Best Lenses For Video

Hey so my Canon 60D is on its way and I got the 18-135mm lens with it. I was debating if I should get the 50mm 1.8 or spring for the 1.4. I was also wondering what some other good, not too expensive lenses are. I am going to be using this a lot for video but also pictures.

Video isn't just video, consider it the same as photography (if people referred to it as cinematography maybe we wouldn't have this problem.

It depends in what you want to capture! The environment you're in makes a huge difference, aswell as whether you're shooting sport, or weddings etc

One thing worth mentioning is AR coating on modern lenses makes a big difference, sharper old lenses don't always fair aswell in video mode.

Get a lens with Full Time Manual Focus, and something with low light capabilities. The problem with lenses that lack FTM focus is the focus ring isn't smooth, and it can affect your control while pulling focus. I did use the Tokina 11-16 a lot, and it worked well. But, I hated the fact that it wasn't FTM focus. Image Stabilization is also good to have, but it's not as important as the first two items.

50/1.4, 28/1.8, 85/1.8, and 2.8 zoom lenses are nice starts. I've gone up in ISO as high as 2500 doing video with decent results on the 60D, and I shoot around f2-f4 most of the time. So, you COULD get away with purely f2.8 lenses.

I should also add, if you're strictly using the lens for video look into the Samyang line up. I've never used them (since I also like taking photos with AF), but I hear they're real nice video lenses.

the 40mm 2.8 STM pancake is nice and not too expensive. Good focus and nice IQ even wide open. Light, fun, easy to use... Made for video too, smooth quiet focus. The 50mm 1.8 is soft wide open and you need to stop it down to 2.8 to get sharp anyway... The 50mm 1.4 is a bit better.

the Sigma 17-50 is great for video. If you get a zoom make sure it has a constant aperture.

Personally I hate using my 40mm f/2.8 for video. Could be because I have a 5D2 and not a T4i, but it does not instantly focus when you turn the ring, there is a slight lag and that really throws me off if I'm having to track focus for a moving scene, if it's just for preset focus then it's fine and the image quality is wonderful.

While I do use my Canon lenses for video, I much prefer the feel of an actual manual focus lens (via an adapter) for video purposes, many of them are not expensive so you can stock up on a couple with adapters and really not break the bank. I'd say a 28 (or wider) / 50 / 100-ish would be a really nice setup and one you could probably get for a couple hundred bucks.

I'm finding that the best lenses for video are my manual focus FD prime lenses. The focus rings are smooth and silent so they are really great for shooting video. I've got the FD Canon 50mm 1.4 and the Vivitar 28mm 2.8 on a 60D with an adapter.

Whatever the lens, though I find primes to be cleaner - it's a subjective thing and not a mandate - I also find using a variable ND filter is requisite to prevent faces and skies being blown-out.

It's a helluva lot easier to correct in post with still photos and very nasty to fix in video.

An ND filter really allows the subtle things to emerge.

chmod

Nikon ais lenses are great for video m42 mounts like the Helios are very nice like somebody pointed out in the zoom area the sigma 17-50 is very good fro basically everything the rokinon lenses are great for video too...