Help With Lens Questions for 5DMKII

C

Centwo

Active member
Hello
I am buying a Canon 5D MK II this week and I been also looking at lens for it
I been thinking of getting
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM 50 f1.2 L USM
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens f2.8

But I see everone talking about the
zeiss zf 50 1.4
I am a little lost on this Do you need a adaptor to use this with a 5D?
And am i missing something I see the price from $400 to $1000 why such a fluctuation in price?
Also all lens I have seen our for Nikon why?
Can I use the zeiss zf 50 1.4 for photography?

What would you guys go with ?
 
You can get the 50mm f/1.4 ZE Zeiss and that's the 50mm in EOS mount so no need for an adapter if you go that route.

You lose autofocus with the Zeiss, but if you're doing videography that's probably not a huge concern.

Do you own any other lenses for the 5DmkII?

If it's me, I'd personally get that 50mm f/1.2 eos lens (i love fast lenses) - that will give you lots of creative shooting options (i.e. ultra shallow DOF when you want it) and be awesome in low light.

If you have no other lenses at all, then I'd probably go for the 24-70 f/2.8 L

I'd almost even say get the Canon 50/1.2 and then something like the 24-135 f/3.5-5.6 (cheap) and you can cover a lot of ground.
 
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/50mm-f12.htm
Is a great review and puts that lens into perspective.

I personally love the 24-70, as fat and heavy as it is, it's awesome and necessary. I like Zeiss glass a lot and shoot on it really whenever i have the budget to. Not sure why you're seeing such a fluctuation in price on the lens, it's usually around $750: http://www.evsonline.com/planar-t-1-4-50-manual-focus-lens-for-canon-eos-cameras.html

As apocalypse says, there is no auto focus but you do get a wonderfully smooth focus wheel as opposed to the plasticy feel of even the best canon glass, simply because it's autofocus driven. However, you do get focus assist with the zeiss glass for photography which works great for what it's used for, portraits.

Also, i know that the 85mm 1.2 (which is beautiful) is servo driven, which is sucky for a lot of manual focus, my assumption is that the 50mm 1.2 is that way as well
 
Macaholic262 said:
As apocalypse says, there is no auto focus but you do get a wonderfully smooth focus wheel as opposed to the plasticy feel of even the best canon glass, simply because it's autofocus driven.
Click to expand...

That's a really good point I should have made - if indeed you are planning to use the 5DmkII primarily for video, and further if you are planning to use it for narrative projects, then using real manual focusing lenses (preferably with a long focus throw) is much better than trying to manually focus a Canon EF lens - they are a real pain.

A Zeiss 28/2 50/1.4 and 85/1.4 would make a pretty good kit to start with - but of course they are not cheap.
 
I love 50MM lenses and own about a dozen of them. If I chose just one it would be the Canon EF 1.8 MK I.
It rates sharpest of all the 50's wide open, which is how I use it, sharpness is critical to me. And with the 5D MKII's low light sensitivity, I can shoot at higher iso's so no need for the F/ 1.4 or 1.2 lenses.
Plus it still has auto focus so I can use it to confirm my focus when I need to, and it's convenient to have a/f when I'm shooting stills.
The advantage Zeiss has is the amount of barrel rotation allowing accurate focus pulls. It gets sharper as you close it down, not as sharp wide open.
 
Centwo said:
I see everone talking about the
zeiss zf 50 1.4

Can I use the zeiss zf 50 1.4 for photography?
Click to expand...

There are many good 50mm lenses for sure. I would avoid investing in a Zeiss with an EOS mount. The flange length is very long on EOS so it will limit the camera bodies the Zeiss can be mounted to in the future. An adapter will work just as well and possibly give the lens a higher resale value.
The comment about the Canon 50mm 1.8 is true. It's very sharp and actually more flexible for still photography. I just shot a video job on a 5D with a Zeiss 85mm Planar along with the Canon 1.8 and they cut together well.
 
I just picked up a Canon 50mm 1.4 and I am pretty impressed with it. Its no 50mm 1.2 but it is also $1200 cheaper. I am not sure if I can see the increase in lens performance being worth that much money being a 5d newbee.

***If I used it to shoot weddings or low light events, sure, but if you are shooting videos of actors which would be lit externally I don't know if it would be that beneficial. If you have the funds, sure the 1.2 is excellent but I was going to get the zeiss initially but the 1.4 canon is pretty good. Plus with the money I am saving I am going to pick up viewfinder, a couple of CF cards and some other odds and ends.

jtopp
 
BTW, the Canon 1.8 is super cheap in price and construction. it is hard to focus on the fly due to having a poor focusing grip angle and you cannot use it with a follow focus. I have a redrock setup and it cannot fit any lens gears so if in the future you decide to ad a follow focus, you will be out of luck.

So, if you have a extra $1500, get the 1.2, or I just would start with the Canon 1.4 and pick up a 3rd lens in addition.

jtopp
 
jtopp said:
BTW, the Canon 1.8 is super cheap in price and construction.
Click to expand...

Very true, but still quite sharp, a deal for the money.Never an end to things to buy once you get started. In this case you still have some left over, for more lenses.
 
jtopp said:
BTW, the Canon 1.8 is super cheap in price and construction. it is hard to focus on the fly due to having a poor focusing grip angle and you cannot use it with a follow focus. I have a redrock setup and it cannot fit any lens gears so if in the future you decide to ad a follow focus, you will be out of luck.

So, if you have a extra $1500, get the 1.2, or I just would start with the Canon 1.4 and pick up a 3rd lens in addition.

jtopp
Click to expand...

I had no problem focusing with it, even wide open. Just use a foam wheel instead of a lens gear if you have to (see indi focus). No, the barrel rotation is nowhere near what it is on a Zeiss or a PL lens, just plan your shots accordingly.
 
I just shot a commercial with the 5DMKII using only a Canon 17-40mm f/4 L USM and a Canon 50mm f/1.2 lenses. They are correct about the focus ring being very skinny and close to the camera. The lens it self it extremely light, so that helped not weigh the camera since I was shooting all freehand movements. Check out the video and see for yourself...

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