With more budget, I might choose the same. Having a limited budget, it's great to be able to buy one lens that works well for both stills and video.

Yes, that's absolutely true:) The new firmware does make life a lot easier.

Dan

With more budget, I might choose the same. Having a limited budget, it's great to be able to buy one lens that works well for both stills and video.

The whole point of the 5D2 (exaggerating slightly) is to get tight DOF. You can't do that with zooms. I'm going to be using my 35mm f1.4 and renting some big f1.2 glass for higher focal lengths. You can dial down the DOF of course, but I want to have the tight DOF option in every setup.

The whole point of the 5D2 (exaggerating slightly) is to get tight DOF. You can't do that with zooms...Agreed. By "one lens that works well for both stills and video", I mean that I can buy a Canon prime of a given focal length, and I don't have to buy a second lens of the same focal length for video. My EF 50mm f/1.4 does both jobs.

Actually, with my 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS, I can get a surprisingly tight DOF at 5.6, just because of the long focal length. I'm selling it, not because of the DOF limitations, but because I want better low light performance for video.

Most of these photos (aside from the logs and the fleeing bunnies) were shot with that lens. Spring 2009 (http://fairhurst.com/photos/spring_2009/Spring_2009.html) (If anybody wants to buy the lens, please contact me.)

The 'best' Canon lenses for video IMHO are going to be the TS-E range which still have nicely damped manual focus rings, or the Zeiss ZE range.

Dan, I'm finding second hand Contax mount Zeiss lenses to be much more affordable than the ZE's. Of course they require the use of an adaptor, but would you recommend them vis-a-vis Nikkors?

Right now I can see Contax Carl Zeiss T* 85mm f1.4 & 180mm/2.8 T* in the US$400-$500 range which seems pretty attractive.

I ask you because I've been checking out your stellar photojournalism all over the web - you're one of the best. Many thanks,

Josh

Josh,

Thanks, personally I use the Contax Zeiss lenses and I do recommend them as they are easy to adapt and focus the 'right' way round for a video camera. They are sharp and have a lovely look that I just love. There are some focal lengths that are still not available in ZF or ZE mount. Although some need slight modifications like filing down the the pins on the rear of the lens, its not hard to do. My current lineup of Contax lenses is 25mm f2.8, 28mm f2.8, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.4, 135mm f2.8, 180mm f2.8, 300mm f4 and 2x mutar convertor. The whole lot ran to around $3000US, not bad compared to Canon or Zeiss ZF equivalents.

Do I prefer them to Nikkors? well sometimes, I find Nikkor zooms easier to use when running around. My current favorites are the 17-35mm f2.8, 20-35mm f2.8 and 80-200mm f2.8, all older designs which have aperture rings and don't alter length when you focus.

I also have a Canon 24-70mm f2.8 which is useful for running around, replacing the Tokina 28-70 f2.8 I was using before the manual exposure upgrade.

Hope that helps a little

Dan

Thanks so much Dan, that gives me a lot of confidence to check out some Contax Zeiss glass!

Josh,

I think the real 'bargains' are the Zeiss 28mm f2.8, the 50mm f1.4, the 85mm f1.4 and the 135mm f2.8. All can be found for great prices if you shop around.

Dan

Dan,

Could you elaborate why you prefer the Contax Zeiss primes to the Nikkors? I'll be doing video work that will always go through a heavy color correction pass, so I'm wondering if the particular saturation/contrast characteristics of the Zeiss lenses might be evened out once you factor in color correction, of if there are "other" special qualities that make you prefer the Zeiss primes. I've been very impressed with all your work on guardian and Vimeo so any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks so much,

Ryan

The whole point of the 5D2 (exaggerating slightly) is to get tight DOF. You can't do that with zooms.

That's so not true. Thin DOF is a function of multiple factors, and given the right focal length, distance to subject, distance to background, an f2.8 zoom is entirely capable of thin DOF. Maybe not razor thin, but plenty thin enough to get that look. Just saying...

I had to settle for the T1i and no telling if Canon will ever do a firmware upgrade for that model. So I had to go the manual Nikkor lens route.

I ordered one of the Kawa adapters and the groove for the AI "lugs" was not machined deep enough. The "lug" would jam against the bottom of the groove and not allow the lens to turn all the way into the adapter.

The seller did replace it, but the replacement wouldn't fit either so I sent that one back and the ebay merchant preferred to refund and cancel the transaction.

One of the members of this site had an extra that he sent me and it fits perfect. They are now apparently "churning" these things out in China with little regard for specifications so it looks like for additional adapters I'll be going with the Bower brand at $39.95. Looks a little more "robust" in photos.

Wow, Bruce. I bought 5 of these early this year, and all reside nicely on my various Nikon lenses... sorry you are having that issue.

The whole point of the 5D2 (exaggerating slightly) is to get tight DOF. You can't do that with zooms. I'm going to be using my 35mm f1.4 and renting some big f1.2 glass for higher focal lengths. You can dial down the DOF of course, but I want to have the tight DOF option in every setup.

Nice, but we really need to remember a few things. If you are shooting 35mm with a cinema camera, your 50mm would be in the short telephoto range. The image area of a 35mm motion picture film camera is much smaller than on aour 5D's. So without doing the math I am thinking that with a normal lens on the 5D set around F4, we are probably simulating the depth of field of a 35mm film cinema camera at F 1.4. I think in most shooting situations that is enough. On the human face with an F 1.2 setting, you will have great difficulty keeping the face and ears in focus with just a little movement. Razor thin depth of field is insanity in most those situations.

Just to second that, I've got interviews shot with a nikon 80mm f/2 where it was simply impossible to keep the subject in sharp focus. Focus on the nose and the ears are out of focus and vice versa. I try to focus on the eyes but if they move their head even a few inches it's off - and once you're recording you can't see that on the LCD so there's no way to be sure until playback. I'm shooting interviews at f/5.6 now as even f/4 runs the risk of going out of focus with movement. This is all for MCU work, camera 6-10 feet from the subject - smaller apertures only get manageable once you start increasing that distance significantly or if you have a very still subject. f/1.4, etc, is nice to have as an option, and if you make it work can be absolutely beautiful - but if you are just trying to get nice shallow DOF when shooting people it's certainly not necessary. In fact one of the real reasons to get more expensive fast glass like that is that once it's stepped down into the f/2-4 range it'll generally outperform lenses with maximum apertures in that range.

Wow, Bruce. I bought 5 of these early this year, and all reside nicely on my various Nikon lenses... sorry you are having that issue.

I think the ebay vendor must have had a whole bad batch, with two having the same fault in that machined groove for the AI lug. A lens for the Nikon F would have fit just fine but what I had was a 50mm f1.8 AI-S Nikkor in what looks like absolutely MINT condition.

Both shallow DOF tests and night low light tests look great. I'll be looking for a 24mm f2.8 next (to get away from the portrait/tele perspective sometimes) when my finances recover from a CAVISION viewfinder setup, tripod and 501 head, and Spiderbrace purchases. The 50mm performs for me fairly close to what your Series E 100mm does.

The 5D MkII is producing some of the most "life like" video of anything I've seen. That is one fantastic camera in video mode!

I think the ebay vendor must have had a whole bad batch, with two having the same fault in that machined groove for the AI lug. A lens for the Nikon F would have fit just fine but what I had was a 50mm f1.8 AI-S Nikkor in what looks like absolutely MINT condition.

Both shallow DOF tests and night low light tests look great. I'll be looking for a 24mm f2.8 next (to get away from the portrait/tele perspective sometimes) when my finances recover from a CAVISION viewfinder setup, tripod and 501 head, and Spiderbrace purchases. The 50mm performs for me fairly close to what your Series E 100mm does.

The 5D MkII is producing some of the most "life like" video of anything I've seen. That is one fantastic camera in video mode!

In interim, find your self a little zoom lens on ebay. I bought a Takumar pentax mount 28 to 80mm with macro in a combo lens deal on Ebay, a few years back for my homemade 35mm rig, and I ended up getting a mount for that, and it sits on my rig as my daily lens. One thing about the camera, lower end lenses do just fine for video.

In fact with all the emphasis on Canon and Nikon lenses, there are a lot of Pentax K mount lense out there that are perfectly good lens. I had to shave off a flange or two, but lenses will work with adapters available on ebay, too.

...One thing about the camera, lower end lenses do just fine for video...

But watch out for vignetting at large apertures. Some 3rd party lenses let the apertures open wider than would Canon or Nikon to give a good spec at a low price.

That said, don't sweat getting the best resolution for video. The camera's pixels are nice and large, which takes the load off the lens.

Anyone bough one of this from China?? Nikon to Canon EOS Adapter with Focus AF Confirmation - eBay (item 320266984053 end time Dec-16-09 01:06:16 PST) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-to-Canon-EOS-Adapter-with-Focus-AF-Confirmation_W0QQitemZ320266984053QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLens_Accessories?hash=item4a91665a75)

Just wondering how it fits and the quality or any problem at all with this adapter. The one from fotodiox are expensive $149.

I'm looking for some of the adapter that everyone here getting the Kawa i think but all the ebay link are out of date. I have been reading that Kawa is the one that everybody are very happy with right.

I wish i can afford L glass but dam expensive. well maybe i'll get the 70-200 f2.8 IS that is other prime i might have to get nikon because of the manual apreture. Awsome. advice please.

Thank you