ROCKMORE
Veteran
The kit lens is very good if you have a limited budget. When you get more money you will have no trouble finding new lenses to spend it on.
ONE lens to buy
- Thread starter davidil
- Start date
The kit lens is very good if you have a limited budget. When you get more money you will have no trouble finding new lenses to spend it on.
What kind of adapter does the Zenitar and Tukumar lenses require? Are they optical adapters? If so, how is the quality with the adapter, the light loss? Oh and can the lenses non focus to infinity with the T2i?
Thanks!
jambredz
Veteran
all depends on the mount u get the lens in. My supertak is M42 mount...so i get a m42 to eos adapter. No its not optical adapter and there is no light loss...u screw it on the lens...attach it to the cam and ur good. I plan to get the zenitar in nikon mount.
The fd mounts need optical adapters and those are the ones u should stay away from. Chris can tell u more on that.
Matt Gottshalk
Resident Preditor
+1. I agree.
I have the 18-135 kit lens. It's okay but once I got a really better lens I haven't used it at all. Will probably sell it.
8string
Well-known member
I agree with Ransom, in that I have the kit lens, I have shot a bunch with it, but it's just 'ok'. If you can't afford better it will get you by, and then you can save for the real deal, or try out some of the low end 35mm that is recommended above. You can always use them for paperweights if you really hate them.
Here's something I shot with the kit lens that you ask about... It worked just fine! It's an 'ok' lens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKB8H5sLSKQ
Here's something I shot with the kit lens that you ask about... It worked just fine! It's an 'ok' lens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKB8H5sLSKQ
bill totolo
Veteran
I'm interested in the new zoom from Arri/Fujinon:
http://www.abelcine.com/store/Fujinon-Alura-18-80mm-Zoom-Lens/
http://www.abelcine.com/store/Fujinon-Alura-18-80mm-Zoom-Lens/
jambredz
Veteran
PerroneFord
Deals in Lead
Oh, I'm interested in it to. About as interested as I am in a full set of Master Primes and a set of Cooke S4s. But until the lottery department calls me, I'm a lot more interested in my vintage primes.
If I had to choose a single lens to buy, it would likely be a quality F/1.4 50mm (on full frame) or 35mm F/1.4 on APS-C. There's a WHOLE lot of flexibility in shooting when you have a lens that approximates what the human eye sees. Deviating away from that allows us to be more creative and alter reality easier, but reduces flexibility in use.
jambredz
Veteran
let me reiterate vintage primes as mentioned b4 (by me perrone...chris...greeches)..these are quaity lenses and u can get 3-4 lenses if u want. supertakumars...nikon ai...mir 24 (35mm f2 lens). U can have the mir24 (35mm full frame..50mm on aps-c) and supertakumar 50mm 1.4 (85 on aps-c) and thats about $300 right there. Better yet...u can get the helios 44 (58mm i think ) for like $40. then all u need is a wider lens. Maybe a nikon 24mm ais or ai. let ur $ stretch.
bill totolo
Veteran
Ha! You guys never heard of rentals? : )
PerroneFord
Deals in Lead
Sure, but be aware that you live in LA. My nearest rental place to rent a similar lens is NY. I live in Florida.
Understand?
saneproductions
Veteran
Wow, that zoom lens is amazing!
I wish I could get a lens for stills that would cover 18-80 F2.8 on APS-C. Talk about never take it off the camera.
I wish I could get a lens for stills that would cover 18-80 F2.8 on APS-C. Talk about never take it off the camera.
PerroneFord
Deals in Lead
Well, buy a GH1, convert it to PL, and then you can have that zoom, and many other good ones with similar or more range. Angenieux can get you set up for glass.
PerroneFord
Deals in Lead
Wow, that's pretty slick! I bookmarked it. Always learning something new here.
steventimothy
Well-known member
That's a pretty new lens - but it has been well reviewed so far and looks great.
Get that, and get a Canon 50mm EFS 1.8, and you'll be good for now. You can do DOF with your 50 1.8. You also get good DOF from any zoom in its mid-to-upper telephoto range, below f8 or so, even in bright sunlight.
You'll love the option of having IS on the zoom. It makes handheld actually possible.
Manual lenses are great but they're a lot more work. Pulling focus is hard work and you'll want a Zacuto z-finder or portable monitor very quickly ($$ from the budget you don't have). Otherwise you're constantly zooming the LCD to check focus. The list of manual lenses suggested doesn't give you anything too wide, either, and you'll regret that.
At this point, why pay $500 for an f2.8 zoom lens, which doesn't give that impressive of DOF especially when zoomed out? A cheap, stock 50mm 1.8 will do much better, and give you (much) more speed in low light.
I have a Nikon f-mount 1.4 vintage lens (manual), which is nice & all, but when you use it for filming, it's very hard to keep focus. I thought, "It's great, it's fast & I can film in dark places in low-light with tight DOF". But the problem is, if you have it wide open (at 1.4) and your subject moves 2 inches, they're pulled completely out of focus.
With an AF lens at least you can do a quick electronic focus first and then lock it in.
Also, EF lenses and IS zooms are lots more fun for taking photos. The 50mm 1.4 manual is "fugetaboutit" for stills in bars & whatnot unless your subject is frozen like a prairie pioneer. You'll get triple the # of usable photos with the 50 1.8 AF, & just crank the ISO up one stop.
To summarize: yes, get the 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS, and the 50mm f1.8, and use what's left to rent some lenses if you get a paying gig!
PerroneFord
Deals in Lead
There's no law that says you can't step down that F/1.4 50 to F4. And frankly, it's pretty darn nice at F4 too.
Most zooms are terrible. Especially ones that change F-Stops when you zoom. If I suddenly want to go from a 2 shot to a tight 1-shot and zoom, I don't want to have to adjust the lights for it.
Most zooms are terrible. Especially ones that change F-Stops when you zoom. If I suddenly want to go from a 2 shot to a tight 1-shot and zoom, I don't want to have to adjust the lights for it.
steventimothy
Well-known member
For sure, primes have better image quality than zooms. But there's nothing wrong with the optics on these inexpensive new Canon zooms. The reviews of the 18-135 are overwhelmingly positive, in fact. Only lens aficionados would be able to tell the difference.
As for changing F-stop when you zoom with a variable f-stop lens (like the 18-135 f3.5 - 5.6), you just have to know NOT TO ZOOM during a shot or only zoom a little and you will be fine. If you're planning on zooming then shooting video on a DSLR is not for you, because even pricey fixed iris telephotos for stills cameras are NOT parfocal, so you will be out of focus when you finish zooming. Get a dedicated video camera if you want to zoom a lot.
You realistically have to think about the practical nature of these lens and what you're planning on doing with them. A zoom like the 18-135 IS is lightweight, has great optics, is practical handheld, is reasonably fast, is new with a guarantee, and costs next to nothing. Fixed primes have better optics and are usually faster, but they are heavy, hard to focus without a finder, not practical at all for stills, require constant changing risking sensor damage, etc.
If you want a manual lens for practice, just switch the AF button to "off"; at least you have the option
You could make a very nice film with the two lenses I mentioned, if you find you like it and have talent, then you could start to look at primes.
RadioRocket
Member
Chris, you have sold me. I am going to get the t2i tomorrow and I am already thinking of investing in vintage lens. I did a few google searches for vintage lens for dSLRs and I came across your article. A few people might be interested in reading it: http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/News/Feature/Vintage-Lenses-in-the-DSLR-Age-68120.htm
And I checked out some of your Vimeo videos. Thanks for converting me. I have been searching vintage lenses and test videos of them all day. hehe.