Camera-illiterate person seeks advice for buying her husband a surprise lens...

Unfortunately, to take advantage of the smoother video autofocus of the new stepping motor (STM) lenses, he would need to upgrade his body to the T4i. The T3i works with those lenses but doesn't enable the STM functionality.

a prime of some kind might work best but I would poke him for some information as to what he might need or want.

forget the gift card...just make sure you let him know that if it's not exactly what he wants, that you have no problems with him returning it, to get what he wants...that being said, i think one of the 17-50/55mm f2.8 stabilized lenses should be good...canon 17-55mm f2.8 IS if you have the funds, and if not the sigma 17-50mm f2.8 OS, if you want cheaper the tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC...

all of these have stabilization that he wants, and will be better options than the kit lens...just buy from amazon, or B&H so you can return it if he doesn't want it.

You can't say "Love" without an "L".

Sorry, I have nothing else to add to the thread, but wish you the best.

EhSantino wrote in post #15293275
24-105 F4l IS ?

That's the direction I was leaning too, or possibly the 24-70 f/4.0 IS. I would think that the image stabilization would make these good lenses for video as well but I don't know if they offer one or two modes. Still, either would make a really nice gift.

Mike

i think the gift card is the best (safest) idea. if you want to get a lens i'd say the 15-85 IS.

EhSantino wrote in post #15293275
24-105 F4l IS ?

It's popular on full frame, but I'd have doubts about it on the T3i because of the shocking barrel distortion at 24mm. That focal length would get a lot more use on crop. Does the T3i correct for lens defects (distortion, vignetting) on the fly in video mode? That takes a fair bit of CPU horsepower.

Wilt wrote in post #15293395
For video, most folks who do this a lot want a good lens for Manual Focus. Pulling accurate focus is very difficult with most autofocus still lenses because there is no fixed relationship between the ring position and the focus distance (the ring free wheels)....

True enough, but pulling focus is generally done by a second person (called a "focus puller", oddly enough). The hard focus stop is desirable so you can attach a scale to the focus ring, measure the distance to the subject, and transfer that to the scale.

P.S. in case anyone gets the wrong idea, I do *not* shoot video and don't have personal experience of this.

DreDaze wrote in post #15293744
forget the gift card...just make sure you let him know that if it's not exactly what he wants, that you have no problems with him returning it, to get what he wants...that being said, i think one of the 17-50/55mm f2.8 stabilized lenses should be good...canon 17-55mm f2.8 IS if you have the funds, and if not the sigma 17-50mm f2.8 OS, if you want cheaper the tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC...

all of these have stabilization that he wants, and will be better options than the kit lens...just buy from amazon, or B&H so you can return it if he doesn't want it.

+1 on this.
Also, when in doubt, go with the brand name. The Canon lens is very highly regarded here.

Why don't you ask him to educate you about lenses and in the process you can in a subtle manner know what kind of lenses he likes to have.

You could discreetly get him to start a "wish list" on the Amazon website. You don't have to buy from there, but at least you would get some idea what he would like. It probably wouldn't be 100% surprise on the big day, but at least he would get what he wants.

I have a list on my Amazon account, which I add to over the year and my wife finds it invaluable.

Good luck and merry Christmas.

Ref 24-105mm...

melcat wrote in post #15294151
It's popular on full frame, but I'd have doubts about it on the T3i because of the shocking barrel distortion at 24mm. That focal length would get a lot more use on crop.

The 24-105mm is one of my two most used lenses, resident on 5D2 most of the time and I can assure anyone thinking of buying one that the barrel distortion is far less noticeable than you might think. On a crop body like the T3i, such distortion would be even less apparent, if detectable at all under normal conditions. However, it's possibly not wide enough for video on crop and the 17-40mm or 17-55mm might be better options.

I would agree though that blokes tend to be very particular about their own choices, but you know your own feller best.

He might be making videos of ants, or really shy deer. There is no reference to what is being videoed and none that suggests he is already using the 18-55 kit lens to do so but every seems to know what lens is needed. The gift card/website posts sound like a good solution to me.

Neilyb wrote in post #15294816
He might be making videos of ants, or really shy deer. There is no reference to what is being videoed and none that suggests he is already using the 18-55 kit lens to do so but every seems to know what lens is needed. The gift card/website posts sound like a good solution to me.

she did say it was mostly for shooting interviews

hoverpumpkin wrote in post #15292860
He only has the 18-55 kit lens thus far, and will probably be shooting mostly interviews.

I am sure your husband will enjoy shopping with a gift card but if you decide that you really want to surprise him with a lens....I thought this video might help you:

http://vimeo.com/44717​038

I agree with the gift card suggestions. I'm a husband, and unless I give my wife specific instructions on what photographic gear to buy I'm going to return it and get something I want.