Just bought a T3i, now lens hunting.

[SaintDemure]

x

 

[phastphoto]

One of my 2 favorite lens is the canon 24-70mm f2.8L and 16-35mm f2.8L. The 70mm provides a good zoom and 16mm allows me great wide shots. Maybe canon should make a 16-70mm.

 

[c3hammer]

For video the Tokina is the best lens made in the super wide catagory. It's an incredible lens on a steadicam type stabilizer. I just tested it against my 17-35L F2.8 and it's orders of magnitude sharper and the colors just pop with it. The old 17-35L looks like I'm shooting through mud in comparison. Needless to say the Tokina is on the Christmas list

I have a Zuiko 50mm f1.8 It's a spectacular lens for the money and very difficult to beat at any price under $1000. It's only drawback is that it's not auto focus for photography. You really have to work with it to get perfectly sharp images wide open.

No experience with the the Tamron, but I've heard it is a great lens in the non image stabilized version.

From there I think you're missing a nice telephoto or telephoto zoom. I love the shots you get from afar when people don't know you're filming them. I would strongly recomend adding a 70-200 zoom of some sort. Even a vintage push pull at f3.5-f5.6 would cover all your bases then quite nicely. I sprung for the Canon EF70-200L F4 used and it has proven to be my go to lens for most everything but steadicam shots.

For on the cheap, the Tokina, a vintage 35mm f2.0 or 50mm f1.8 and vintage 70-200 or so zoom would get you going in any environement.


Just my $0.02 for what it's worth

Cheers,
Pete

 

[Samuel H]

also check out the whole range of Samyang primes; the 35mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.4 are two of the nicest lenses you can buy today, and they're cheap too: http://www.similaar.com/foto/equipment/us_lensc.html#samyang

 

[L1N3ARX]

An amazing all around prime lens that will give you a great cinematic look is the Sigma 30mm 1.4. It's my most used prime by far.

 

[james thorpe]

Not a seasoned-pro but for bang4buck, have to second Sigma 30/1.4 and maybe 100L/2.8IS II Macro.

 

[DirectedByMP]

You should definitely get a 24-70mm lens by either canon or sigma. Totally worth the 1.5g+

 

[Samuel H]

yes, the sigma 30mm is a nice lens, but the samyang 35mm f/1.4 is a lot sharper, has decent bokeh, and works on full frame too - hell, it's A LOT sharper than the canon 35mm f/1.4L that costs 4 times as much!! http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0 - http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0 - http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/655-samyang35f14eosapsc?start=1

 

[Taky]

I have Canon 18-55mm F2.8. OIS is very important to me in shooting video. Otherwise, 24-70mm F2.8 would be a better choice.

 

[Zxander34]

An amazing all around prime lens that will give you a great cinematic look is the Sigma 30mm 1.4. It's my most used prime by far.

+1

 

[MarcoPolo]

I love the older Nikkor prime lenses with basic Zykkor adapters. My favorite is the Nikkor 50MM f1.4, with a sharp image and nice DOF. The 50mm f1.2 is even faster, but it's going for a premium that I don't feel warrants the extra cash. The Nikkor 50mm f1.8 is also very nice if you can get find one cheap.

 

[Zxander34]

The great thing about investing in older nikon primes is their relative adaptability to practically any camera.

If you want to "future proof" yourself I would highly recommend looking into them.

 

[Samuel H]

nikon-F lenses will work on everything modern except sony alpha: http://www.similaar.com/foto/lensmount/lensmount.html