I'm buying 70D. Should I get the STM lenses, too?

I'm planning on buying the Canon 70D. Saw this deal on B&H where I can get the 70D with the 18-135mm STM and 55-250mm STM lenses for $1462 after a $400 rebate through March 31.

Lenses I already have are the Tamron 18-270 f/3.5-5.6, Canon 40mm f/2.8, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Canon 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6, Canon 100-400mm L f/4.5-5.6, and an old Canon Macro FD 50mm f/3.5. So, not a lot of fast glass yet. I currently have a T1i body. I find myself using the Tamron most often and may buy the Tamron 16-300 when it's released.

Photography is my hobby. I shoot mostly landscapes, birds, nature, my dogs, cities when I travel, and I play around with the macros. I rarely shoot portraits. Hardly ever shoot video. Who knows, maybe I would do it more often if I had the STM lenses.

I don't think I would buy the STM lenses separately, but it is a great deal. Do I pull the trigger on the bundle or just the body?

Thanks for your help!

I would buy just the body. In my own experience, if you're not shooting video now you probably won't do much later. The 55-250 is redundant, and you'd probably be better off picking up a nice prime with the money saved. Maybe a 35 or an 85.

repete7 wrote in post #16793331
I'm planning on buying the Canon 70D. Saw this deal on B&H where I can get the 70D with the 18-135mm STM and 55-250mm STM lenses for $1462 after a $400 rebate through March 31.

Lenses I already have are the Tamron 18-270 f/3.5-5.6, Canon 40mm f/2.8, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Canon 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6, Canon 100-400mm L f/4.5-5.6, and an old Canon Macro FD 50mm f/3.5. So, not a lot of fast glass yet. I currently have a T1i body. I find myself using the Tamron most often and may buy the Tamron 16-300 when it's released.

Photography is my hobby. I shoot mostly landscapes, birds, nature, my dogs, cities when I travel, and I play around with the macros. I rarely shoot portraits. Hardly ever shoot video. Who knows, maybe I would do it more often if I had the STM lenses.

I don't think I would buy the STM lenses separately, but it is a great deal. Do I pull the trigger on the bundle or just the body?

Thanks for your help!

Why are you even considering these lenses? It sounds like a great deal, but you've got the range more than covered with everything else you have, and have indicated you have no current interest in video. My feeling is you should get them only if you were planning on taking lots of videos, for which STM lenses will give you fast and quiet auto focus on the 70D. If you think that you might change your mind about video in the coming months than perhaps that's the way to go, but I doubt you would ever use the 55-250 for video anyway.

I told my sister return 70D bundle she got from Costco about 1700$ after tax, the bundle come with 18-55 and 55-250. I help her order canon 70D bundle from B&H 1299$ it came with 18-135 STM also I order for her 50mm F1.4 total under 1600$ no tax free shipping. cheaper than Costco better lens.

The bundles I've seen that include the 55-250 aren't the STM models. Make sure you read the whole lens description.

Phoenixkh wrote in post #16793576
The bundles I've seen that include the 55-250 aren't the STM models. Make sure you read the whole lens description.

The B&H link the OP posted includes the STM of both.

If I were the OP, I would only consider the package if I thought I would come ahead selling the lenses on craigslist. Given the OP's line up, I would look into getting a fast normal prime like the 35/2 IS, Sigma 30A, or Sigma 35/1.4 A.

FEChariot wrote in post #16793774
The B&H link the OP posted includes the STM of both.

If I were the OP, I would only consider the package if I thought I would come ahead selling the lenses on craigslist. Given the OP's line up, I would look into getting a fast normal prime like the 35/2 IS, Sigma 30A, or Sigma 35/1.4 A.

She already has the Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake. A 35mm f/2 or f/1.4 might be mostly redundant unless she really wants/needs the extra stop or two. In that case, the two stop advantage of an f/1.4 over her 40mm f/2.8 lens makes a bit more sense to me than an f/2.

mwsilver wrote in post #16793806
She already has the Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake. A 35mm f/2 or f/1.4 might be mostly redundant unless she really wants/needs the extra stop or two. In that case, the two stop advantage of an f/1.4 over her 40mm f/2.8 lens makes a bit more sense to me than an f/2.

Good point. Sell the slow prime then.

you're pretty much already covered in that area...if you use the tamron more than the other lenses, then you probably favor the convenience of the super-zoom...

you could buy them just to try to sell them, to make the body only price even cheaper...but then you have to ask yourself if it's worth the hassle/work to gain a few bucks

i bought mine with the 18-135mm, and will use it instead of my 28-135mm, which i'm holding on to still because i'm considering a 5D classic sometime in the future

The 18-135 STM is supposed to be a nice lens. IDK how happy you are with the Tammy 18-270, I sent one back as I wasn't happy with the IQ. You already have the 100-400L, so I don't see the point of getting the 55-250 STM, unless it's to save size/weight while walking around.

But for the price it's a hard deal to pass up. $1462 after rebate and you get to try out both lenses, decide whether to keep or sell them. If you sell the 55-250 plus either your 18-270 or the new 18-135 you'll make at least $500 back, possibly $600. So the net on the 70D would be $862-962, which is a very good price for a new 70D.

I've always been a lover of fast primes. I bought a 18-135mm STM for shooting videos on my EOS M. I did a few test with this lens on my 50D and was amazed at the image quality.

Late last year I bought a 700D, mainly for its video capability. The 18-135mm STM now virtually lives on my 700D. My 40mm f/2.8 is close second.

As a general purpose lens, the 18-135mm STM is brilliant.

mwsilver wrote in post #16793806
She already has the Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake. A 35mm f/2 or f/1.4 might be mostly redundant unless she really wants/needs the extra stop or two. In that case, the two stop advantage of an f/1.4 over her 40mm f/2.8 lens makes a bit more sense to me than an f/2.

The f/2 has a 4 stop IS which will make it 3 stops faster than the f/1.4 in IS useful situations. The pancake I'd view as both a pancake (i.e. great pocket lens) and a great focal length for indoor video being an STM.

OP here. Thanks for the advice. I've decided on the B&H bundle with just the 18-135mm STM that costs $1287 after rebates. There is also a printer in the bundle that I could sell and bring the cost down to the same as the body. So, I can play with the lens and see if video is my thing.

Good choice. I actually picked up a white box 18-55 STM after getting the 70D just for a lightweight video rig with silent focus. The 18-135 is a very useful lens.

vengence wrote in post #16794059
The pancake I'd view as both a pancake (i.e. great pocket lens)

I don't get the great pocket lens thing. Say you are the OP, it's not like you can just stick your 18-135, 15-85 or 18-270 in your front pocket while you use the pancake. So you either you carry a larger bag or lens pouch or that pancake just becomes an unusable lens taking up space in your pocket.

It would be one thing if Canon came out with a second pocketable lens. Of course it would have to be different enough to warrant switching lenses at all. So technically I could probably pocket the 50/1.8, but I would not bother switching between that and the pancake becuase they are too simular. For people who don't mind manual focus, there is the voigtlander 20/3.5 but I'm talking about auto focus options.