gh1 so this won't be as easy as it could be.
 
I believe somebody made an adapter with an ingenious little screw thing that allows you to control the f-stop of the lenses that are normally controlled through the camera. Can somebody chime in here? I tried to find the name real quick but wasn't able to. I think it starts with c
 
shortnstout said:
I believe somebody made an adapter with an ingenious little screw thing that allows you to control the f-stop of the lenses that are normally controlled through the camera. Can somebody chime in here? I tried to find the name real quick but wasn't able to. I think it starts with c
Click to expand...

That's for Nikon lenses. Canon EF lenses are purely electronic if I'm not mistaken.
 
Ben_B said:
It is worth pointing out that the only way to set aperture with ef canon glass on the gh1 is to first put it on the canon, dial in the exposure, and swap to the gh1....I think this works though I have never done it. Also worth noting that the ISOs on the canon xti may be different than those on the gh1 so this won't be as easy as it could be.
Click to expand...

Great to know....
 
Plan B

Sell the stock lens on the GH1 ($700)

Buy a T2i and the Canon 70-200 F4L ($1600)

The get some FD primes for the GH1
 
So Canon FD lenses have manual aperture? And work on the GH1? I was wondering how I change my canon 50mm EF Aperture :P

That sigma does look nice. Is that completely manual or does it take any input from the GH1?
 
I like primes on the Gh1. for Zoom I have the KIt.
I found that the huge lenses are not so easy to deal on the Gh1...

I bought last month 50 1.4 and 100 2.8 in 150$ (both) (nikon mount).
The 100 2.8 is great, cost around 100$ and its very small.
 
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