Has anybody tried an Opteka zoom lens such as 420mm to 800mm. I have my XL2 and also an EF adapter but can not yet afford a canon 100mm to 400mm zoom lens. This is my first post although I have been reading as many other posts as possible for the last few weeks. Any comments appreciated. I appreciate the quality must be less than the more costly canon lens but feel it may be a good starter lens until I have more experience, and of course more cash.

I'm not familiar with that lens, but I will say that in general cheaper lenses, especially extreme zooms, will show their inferiority to the better built, brighter premium lenses. You will get significant light loss in a lens that large, which you will need to compensate with your cameras aperture, then shutter then gain, losing sharpness and focus every step of the way. I'm not saying the results won't be nice, but I wouldn't expect the same quality you are getting from the stock XL2 lens or even a canon 35mm lens. If that lens has plastic elements instead of glass like most good canons and nikons, that's another level of distortion. Again, I've never used that lens.

Peter,
have you considered any third party lens like Sigma? My favorite lens is Sigma 300mm f/2.8, I also use Sigma 70-200mm and Sigma 150mm macro. They are almost half the price of Canon lenses.
I got crisp and sharp footage with these lenses, you may take a look at my website (link in my signature below).

I would rather wait until I save some money to buy the canon lens than the third party lens. I've been there before and the more I spent more for cheap lens. we were learning all the time and the more we learned the more we expecting good quality result. consider that if this is for you or not and then go for the cheap one.

Chris

Pete - the best option is to search for top quality lenses from well-known brands such as Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Contax etc in the secondhand market. They now sell extremely cheaply, especially the older film-based models.

The pro AT-X range from Tokina and EX range from Sigma also provide top notch lenses.

You do not need to use AF lenses, so lenses such as the old Canon FD or Nikon Ais range will do (just buy a single adapter XL-FD or XL-Ais, or XL-MD, or XL-Pentax etc).

Take a look at Ebay for a wide selection of suitable lenses.

I would advise you to steer clear of low quality budget lenses such as Opteka.

They are almost half the price of Canon lenses.
I got crisp and sharp footage with these lenses,

Per, you really need to shoot the same image with both lenses to see the "real world" difference. I've compared Canon "L" lenses with third party lenses and the difference is striking! On the other hand, with video's lower resolution, the difference may be considerably less. (I've only done back to back tests on still cameras.)

Thanks to all for replys. Very much as I expected but you never know. I have been on holiday for two weeks so not able to respond to you all.