Too many overlapping lenses?

[Barnaby Harding]

Good evening!

 

Right! I upgraded after a couple of years of 400D and now have a 7D.<p>

 

I sold the kit lens and now have:<p><p>

 

Canon 15-85<p>

Canon 50 Mk1 (love the MF and metal mount)<p>

 

Tamron 70-300 Di VC USD<p><p>

 

 

Question is, as I want to do more indoor and street photography (particularly indoor in lower light) is it foolish to be thinking about a prime such as Canon 24 f2, or Sigma 30 f1.4? Canon 35 seems too close to my 50. Or should I use a mounted flash with my 15-85?<p>

 

Thoughts from the world please!!

[Jochen_S]

I'm not familiar with the lenses you mentioned but I already don't understand the kit zoom sale. Being mentally raised by the paranoid backup-maniacs of the wedding forum and having had my gear fall apart in the past I stopped relying on zooms and started bringing backup. i.e. if I am determined to bring a picture home, I'll take 2 cameras out and I try to at least cross backup my zooms with primes & vice versa.

Standard advice for beginners: Get some zooms to figure out which focal lengths you like and buy primes accordingly.

Primes aren't everybody's cup of tea but sometimes worth the inconvenience. - I have a Sigma 24mm f1.8 for Pentax. It is huge! If any lens turned me a DSLR hater, it was probably that beast (compared to a Konica 35mm f2 on a FF Rangefinder).

Warning: A fast wide is neither a cure all nor a substitute for a flashgun. It is very easy to frame more than one face with it indoors but not very likely to render the 2nd face sharp wide open. - That look sucks after a while. People appreciate everybody recognizable in family happysnaps. It makes more sense to shoot 1 person at a time with a 50mm than to include similar important 2nd persons that you can't render sharp due to lack of DOF and their position to the camera with a 24mm. But if you are able to pose your subjects the lens will be helpful.

Will you get an IS lens? - If not it might suck; you'll need to waste all your light gain by lens speed on shutter speed for handholding.

[JDMvW]

I'd accept the substitution of the 15-85 for the kit lens as well-motivated. At least I did the same for my APS-C bodies.

 

In a sense, both the 24mm and 30mm lenses depend on your style. I'd personally want a fast 85mm more for my kind of shooting in low light.

[Barnaby Harding]

Thanks for both replies! The decision on the kit lens was that I sometimes found myself frustrated by ALMOST having a wide enough view for some situations, but not quite. Plus, when I did use my Tamron it was fairly often only up to 100mm, so the new lens should save some lens changing.

 

I dearly love my 50. I reckon I'll try the 15-85 and 50 in low light with flash and see how we get on. As I have a crop sensor, my 50 is pretty zoomed in, but I love it for portraits.

[JDMvW]

Another variable in lens acquisition is the shooter's tolerance for "noise".

With the high ISOs available nowadays, the 15-85mm may be fast enough for a lot of low-light shooting.

As an old "fast film" shooter, I am very tolerant of noise (as I was earlier of grain) since my priorities lie elsewhere.

[Robin Smith]

I assume you mean the 28mm f1.8, as there is no Canon 24 f2 (unfortunately). The Sigma is meant to be very good, and this will give the equivalent of a normal lens on an APS-C camera. I would have thought this would be useful, as the zoom is not a fast lens. I can't imagine you will make friends on the street with a flash unless you are after the Weegee look.

[dcstep]

An alternative is to consider a body that's much better in low light. You've got the focal lengths that you need. A used 6D will do much better at high ISO than your 7D2. I assume that budget prevents moving to a 5D MkIV, but, if it doesn't, then I'd move there.

 

Still, bottom line, don't worry about overlap. If you need a lens for special purpose and you're sure that you'll use it, buy it.

[William Michael]

Understood that you are trialing flash and your existing lenses, but apropos the suggestion to move to a camera with better High ISO qualities - just be aware that if you choose to upgrade your camera body to a 6D or 5D Series, then your existing 15 to 85 lens will not mount on those cameras. <br><br>

 

As you have mentioned you bought the 15 to 85 to have Lens wider than 18mm, then note the equivalent FoV of 15mm on your 7D would be about 24mm, on a 6D or 5D Series camera, in which case you might consider something like a 6D and 24 to 105 F/4L IS as a package buy <br><br>

 

The 24 to 105/4 L IS and your existing 70 to 300 could make a good zoom pair.<br><br>

 

WW

[Barnaby Harding]

Thanks everybody. As I have only recently upgraded to 7D, another body is not an option for a while!! I have spent today (in bed sick) learning more about flash and I will try learning my 15-85 well, particularly trying 24 and 35 focal lengths to see what equivalent primes would be like.

 

I have some cool opportunities coming up, the first of which is a visit to Star Trek exhibition for my step-son's birthday : )

[mwmcbroom]

Well, I'm coming a little late to this discussion, but I thought I'd add a bit to it. If cost is a concern, one way you can end up shooting with fast glass for not a whole lot of coins is to obtain a Zhongyi Lens Turbo II. This will provide you with approximately one additional f/stop of light and make your lens wider. So your pedestrian 28mm f/2.8, which can often be picked up for peanuts, suddenly becomes a much more desirable 18mm f/2 (or so). Heck, a 50mm f/1.4 becomes about a 35mm f/1.0! You would have to decide on a lens mount to go with your EOS camera mount. If you have any manual focus lenses, then whatever you have the most of might oughta be the lens mount you should go with. If you don't, then there are lots to choose from, most of which are excellent. Me, I prefer Canon FD and Nikon, but I also have a great deal of respect for Pentax and Minolta mf glass -- and Tamron adaptall-2. Especially Tamron.