Buying a 7D

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

This is my understanding as well.

As an alternative to Nikon, I suggest the Pentax Super Tak 50mm 1.4. $95 on ebay, $6 adapter. Nice lens. Focus is silky, way better than some big buck new lenses.

What filter size does it take? I'd rather not have to play all those game again. So if it 52mm or 58mm, we're good.

[Liam Hall]

Super Takumars are very nice though, they are prone to going off leading to a yellow tint. Also, they have such a distinct look that you may have problems creating a full set. But, if you want a vintage look on a budget they're tough to beat.

[Mitch Hunt]

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

More people (MANY more) are using Nikon manual focus glass because the adapter to that requires no glass and a lot of early Nikon glass is just gorgeous. Especially the primes.

So the 7D is not limited to just Canon's lenses? How do I know which ones are compatible?

[Olof Ekbergh]

Unless you already have Nikon or similar glass. I would buy Canon glass, there will be fewer problems and the AF and Auto Iris will work, great for stills, not so important for video. But you will probably be using it for stills as well. Also all non canon lenses made for canon can stop working in future firmware upgrades, read the disclaimers.

I have a bunch of old Canon FD glass and the adaptor. It is not a good solution, unless you are looking for soft focus and low contrast glass. I posted some video from those adapters a while back, on this site.

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Olof Ekbergh

Unless you already have Nikon or similar glass. I would buy Canon glass, there will be fewer problems and the AF and Auto Iris will work, great for stills, not so important for video.

Fewer problems? Like what? For stills purposes I'd agree, but for video?

Originally Posted by Olof Ekbergh

Also all non canon lenses made for canon can stop working in future firmware upgrades, read the disclaimers.

What is going to "stop working" with a Nikon lens mounted to a Canon body with a mechanical adapter. As long as the lens fits, and Earth still has a sun, it's going to work just fine. If you are talking about auto features, then maybe so. I don't use any auto features when I shoot video.

[Liam Hall]

Originally Posted by Olof Ekbergh

Unless you already have Nikon or similar glass. I would buy Canon glass, there will be fewer problems and the AF and Auto Iris will work, great for stills, not so important for video. But you will probably be using it for stills as well. Also all non canon lenses made for canon can stop working in future firmware upgrades, read the disclaimers.

I have a bunch of old Canon FD glass and the adaptor. It is not a good solution, unless you are looking for soft focus and low contrast glass. I posted some video from those adapters a while back, on this site.

Complete cobblers.

Sigma, Tokina, Zeiss, Tamron and a bunch of others all make dedicated lenses that are fully compatible with Canon EOS. They work now. They'll work in the future. Don't get confused between a legal disclaimer and reality.

[John Threat]

I took the plunge and purchased a 7d rig.

You should do a lot of reseach about the lenes and see if you can marry your lens purchase to your style of shooting. I love telling a story in close ups, but i went out and bought mostl wide/medium. Hah

I snarfed this:
Canon 50mm 1.4 (low light, prime, medium, shallow dop when you need it, frame people, things, places)
Tamron 17-50 2.8 (zoom , for days i dont want to swap lenses, 50 end for people, 17 end for establish shots)
Tamron 90mm 2.8 (tele prime with macro.for closeups of people and things, macro is 1:1)
Tonika 10-17 3.5 fisheye (cheesey , but i love fisheye, might get returned. Only lens i bought that doesnt hold its fstop thru the zoom, but its ultra wude at 17 and fisheye.at 10. Arsty, stylized, mega establishing shots)

At some point i will get another prime or zoom in the telephoto range with a low fstop. I got no l series glass, but i have a matte box with nd filters which i love to work with and i shoot eith lights often

Research galore and watch tests on vimeo and youtube

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

What filter size does it take? I'd rather not have to play all those game again. So if it 52mm or 58mm, we're good.

They're 49mm.

With regard to the yellowish cast, Mine doesn't seem to have it much but there are reports; but there's a quick fix: leave the lens in sunlight for a few hours. Have no idea how that works, but they say it does. Has to do with radioactivity or something something.

[Olof Ekbergh]

Perrone and Leam, I was just expressing my opinion. I am not trying to say it is the only viable opinion.

And I shoot video without the auto features myself. But when shooting stills I do use them, that is what I meant, and wrote. I do a lot of stills as well.

I am not saying that all the other manufactures lenses are not good. I think some of the Zeiss lenses are superior to the Canons.

But I personally am very comfortable buying Canon L glass that is all I am saying. And I am not worried about future updates to the Canon EOS series, they will be compatible for the foreseeable future.

Third party lenses probably will be as well but Canon has no interest in keeping them compatible. So you would have to wait for the third party to update your lens if Canon does something new with their pin-outs. This may happen or not. I don't know. And it would not apply to mechanical lenses only lenses that use the Canon Pins.

These are just my thoughts. I don't mean to offend anyone.

[Perrone Ford]

No offense taken. I wasn't sure from your words whether you were talking about video or stills. The conversation at hand was about video so I wasn't sure to what you were referring.

As for buying "L" glass, to me it's way overblown. Yes, it's good glass, but there's lots of good glass out there. The auto-focus lenses are HORRIBLE when you are shooting video and need to use a follow focus. The throw is so short, and in many cases very sloppy. I much prefer the Nikon manual focus lenses. They have superior focusing mechanisms (for manual use), give me a real iris ring, and I can use them on both my Canon and Nikon bodies.

There's lots of ways to approach this problem, and yours has just as much merit as anyone else's. I was just confused by the shift to talking about stills.

[Mitch Hunt]

Originally Posted by Olof Ekbergh

If I was only getting 1 lens I would start with the 24-70 f2.8.

Next would be either a 70-200 or a fast 50, depending on your needs.

The older 70-200 is excellent, but unbelievably the new one is better.

The 24-70 f2.8 does look like a good lens. But it doesn't have an image stabilizer. Some of the video will need to be taken handheld and an IS would help smooth out the shakes.

What about the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS? It has an IS, a wider field of view and is cheaper.

As for the 70-200, would the f4 version be okay or should I go with the f2.8 version?

Thanks for the info.

[Robert Turchick]

I have the 24-70 2.8 and I don't miss the IS at all. If I do any work off tripod it goes on my blackbird or shoulder mount.
I also have the 70-200 f4 and its great. MUCH lighter than the 2.8 or the IS version. And $650! Once again, I don't miss the IS at all even taking pics fully handheld.
I will add that most of my work is outdoor or controlled lighting. If you need those focal lengths for low light, there may be better solutions.

[Mitch Hunt]

Okay, after some more research, here is what I have come up with.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/646908-REG/Canon_3814B004_EOS_7D_SLR_Digital.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/652136-USA/Tamron_AFB005C700_SP_AF_17_50mm_f_2_8.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/183198-USA/Canon_2578A002_EF_70_200mm_f_4L_USM.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/600761-REG/Zoom_H4N_H4n_Handy_Mobile_4_Track.html

I decided on the 70-200 f4 for the price and weight. The f4 will not degrade video quality that much will it? It will be mostly used for wildlife/outdoor photography and videography.

If you have any comments or suggestions, let me know.

[Brian Luce]

I suggest swapping the Zoom with the similarly priced Tascam unit. The Zoom is nice and I don't know if it sounds any better or worse, but the TAscam has two distinct advantages: 1) separate leveling dials 2) way better (redundant) battery system. Zoom dies fast. Also, the Zoom says it has 4 channels, but you can't set them at different levels and it has the world's worst manual.

[Olof Ekbergh]

Mitch,

That sounds like a great kit.

You can always try other lenses later if you need them, but you may not. It gives you a lot of range, and f2.8 is good for low light work. There are faster alternatives, but it will get you started. And the 70-200 f4 is a great lens, at a reasonable price, and very light and well built.

You are very smart to go for the Zoom H4N.

Enjoy, the 7D is a fantastic camera, in my opinion. And the choice of lenses is almost endless. I find that shooting video with DSLRS has really recharged my creativity.