Hello! I'm about to buy a 5DmkII and have questions

beginner on a full frame body... hmmmm....

tomcat7886 wrote in post #13455546
beginner on a full frame body... hmmmm....

Whyever not? Full frame is the correct format for these applications.

JeffreyG wrote in post #13455495
I buy all of my stuff from either Adorama or B&H camera. They typically have the lowest prices and are completely trustworthy. The 5D2 kit (with the 24-105L) will include the charger and a battery complete from Canon. You shoud just buy one additional battery and the EF 100/2.8 macro separate, plus the flash.

CF is not out of date. CF media have the fastest read/write speeds of all compact media.

I have heard of B&H, as a matter of fact, I think I have one of their catalogs somewhere in this or did have one. I have no idea how I ended up with it but a few years ago I think they shipped me THREE ginormous phone book sized catalogs. My dad snatched them up and took them away for a few weeks to drool. I think he returned them but I haven't seen them in a few years. Oh well..


And thank you for the info on the CF memory. I was under the impression that it was badly outdated and was discontinued for the new itty bitty memory. I have one that goes in my Garmin GPS that's half the size of my pinky nail! It's 2gb even!
I didn't know they still made CF memory anymore.

I assume that the camera kits don't come with memory so I'll have to find one and add that to the list as well.

I hope I can get all this for under $4,000.. The flash is a must but I may have to hold off on the macro if it's too expensive. Well, off I go to B&H to try and find the goodies and total up the damage.

Dee_Ann_2012 wrote in post #13455695
I have heard of B&H, as a matter of fact, I think I have one of their catalogs somewhere in this or did have one. I have no idea how I ended up with it but a few years ago I think they shipped me THREE ginormous phone book sized catalogs. My dad snatched them up and took them away for a few weeks to drool. I think he returned them but I haven't seen them in a few years. Oh well..

And thank you for the info on the CF memory. I was under the impression that it was badly outdated and was discontinued for the new itty bitty memory. I have one that goes in my Garmin GPS that's half the size of my pinky nail! It's 2gb even!
I didn't know they still made CF memory anymore.

I assume that the camera kits don't come with memory so I'll have to find one and add that to the list as well.

I hope I can get all this for under $4,000.. The flash is a must but I may have to hold off on the macro if it's too expensive. Well, off I go to B&H to try and find the goodies and total up the damage.

Note that there are two 100mm macro lenses from Canon.

The EF 100 1:2.8 USM Macro is about half the price of the EF 100 1:2.8L IS USM Macro. Both are optically excellent. The latter is stabilized. If you are running out of budget, get the former.

You may not need a dedicated macro to start off with, a 5dm2 and 24-105mm L produces good macro shot if you crop a bit

JeffreyG wrote in post #13455495
I buy all of my stuff from either Adorama or B&H camera. They typically have the lowest prices and are completely trustworthy. The 5D2 kit (with the 24-105L) will include the charger and a battery complete from Canon. You shoud just buy one additional battery and the EF 100/2.8 macro separate, plus the flash.

CF is not out of date. CF media have the fastest read/write speeds of all compact media.

tomcat7886 wrote in post #13455546
beginner on a full frame body... hmmmm....

I'm not a professional and I have no desire to try to be a professional. This is strictly for my own personal hobby. I don't know what a "full frame body" is but I guess it means something like "top of the line camera" or something like that.

I saw, I liked. I've seen what the camera can do and I want THIS camera.

I don't want to spend a $1,000 on a mid-line camera as a "learner" then go out and spend $$$$ on this one later on. Besides, I want to get one NOW before they are discontinued and become rare and the price goes up.

It's a great camera. I want to take great pictures. A perfect match!

lannes wrote in post #13455711
You may not need a dedicated macro to start off with, a 5dm2 and 24-105mm L produces good macro shot if you crop a bit

NICE!!!!!!!!!!! Now THAT is what I'm talking about!

Dee_Ann_2012 wrote in post #13455714
I'm not a professional and I have no desire to try to be a professional. This is strictly for my own personal hobby. I don't know what a "full frame body" is but I guess it means something like "top of the line camera" or something like that.

I saw, I liked. I've seen what the camera can do and I want THIS camera.

I don't want to spend a $1,000 on a mid-line camera as a "learner" then go out and spend $$$$ on this one later on. Besides, I want to get one NOW before they are discontinued and become rare and the price goes up.

It's a great camera. I want to take great pictures. A perfect match!

I see no problem. You seem to have a good idea of what you want. The 5D2 is an excellent camera and I think you will find it capable of whatever you can imagine. I suggest you invest some serious time into learning, either online or with books, but then you will find the 5D a great tool for whatever you want to shoot.

The lenses I have recommended are a great starting place, and likely they will be lenses you keep no matter where your photography journey takes you. Down the road you may add some fast primes, or a long telephoto, or a tilt-shift. Who knows? Still, a nice high quality wide angle like the 24-105 is always worth having, and for you I suspect the macro will always have a place.

JeffreyG wrote in post #13455700
Note that there are two 100mm macro lenses from Canon.

The EF 100 1:2.8 USM Macro is about half the price of the EF 100 1:2.8L IS USM Macro. Both are optically excellent. The latter is stabilized. If you are running out of budget, get the former.

Woa........ $1,000 for this lens. I'm thinking that I may be waiting on this for a few months. Considering the sample photo posted earlier, I may be able to get by with the initial starter lens for a while. I really do want one, that is for certain but when I total it all up, wow!

I think I'll start with the flash and spare batteries to get me going. And to be certain, I'm going to have a few months learning curve with this thing anyway.

Dee_Ann_2012 wrote in post #13455765
Woa........ $1,000 for this lens. I'm thinking that I may be waiting on this for a few months. Considering the same photo posted earlier, I may be able to get by with the initial starter lens for a while. I really do want one, that is for certain but when I total it all up, wow!

I think I'll start with the flash and spare batteries to get me going. And to be certain, I'm going to have a few months learning curve with this thing anyway.

That's fine too. 5D2, 24-105L, flash, spare battery and two memory cards. That (as a set) is incredibly capable of doing a lot. Try it and see.

I also suggest hanging around here at POTN. Visit the photo sharing areas and post up your own shots for comments. You can learn a lot here.

Hi Dee Ann...

Off the top of my head I'd say you're wanting to buy too much too quickly. My first recommendation would be a 5D2+24-105/4L package, a flash and a 25mm extension ring to give you some close focus. Then stop for a year or two and give yourself time to master the kit you've bought. Anyway, here are my responses to the questions you raise.

Buy a couple of batteries from SterlingTek. even if you only use live view for focusing (as I do), each battery gives you about 300 frames. The Canon originals come with a snap-on cover but they're no better functionally.

Here I'd get the 580 EX II - essentially because it allows you to control multiple flashes. It also has an illuminator that allows you to use autofocus in low light. The 430 EX is good too but it's a little lower and can't control other lights.

For general usage, you will probably need something a little shorter so the 24-70/2.8 or 24-105/4 IS would do nicely. Both are excellent.

Squirrels are quite small - I use a 400 mm on them (even from 12' away.) Dogs are bigger but can be quite a way away. I'd suggest this is an option for a 70-200 - they are all good so pick one that fits into your budget.

Hmm... here you have some options.
For butterflies etc, the 70-200 with an extension tube does pretty well.

For 1:1 The 100/2.8L IS is a superb macro lens (and it also does as a very good general purpose lens too.) The Zeiss ZE 2/100 is also a macro lens (1:2) but it's manual focus and there's no IS. It's not easy to use on moving targets.

For higher magnification, there's a MP-E 65 mm EF manual focus lens that does up to 5:1 ... but be aware that you need a lot of light and the lens is very close to the subject. Interesting for static things but not much use for bugs.

IIRC Sigma also makes a 150mm macro lens that has a very good reputation.... this is good because you get away from the subject and don't scare it too much.

You can do this quite well using a piece of white card to light up the subject. There are inexpensive adapters(from ebay) that use light pipes to take light from your regular flash to the end of your lens. They're clunky but they do the job for a very modest cost.

This is where it can get EXTREMELY expensive. Canon has several superb telephoto lenses. To put it simply, the size of your subject is important. Say you're looking at an Elephant at 100m, then you might want a 5x3.5 metre frame .... you would need about a 600mm lens. If you wanted the frame to cover (say) 10x7 metres, it would be a 300mm. 15x10 metres and a 200mm lens would do nicely. If your subject was quite small - say the size of a dog, it would get lost in the frame of a 200mm lens. You can crop things down in post processing, but I'm loth to crop 75% of the pixels away.

I use a 400/4 DO lens and add a 1.4x teleconverter for this sort of distance. It's a great lens but unless you see one going for a song, it's awfully expensive.

The 400/5.6L is very sharp but it can't take a teleconverter and it needs a lot of light. The 300/4L IS is good but the IS is a bit dated and the image quality is little different from a high end 70-200 /2.8 IS mk II and a teleconverter.... (and of course, it's not long enough for 100 m.)

The 300/2.8L IS is a superb lens and can use the 1.4x teleconverter which gives you a combination that's as good as the 400/4 DO.

Incidentally - among teleconverters, the Canon 1.4x Mk II and Mk III are the ones to choose between. Optically, they are very similar on axis. Off axis, the Mk III is better. The Mk III is supposed to be optimised for the latest generation of (currently unobtainable) telephoto lenses. Having had both, I'd go for the Mk III.

That's great provided you can carry it comfortably... you should look to a gimballed tripod head from Wimberley for the telephoto or possibly a RRS ball head and a Wimberley Sidekick. RRS (Really Right Stuff) makes what is probably the best camera support gear in the world.

The 5D2's not a speed merchant here - if you get Lexar 400x Pro cards, the camera will be the limitation. I use 16Gb cards and have a reader that allows me to dump them to the pc.

Sorry - have no experience of this one - but it looks like a solution looking for a problem. The CF cards are VERY quick compared with the SD cards used in more modest cameras.

To a limited extent. There's a package called "Magic Lantern" (see elsewhere on POTN) that offers some upgrades for the 5D2. They are mostly related to improvements that assist videography.

Thanks much guys!

You're very welcome.

No doubt the 5DII/24-105 kit would be the deal to get. I love that lens. As for other lenses, well, I've had the 400mm F5.6 and it was short a lot of times. Shooting birds with it, even on a crop (640mm equiv) I would need to be within 60 ft of a crow to get a good framing of it. The 100L macro is a wonderful lens and would give you a fast lens for things other than macro. Personally, with the 5DII, I would be thinking of a fast prime in the 24 to 35 range because I really feel that's where a full frame camera really shines, but everybody has a preference.

Oh, and welcome to POTN

eyefi and sd/cf adaptor card is pretty hit and miss, you need to get the right combination, depending on your usage a long usb cord or ethernet set-up might work better. The large size of the 5dm2 raw files makes the transfer via wi-fi very slow going even with the dedicated wft-e4 IIa, if you use jpeg and save the raw files to the camera it works much better

I personally would just get a fast CF card like a sandisk extreme pro 16gb and use a card reader to transfer the files, get it somewhere like B+H photo, so you get a genuine one, there are a lot of fakes out there

nothing wrong with a beginner going full frame, after all the only difference is sensor size, when we didn't have digital everyone more or less started on full frame with film

Dee_Ann_2012 wrote in post #13455714
I don't know what a "full frame body" is but I guess it means something like "top of the line camera" or something like that.

"Full frame" refers to the sensor size, which also determines the viewfinder size. And it's the right choice for you because (1) your needs exactly match the one or two lenses you plan to buy, and those lenses don't work the same way on anything but full frame, (2) the larger viewfinder makes taking pictures of people and macro much easier, especially for beginners, and (3) smaller sensors usually produce worse results for macro for optical reasons.

And you have no need for "fast" lenses for what you want to do.

melcat wrote in post #13455820
And you have no need for "fast" lenses for what you want to do.

This is true, but as one gets more time into photography what they want to and how they want to photograph it can change, it certainly did for me. I agree with a prior comment, that was to hold off on buying anything more than the 24-105 and wait until there is time spent with it.

Lots of good recommendations here by all.