Narrowing down my lens choices...

E

erica

Member
I've decided to buy a 7D and I've spent a lot of time reading these forums to try and assess which lenses will be best for me. I'll be using the camera primarily for video (music videos, shorts, hopefully a low-budget feature) but also for a bit of photography. I've narrowed my lens choices down to the following and was wondering if some of you wouldn't mind helping me figure out which 3 to get? Or, if you think there are some that would suit me better that I haven't listed then please let me know!

Now, I can buy the body alone for £1000 but adding a 18-135mm lens makes the price increase to £1315 or adding a 15-85mm lens takes it up to £1420. I was thinking I might be best to buy the body alone and add lenses myself?

Anyway, the lenses I've been looking at are:

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 - £470
Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 - £312 (or is it worth paying £380 to get the VC version?)
Canon EF 50mm f1.4 - £283
Canon EF 85mm f1.8 - £295
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 - £250

Any advice and opinions would be most appreciated! Thanks so much :)
 
I would skip the kit lens. It's not too bad but the variable aperture is a killer for my style. I have the Tokina and I love it. If I were to get 3 off of that list I would get the 50, 11-16, and the 17-50 VC. It is worth the extra money IMO. Just my 2.
 
Thanks! Those are the 3 I was thinking I would probably go for, although wasn't sure about VC/non-VC. I'm also open to any other suggestions if there might be a better option than any of those for what I want to use the camera for.
 
Also, I have 3 of my Dad's old FD lenses, is it worth buying a mount so I can use them on the 7D? I guess I probably will since they're cheap enough.

I'm going to hopefully order everything tonight, I'm excited!
 
I'm in the same dilemma, trying to decide which lenses to buy for video production with the 7D. Richard, do you think it's necessary to have one dedicated long lens, like the 85 mm f1.8, instead of 3 lenses that get topped off at 50mm? Seems a bit limiting to me.
 
I'm in the same dilemma, trying to decide which lenses to buy for video production with the 7D. Richard, do you think it's necessary to have one dedicated long lens, like the 85 mm f1.8, instead of 3 lenses that get topped off at 50mm? Seems a bit limiting to me.
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Would you buy a camcorder(fixed lens) that only covers 11mm-50mm? (APS-C size equivalent; not that you'll find that kind of wide angle lens for camcorders)

It amazes me to see the fascination with uber wide lenses especially when you dont have a single basic telephoto lens. In photography(can be applied to video) 85mm to 105mm is considered most proper portrait lenses; in other words for close-ups. I love 135mm Nikon primes too, very handy for those superb detail shallow DOF shots...
I guess what I'm trying to say is although it is great Tokina 11-16mm is a SPECIALTY lens and doesnt belong to a basic limited budget kit. If you are only having 3 lenses first cover your as( ) with a constant aperture 16-55 kind of range, then get cheap 2 Nikon primes at least; 25mm, 50mm, 85mm, or 105mm.
Other than Nikons most suitable mounts for Canon are M42 & C/Y types. You'll find dirt cheap great lenses on ebay. Forget old Canon lenses.
 
VGurcu said:
Would you buy a camcorder(fixed lens) that only covers 11mm-50mm? (APS-C size equivalent; not that you'll find that kind of wide angle lens for camcorders)

It amazes me to see the fascination with uber wide lenses especially when you dont have a single basic telephoto lens. In photography(can be applied to video) 85mm to 105mm is considered most proper portrait lenses; in other words for close-ups. I love 135mm Nikon primes too, very handy for those superb detail shallow DOF shots...
I guess what I'm trying to say is although it is great Tokina 11-16mm is a SPECIALTY lens and doesnt belong to a basic limited budget kit. If you are only having 3 lenses first cover your as( ) with a constant aperture 16-55 kind of range, then get cheap 2 Nikon primes at least; 25mm, 50mm, 85mm, or 105mm.
Other than Nikons most suitable mounts for Canon are M42 & C/Y types. You'll find dirt cheap great lenses on ebay. Forget old Canon lenses.
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Thanks for replying, I held off ordering last night in case someone would come on here and advise me differently. I thought it might be a good idea to get a wide lens for what I want the camera for, do you think I would be best to switch the Tokina for the 85mm on the list? Or something else? I'll be able to get more lenses in the future, these 3 are just to start me off. I'm just so tempted by the Tokina after seeing footage and images it's taken, it looks gorgeous!

Is there no point buying an FD-EF mount for my dad's old Canon lenses? If so, why? (not being rude, just trying to understand and learn). One of them is a telephoto that I was hoping I could use on the 7D.
 
erica said:
Now, I can buy the body alone for £1000 but adding a 18-135mm lens makes the price increase to £1315 or adding a 15-85mm lens takes it up to £1420. I was thinking I might be best to buy the body alone and add lenses myself?
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Yes avoid any variable aperture lenses. They are slow to begin with then 10x slower adjusting the exposure each time you repo in or out.

Start with one good lens if that's all you have in the budget, and build from there.
 
genuinelyRob said:
I'm in the same dilemma, trying to decide which lenses to buy for video production with the 7D. Richard, do you think it's necessary to have one dedicated long lens, like the 85 mm f1.8, instead of 3 lenses that get topped off at 50mm? Seems a bit limiting to me.
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It could be. But For what I do ending at 50 is fine. I have a Nikon 85mm and 105mm barely use them. I would do as VG stated and grab a few cheap Nikons to broaden the kit that way you're covered.

As far as the Tokina goes, I use it all the time and for Glidecam work there is nothing better for me. If you can find one buy it, You won't regret it. I don't know a single soul who has. There is just no way I would choose an 85mm over that, no way. But again that's me.
 
Hmm, see, I just watched several examples shot with the Tokina and I really, really want it - I think I would get a lot of use out of it. I think I want to stick to the three I was originally thinking of and add an 85mm later in the year or see if I can find a cheap Nikon one to add on now.
 
I just went out yesterday for around 3 hours shooting stills with the 11-16 and it is nothing short of amazing. You can download some of my selects here (watch out, 66MB). These are all shots of the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle WA (all shots with the T2i and Tokina 11-16).

http://www.saneproductions.com/Tokina_11-16.zip



Here are a few samples::

sage.jpg

staple_pole_2.jpg

tanks.jpg

train_hitch_3.jpg

warped_sign_stop.jpg

 
Nope, that is a local art gallery I walked by. We shoot mostly at our large local client's studios, but we are also building out a new space.
 
Great shots, thank you for sharing! I'm very pleased with my decision to buy this lens, I think I'm going to be very happy with it.
 
saneproductions said:
Nope, that is a local art gallery I walked by. We shoot mostly at our large local client's studios, but we are also building out a new space.
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Mike those shots look really good with very little barrel distortion. Are they all at the wide end? Do you think the electronics will adapt to the Red Epic when it comes out? I'm still worried about stocking up on lenses with no aperture control on the lens.
 
ROCKMORE said:
Mike those shots look really good with very little barrel distortion. Are they all at the wide end? Do you think the electronics will adapt to the Red Epic when it comes out? I'm still worried about stocking up on lenses with no aperture control on the lens.
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Some are at the wide end and others are at the long end. If you download the zip, you should have meta data for each pic.

I don't know too much about red, but they say that it will control canon EF lenses...
 
just checked and all at 11mm except the green bardahl sign and the hitch which are at 16mm.

All of these are completly un-corrected raw from the camera.
 
I worried about the no aperature control and aps-c only, but honestly this is the one exception. Buy one if you can get the money and find one :)
 
saneproductions said:
I worried about the no aperature control and aps-c only, but honestly this is the one exception. Buy one if you can get the money and find one :)
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I wonder what would happen if I put my .7x Century Precession 77mm thread wide adapter on the 11-16mm. Would be interesting to find out.
 
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