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FORUMS Cameras, Lenses & Accessories Canon Lenses 
Thread started 25 Jan 2012 (Wednesday) 22:19
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Newbie questions!

 
lovethelens
Hatchling
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Jan 25, 2012 22:19 |  #1

Hi I'm new to the site and quite new to photography. I am about to purchase a 5D Mark ii as I would mainly liek to do portrait work and wide angle shots as opposed to sport/wildlife. I am finding it really hard to narrow down lenses as there are so many options out there.

With the portraits I am really just looking at head/neck no full body shots. I would also really like to do wide angle shots aswell and some fisheye. So my question is what 2 lenses should I go for to start off? I really don't need the top of the range lens as I am just starting and learning the ropes but I do want quality.

Thankyou so much for your help.




  
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3Rotor
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Jan 25, 2012 22:24 |  #2

You should check out this section, https://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdis​play.php?f=107


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gonzogolf
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Jan 25, 2012 22:27 |  #3

For head and shoulder portraits, 135L For wide angle 17-40L. Both are great on a full frame camera.




  
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lovethelens
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Hatchling
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Jan 25, 2012 22:53 as a reply to  @ gonzogolf's post |  #4

I just researched a bit and yeah the 135 looks like it's a really good portrait lens for the money. I think I will get that one. Thanks heaps :)




  
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StructuredAmazing
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Jan 25, 2012 23:48 |  #5

lovethelens wrote in post #13769887 (external link)
I just researched a bit and yeah the 135 looks like it's a really good portrait lens for the money. I think I will get that one. Thanks heaps :)
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Yup, or you can go macro with 200mm i believe it is, its nice for portraits and macro work as well


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elicious
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Jan 26, 2012 03:16 |  #6

I have good news and bad news for you:

First, the good news: the 5D Mk II you got is an amazing camera!

The "bad news" is that what makes the 5D Mk II such an amazing camera is its incredible resolution. What I mean by this is that it has a relatively high likelihood to present the shortcomings of non-premium quality optics in lenses. The aforementioned 135mm L lens is considered to be among the best, so that would be an excellent choice...if you could live with that fixed focal length. I would recommend that you spend some more money and buy a copy of the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS lens used from a reliable seller. You can get a fine used copy of the Mk I version of this lens now for roughly $1300US at the moment because Canon is running a rebate program that offers great savings for people upgrading to the Mk II version. It is a fantastic lens which offers versatility in focal length and high performance, as well as being a great portrait lens. They also hold their resale value wonderfully if you buy a used copy. For landscapes, you can definitely get by with the 17-40mm f/4 L lens, too. I know that this may seem like a large initial expenditure but conventional wisdom dictates that zooms will help you find which focal lengths you prefer to shoot at, after which you can buy prime lenses for those focal lengths. Also, if you buy the right lenses up front you will often have spent less money in the long run having tried to buy less expensive optics until you finally pony up and make the quality purchases you should/could have gotten to begin with.

I apologize for the "bad news" but I hope you find it helpful. :)


5D3 | 24-105L

  
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Sirrith
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Jan 26, 2012 04:15 |  #7

As an alternative to the 135L, you can consider the oft-overlooked 135 2.8 SF. Much cheaper, and from what I've seen, almost as good. Certainly more than enough in the hands of a good photographer, especially if you don't need f2. Just because it has "soft focus" in the name doesn't mean you have to use it as such all the time, if at all.


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amfoto1
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Jan 26, 2012 10:35 |  #8

For your purposes, 17-40/4 would be a good wide angle choice as a wide angle.

For portraits, the 135/2 is great... I agree with previous recommendations about that lens. It's usper.

I'd also suggest the 85/1.8. The two focal lengths, 85 and 135mm, pair up well and will between them handle a lot of portraiture. Requirements.

You could choose a zoom... such as a Canon 70-200mm (24-70 is popular for portraits, but may be a little short on full frame for the types of portraits you describe wanting to do). You want as large an aperture as possible if you will be doing a lot of candid portraits, where you can't control the background and want to blur it down as much as possible. For that reason, an f2.8 lens is usually a better choice for portraiture. An f4 lens might do for mostly studio work, where you can tightly control the background. In that case a 70-200/4 or 24-105 might be useful. The

But the best you will get with a zoom is f2.8... Which is one reason that primes are often chosen, instead.... the 85/1.8 and 135/2 give an extra stop larger aperture at least.

Sigma also makes a fast 85mm that might be worth considering.

If you want to keep it simple and only get one portrait lens, perhaps the 100/2 would be a good compromise.

For fisheye shots, well you'll need a fisheye lens. There are two types of fisheye... the type that make a full frame image (rectilinear) and the type that make a round image. For a full frame camera, a rectilinear type is generally 15 or 16mm. Until recently Canon made a 15mm FE lens. They currently offer an 8-15mm FE zoom (that can do both types of image). Sigma currently makes a 15mm. Sigma also offers an 8mm, that will render the round type of image on a FF camera.

Actually there are many older fisheye lenses that might be easily adapted for use on a 5D Mark II. Fisheye lenses have incredibly deep depth of field, so much you hardly have to focus them at all.... so a manual focus lens isn't much of a problem to use at all. Look at Bob Atkin's website (external link) for a list of the different mounts that are most easily adapted to use on Canon. Considering vintage fisheye lenses will open up your choices tremendously. (Note: other types of lenses also can be adapted too... however lenses for portraits, for example, will be more difficult to work with manual focus only. Shallower depth of field will make focus more critical and the combination of manual focus and manual aperture make adapted short telephotos more challenging to work with. Not recommended for someone new to photography.)

All the above recommendations are specific for full frame camera. The recommendations are not the top of the range lenses, but very good, reliable performers.

You can't really do what you want with two lenses.... These are quite different uses: Wide angle, fisheye and portraiture. At a minimum, you will need three lenses to accomplish these three distinct types of shooting.

You say you don't need "top of the range" lenses.... Well, frankly, you have your priorities upside down. It's a mistake many people make. You'd be much better off scaling back on the camera you purchase and buying better lenses to use on it... as opposed to skimping on the lenses in order to afford the camera. That leaves several choices... Increase your budget to to accomodate better lenses, buy a used 5DII if it's enough savings to allow you to buy better lenses listed above, buy a used 5D "classic" for more savings... or scale back to one of the crop sensor cameras and realign your lens choices accordingly (crop cameras are considerably less expensive... their lenses can be too). Seriously, I've shot with Canon APS-C alongside 5DII for several years. I've made shots with 50D that before I looked at the EXIF I thought were shot with 5DII, when making fairly large prints from them. A 15MP crop sensor camera can do a pretty impressive job. The last couple generations of crop cameras are quite capable.


Alan Myers (external link) "Walk softly and carry a big lens."
5DII, 7DII, 7D, M5 & others. 10-22mm, Meike 12/2.8,Tokina 12-24/4, 20/2.8, EF-M 22/2, TS 24/3.5L, 24-70/2.8L, 28/1.8, 28-135 IS (x2), TS 45/2.8, 50/1.4, Sigma 56/1.4, Tamron 60/2.0, 70-200/4L IS, 70-200/2.8 IS, 85/1.8, Tamron 90/2.5, 100/2.8 USM, 100-400L II, 135/2L, 180/3.5L, 300/4L IS, 300/2.8L IS, 500/4L IS, EF 1.4X II, EF 2X II. Flashes, strobes & various access. - FLICKR (external link)

  
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