Low Light video - Kit lens T2i

[Dave Partington]

Thanks for posting these (Alex / George). These answered a couple of questions I had :)

[James Donnelly]

Originally Posted by Sam Kanter

I don't agree. The kit lens is very good optically, just not very fast for low light situations. It performs very well outdoors, and has IS as well. I use it when I want to travel light.

Besides the 50mm 1.8, you need to spend some good bucks for fast lenses.

As you say, the kit lens is good enough for outdoor HD video during daylight. Many people are prejudiced against it because of the reputation of Canon's previous 18-55mm kit lens, which was optically inferior and had no IS.

Slow IS zooms are GREAT for walk about daylight shooting, for the money at least. I bought the 550d as a body only camera, but only because I already had an EF-S 17-85mm IS, which is even better. It is still slow, but is optically better than the kit and obviously has a bit more range.

As far as spending big bucks for fast lenses, I would have to differ. I have picked up a nice collection of (9) Takumar prime lenses from 50mm up to 300. All of which can be had for relatively cheap on ebay. They are all very fast, and amazingly well suited towards serious creative film making for a number of reasons:

Build quality - they are like tanks.
Colour rendering - I compared my SMC 50mm f/1.4 to my EF 50mm f/1.8: no contest Tak colours way better, vivid, saturated.
Sharpness - most of these lenses are sharp enough even wide open to exceed the resolution of 1080p images
Focus action - just try one. They have this amazingly retro feel. Superbly damped with lovely momentum.

For a wider fast prime, there is a gap in the affordable Takumar range, so I got a Vivitar 28mm f/2.8 close focus S/N 28### for £30. There are many 28mm Viv's on ebay, and not all are equal. The serial designates the manufacturer, and many are series 1 lenses in all but name.

The 85mm f/1.8 and the 50mm f/1.4 are legendary, and will set you back a bit more, but still good value. The 50/1.4 destroys the Canon 50/1.8 for video, and is cheaper.

Since I bought my lenses a couple of years ago, the prices have gone up considerably and continue to do so, but there are still stunning bargains to be had.

My top tip would be get hold of a 55mm Takumar. They are still very cheap, don't suffer from the yellowing or inflated prices that the 50mm/1.4 does, and some 55 f/1.8s are rated by many to be sharper and over all pretty close in performance.

I just checked ebay completed items, and on the first page, there are 2 55's which went for £16 (about $24) and one which went for £9 ($14) !!

If you do go for a 50/1.4 tak, you can clear the inevitable yellowing with a £10 UV party lamp in a few days, which will give you up to an extra stop of light.

Some Tak 50/1.4 footage which shows off the nice colours and contrast in low light:

eight rays - all you know on Vimeo

I sincerely hope more people discover these amazing lenses.

[George Angeludis]

Very good colors. But this is far from a low light scene. At least with the light kits I can see.

[James Donnelly]

You are right. I just grabbed the first thing I found on Vimeo, and it's not a useful low light example.

I guess I will have to post my own example.

[Jason Pittman]

Originally Posted by Sean Woods

Not to threadjack, but has anyone actually gotten just the camera body? I placed an order on March 6th at Amazon and it's still listed as a pre-order. Seems like that at other places as well.

I ordered just the body from NewEgg, and they sent me the kit instead for the same price. Thumbs up to NewEgg.

[Jan Vanhoecke]

A camlight can also be a perfect solution for nearby lowlightvideoshoots.

[Brian Maurer]

Not the best field test, but might provide you something:

T2i 50mm F1.4 vs T2i kit 18-55mm F3.5-5.5 on Vimeo

[Ian Holb]

Originally Posted by Brian Maurer

Not the best field test, but might provide you something:

T2i 50mm F1.4 vs T2i kit 18-55mm F3.5-5.5 on Vimeo

The 50mm f1.4 lets in 16x more light than the kit lens at 55mm f5.6. It's a drastic difference in performance.

[Jan Vanhoecke]

Hèhè, now i know what to buy next...
But what with it's DOF-value?
Is there a lens that does lowlight & great DOF at the same time?

[Brian Maurer]

Yeah, the 50mm. At F1.4, the DoF is amazing.

[Ian Holb]

Originally Posted by Jan Vanhoecke

great DOF

What does "great" mean anyway? Are you either looking for shallow depth of field or where everything is in focus?

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Jan Vanhoecke

Hèhè, now i know what to buy next...
But what with it's DOF-value?
Is there a lens that does lowlight & great DOF at the same time?

It depends on what you mean by "great DOF". Some would take that to be "great looking, shallow focus", and others would think "great, deep focus."

For deep focus, you can use a wide lens and move your subject relatively far away, but not too far from the background. You can open up the lens for lots of light and have everything in relatively sharp focus. Unfortunately, your subject will be small. You can't get lots of light and deep focus on an extreme closeup - even with small chip cameras. The EF 24/1.4L would be nice.

For shallow focus, any f/1.2 or f/1.4 lens will do. Telephotos give shallower focus than wide lenses. An 85/1.2 or 85/1.4 would generally be the fastest telephotos around. After that there is the 135/2, 200/1.8, and 200/2. Move the subject close to the camera and have the background far away for the shallowest DOF look.

[Laurence Janus]

Just FYI this is something I made testing a 550D/T2i with a EF-S18-200mm F3.5-5.6 for low light.

YouTube - Canon Kiss x4 / Rebel T2i / 550D test [LQ] [Boring]