What Lenses should I buy?

C

Cunhosky

New member
Hey Guys,

I bought my Canon 7D one year ago. Since then, I've been filming with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 because I didn't have money to buy lenses.

I saved some money and recently bought a Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. I'm really happy with my kit at the moment, but I lack a Tele Lens and options that can give me a good bokeh besides the 50mm f/1.8.

I thought of buying the Canon 55-250mm, since it's cheap and the feedback I got wasn't that bad; But I became very curious about vintage lenses too. I'm a complete ignorant when it comes to vintage lenses: Where to find them, what adaptor to buy, which are the best options, etc ... So I thought maybe you guys could give me some insight on this and point something out for me ...

Thanks!
 
Nikkor 85mm f/2 - BEAUTIFUL bokeh on that lens!

You should probably go for a Nikon MF lens set. Cheap for great lenses!

Edit: About the places for purchase, here or eBay; for the adapter(s), Amazon sells the Nikon-EOS adapters for $10-20.
 
I second the recommend for vintage Nikon manual focus lenses. I started buying them when I started shooting with a T2i and since getting my FS100, they still serve me very well. The Nikon F mount lens is the most manufactured still lens in history and is adaptable to almost any camera mount system you are likely to encounter, into the foreseeable future, on digital cinema video cameras. I like knowing that I now have a set of lenses, like my Nikkor 20mm F2.8 AI lens, which I love, will still be useful to me for years to come. In the fast changing digital age, there is not a lot of gear that you can say that about (Good tripods/support and good lighting/grip/electric equipment being exceptions). Now, there are many, many more great lenses out there also, and Canon makes some great lenses. The thing, for me, is that I really can't wrap my head around spending good amounts of money on lenses that can only be controlled through propitiatory electronics, and, to be useable on the next whiz-bam camera I get, may mean many different and possibly expensive, considerations. I come from a film background and I just can't bring myself to buy a lens without manual aperture control. Now, my concerns are not everyone's concerns. Choosing a lens is one of the most important creative/aesthetic choices you can make when doing a digital cinema project. I respect everybody's choices.

For more on vintage lenses, there is a great thread on that!

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?201760-The-Vintage-Lens-Thread
 
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You have already been given some good advice about vintage lenses, and Nikon in particular. I have several vintage Nikon lenses and love them. Two negative about vintage lenses are:

1. No auto focus, but if you are shooting video instead of photos, you will not use auto focus anyway, so it doesn't really matter.
2. No image stabilization, but image stabiliations is not available on many new lenses anyway.

While the Canon zoom that you listed does have a good range, I have a better option for you that is even cheaper and faster. Look on eBay or the site of your choice for a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 3.5. Typically, when you think of Vivitar, high quality does not come to mind but the vintage Series 1 lenses are highly respected. I would also recommend that lens with the Nikon mount. You can get other mounts to work with your 7D, but it's easier when all of your lenses use the same mount. The exception I took to this is a Zeiss 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.4 in the C/Y (Contax Yahsica) mount.

With the exception of the Series 1 70-210 and 35-105, I think going with primarily vintage Nikon lenses make an excellent choice. I shoot in low light frequently and sometimes Nikon doesn't make a lens fast enough in the range I need but here is a list of great vintage Nikon lenses to consider...depending on your needs.
20mm 2.8
24mm 2.0
24mm 2.8
35mm 1.4
35mm 2.0
50mm 1.5
85mm 1.4, 1.8 or 2.0
 
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