5D w/28-135 IS USM & 70-300 F/4-5.6 IS USM?

I plan on getting a 5D with a 28-135mm lense and adding a 70-300mm F/4-5.6

lense as well. I'll be shooting portraits, landscapes, wildlife and some kids

sports. Fair or bad combo? Also will be shooting in some snow. How concerned

should I be about the lack of weather seals?

The lack of weather seals concerns me not. If the weather is bad enough you can cover the camera/lens with something, there are products available for that.

 

Your choice of glass is more of a problem. The lenses you mention are both decent consumer zooms, but IMO, not up to snuff for a 5D, which deserves better. One of the 24-xxx L lenses and one of the 70-200 series comes to mind. A couple of nice primes wouldn't hurt either. Good luck.

The range of things you want to shoot is a very wide range. Although the lenses you picked cover a wide range, IMHO I don't think they do any exceptionally. They are good lenses for travel and hiking (light 2 lens kit that cover a wide range).

 

The won't be fast enough to cover sports or serious wildlife. The background blur could be much better with a faster telephoto prime (85 f/1.8, 100 f/2 or 135 f/2).

 

Good luck!

 

 

aaron

I'd suggest getting a 30D and better glass. The 30D is a better wildlife/sports camera and the price difference will get you into L glass.

 

Oh, and on a 30D, a 50mm prime makes a beautiful portrait prime. With the 5D you'll need something other than those two lenses for portraiture, and an 85/1.8 is a lot more expensive than a 50/1.8, which will do adequately on a 30D.

I agree, the 5D needs better glass. The ultra high rez of the CMOS will be a too revealing for

both those consumer zooms. I dumped my old friens, an EF 28-135 IS USM, almost

immediately and replaced it with the EF 24-105 4L IS USM. It was a night and day difference.

I'd suggest the 5D and EF 24-105 4L IS USM as a kit. Add the EF 70-200 4L IS USM (and

Extender 1.4x) later if the budget is tight.

 

Incidentally both those lenses are weather resistant.

Getting a 5D with those two lenses it is like buying a Mercedes and insisting on putting a say 1.6 liter diesel engine in it. I had those two lenses before and used them on a Digital Rebel. Even on a the Rebel those lenses were the bottleneck to get the max out of the camera.

My opinion is that if you are not doing photography for living or at least part time living you don't want to spend money on the 5D. If you still want the 5D because your budget is not an obstacle, get a good lens with it. For example 24-105mm L lens.

Miklos

I agree with the trend: even if the budget is tight you WILL be happier with better lenses than the ones you are considering.

 

24 to xx L serves as the kit then expand from there. If I were to choose one lens only it would be 24 to 70 F2.8L, because it is F2.8

 

Regards

 

WW

According to a test on luminous-landscape the differences between the 28-135 and the 24-105 are not enormouos. It was enough for me to change my priorities a bit. I'll see what Canon comes up with for the next PMA, but I think I'll try the 28-135 first on the 5D or it's successor before deciding on a new lens.

According to my comparison of my new 24-105 4L and 1999 28-135 IS the difference was

huge at F4. The L zoom was vastly better in terms of edge to edge sharpness and contrast.

The 28-135 suffers from major flare and ghosting when the sun is in the frame. The

24-105 barely flinches. Stopped down to F8 or 11 they were about the same in terms of

sharpness. Also, oddly, the L zoom doesn't improve much in terms of sharpness when

stopped down, albeit light fall off is reduced.

 

However the difference is build quality is enormous. And, yes, the IS of the L zoom is good

for another stop of hand holding.

 

Basically if you always stop down and avoid sunsets the 28-135 is a good value. I found

the 24-105 4L worth every penny more and sold my 28-135 at FM for $350.

The 70-200/4L is light years ahead of the 70-300/3-5.6 IS in terms of build quality but the 70-300/4-5.6 is supposedly on a par. The 70-200/4L IS may be better but it comes at a premium. The 70-200/4L is a great lens so the 70-300/4-5.6 may well be fine. To my mind it is the best bargain in telephoto lenses (now that they have fixed the portrait orientation problem).

 

I am with the others having qualms about the 28-135. I have not tried the 24-105/4L IS but I do own a 28-135 and while it was a great walk around lens I am not sure it will do your 5D justice. Incidentally that additional 4mm between the 28-135 and the 24-105 makes a big difference. The IS is very useful though the IS on the 24-105 is better.

 

Alistair

When I was researching the recent purchase of my 5D, I read some very enlightening reviews at Luminous Landscape. In summary, the 5D will expose the limitations of inexpensive consumer quality lenses very quickly and emphatically. Don't try to compare an APS cam to a full frame 13mp cam, it's a different and rarified world, there are only a few out there.

 

I bought the 24-105 f/4 IS after reading all the comparison reviews at that site and others. I miss the 2.8 of the 28-70 but not the weight nor the lack of IS [you'll appreciate both as you get older!]

 

He also addresses the lack of weather seals in one of the 5D reviews and doesn't see it as a real problem unless you go overboard.

Get 30D and better lenses if you can't afford both 5D and quality glass. Nobody will know if the pic was taken with 30D or 5D, but most people will notice the difference between 28-135 IS USM and, say, 24-70/2.8 or 70-200/2.8. Worst of all, YOU will notice it pretty soon.

...and this is why I asked the question! Thank you all so much for your imput and advice! It looks like I will have to re-direct some funds I was concidering for my studio lights and go with the higher quality lenses, or at least deal with just one good lense for a while. You people are the best! -Anthony

Caution note: Weather sealing on your lenses is irrelevant if the camera body does not have seals.

 

The 5D does not have seals. The biggest concern is not the lens/body interface. Your biggest concern is the buttons. Moisture and sand in there would be a bad thing.

 

I would take the lens image and build quality comments at face value.

Thank you Jim!