carl_weller

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, many EOS cameras (including the 5D) will use

"high-precision" AF sensors only with lenses f2.8 or faster. On many cameras the central

AF point will do this with slower lenses, but I believe there are a big clump (vertically

spread) on the 5D that would also switch to high-precision with a faster lense.

So there is arguably a small AF performance hit to the much-loved 4L series.

Note, this would also be an issue on an f2.8 lense with a teleconverter.

Whether or not being able to use the high-precision AF sensors would give "noticably"

better AF performance is another question entirely...

Good luck.

On FF it doesn't really get much better than the 85/f1.8 for indoor portraits unless you do

get the f1.2 version.

Whats the issue exactly? Is it not fast enough? I've never heard anything bad about IQ and

it is my absolute fav portrait lense on the 5D.

If its not long enough think about the 135/f2L. One of the best value Ls and only a third of

a stop slower...

Hi there,

I would get the Rebel if I were you, the reason being that your glass doesn't really warrant

anything better - not saying there's anything really wrong with a Rebel.

You will lose the wide angle on any 1.6 crop camera - the 28mm will be more like a

44.8mm. There are two main options for getting it back - and they depend on where you

see your long-term future.

If you want to get really serious and will be looking at full frame one day, then take a look

at the 17-40/4L. If not, the 10-22 or 17-85 will do the trick as long as you realise you will

not be able to use them on anything other than a 1.6 camera.

Getting back to the camera comment: I don't think anyone should be dropping $5000 on a

DSLR if they don't have the glass to make use of it. You should have a good set of quality

lenses before you go down that path - they will make much more of a difference to the

final image than a superduper camera.

Get the Rebel, use it, learn to shoot digital, and gradually build up your lense collection.

When you have what you need there will definitely be something better out there than the

30D or 5D, for less money, and you will have the lenses to make it shine.

Good luck,

Hi,

a few things:

The 50/1.8 might be a bit unsophisticated, but you will struggle to find anything better

performing without paying at least 3 times the price (in fact for 10 times the price you

might find something 10% better).

I doubt you will find much at all from sigma or tamron that performs better than your 50/

1.8, period.

MTF charts are OK, but only tell part of the story. In fact, all they really show is how good

one (or a few) sample(s) of a lense are at resolving charts with black lines on them. They

give the appearance of objectivity and seem very scientific, but you still have to trust the

methodology and competence of the person who has done the test.

Full sized samples viewed on a monitor will also tell you very little unless exactly how the

image was processed is also explained AND all you want to do with images is view them

on a monitor (typically at 72dpi if you are looking at websites).

There aint really a substitute for trying the things out (borrow, rent, trial in the store, etc).

Otherwise you are really just trusting someone else to tell you what to buy.

The three most recommended lenses on photo.net are arguably the 17-40/4L, 50/1.8,

and 70-200/4L. Together, they are an excellent, reasonable cost setup that can be used

for most applications.

good luck,

Because not enough people would buy it.

Most of canon's primes haven't been updated for years, the exceptions being specialist

lenses such as macros and ultra fast lenses (50/1.2 & 85/1.2).

Probably at least 90% of the market is people wanting zooms, and a lot of them are happy

with the lower end zooms at that.

I would also be surprised if canon does much more than break even on the two new ultra

fast primes (or the pay back period will be huge). Its probably more for keeping pros

happy (so they can influence consumers to buy canon) and for bragging rights.

regards,

I know you don't ant to hear this and I am surprised no one has said it:

Why get a 1D and then put a cheap lense in front of it? It makes no sense.

That said, you've got it.

To do your 1D justice you could consider some good primes such as the 50/1.8 or 35/2

or even look at a 28-105 (mark II 28-105/3.5-4.5 is the good one).

None of the lenses you mention above are anywhere near the quality of these 3 and many

of them simply won't work as the 1D is not a 1.6 crop body.

good luck.

The 5D gives an amazing smooth feel that I haven't seen on other cameras - bigger pixels

at play here I think.

The depth of field (if you want less depth of field that is) is better.

Obviously you will be able to make giant enlargements.

How much do you love that lense? Add the multiplication factor of the 30D and you are

basically taking about a sigma version of the 17-40/4L on the full frame 5D (sigma is 16

-32, close enough), or you could try the 16-35/2.8L for quite a bit more money.

The big thing is, is you need to sell the 30D to get the 5D, do you have enough money to

replace the the sigma with a FF equivalent?

good luck,

You want to spend circa $3000 on a 5D and don't see the need for L glass?

If you haven't got the 5D yet, don't. Get some good glass (L lenses and good primes). The

20D is a very capable camera and it too will shine with better lenses.

If you have already bought the 5D, then you will not be getting images worthy of your

investment until you get good glass.

GIGO applies to photography too, and it starts at the lense!

Be very careful about going down the prime lense route...

...zooms are a hell of a lot better than they were even 5 years ago, much less twenty years

ago when the all prime route was king.

I have a pretty good set of primes that I bought before I got into L zooms, and I now ony

really use two; an 85/1.8 for low light portraits and a 100/2.8 Macro. The rest gather

dust. It is just too much of a pain in the backside to constantly change lenses when I can

get excellent images from a zoom. I would be quite happy on holiday with just my 24

-105/4L, its that good.

I shudder when I think back to constantly switching between a 24, 50, 85, and 200 prime

many times during a single day. I can have that and everything in between with my 24-105

and 70-200!

Why do you not use the kit zoom? Is it too slow? Poor image quality? Not the right focal

length?

Answering this will tell you if a better zoom is an option. It may be a couple of zooms and

one or two primes picked for specific applications is what you end up with.

good luck

Hi,

1) If you look on the underside of the camera, just under the digital out and remote

sockets, you will see a small "open" label by two screws.

If you unscrew those screws you can slide the date/time battery out and change it.

2). Just tried it, you do lose FEL. Why didn't you just try it out yourself?

regards,

You might want to ask yourself one more question:

"If I get the f2.8 instead of the f4, how many times will I wish I had a smaller, lighter

lense?"

That extra stop will not just cost you $500, it will cost you in the size and weight of your

kit bag.

Are there really going to be that many times when you can't crank the ISO to gain one

stop?

good luck,

Um...

everyone has actually missed the question.

Glen really wanted to know if there are any early warning signs that your shutter is going

to fail.

Not an expert, but I would think it would just plain fail with very little warning.

What everyone seems to be saying is that, irrespective of Canon's numbers, the thing goes

until it dies, whenever that is :)

regards,

Got both.

The only thing I'd add to the comments above is that the 24/2.8 has better flare resistance

(not surprising seeing it is a prime lense) and it is also much smaller and more discrete.

good luck,

As others have already said the best value lense is the 50/1.8.

But any lense is not much of a 'value' proposition if you don't actually use it. Unless you

tell us what you really want to take pictures of we may tell you about some really good

lenses that are good value, but, if you don't actually use them, they will be very poor value

indeed.

The most versatile 'value' kit for photographing most things is the 17-40/4L, 50/1.8, 70

-200/4L combo. Not cheap but very very good.

All of these will work on your film EOS. Any EF-S, DC, or suchlike lense designed for a less

than full frame DSLR will not work on your film camera - because the image circle is all

wrong and because there is not enough clearance from the back of the lense to allow your

mirror to move freely.

good luck,

Apart from the max apeture, the 16-35 and 17-40 are both of similar quality, and the

consensus also seems to be that both are better than the old 17-35.

We are talking about 3 L lenses here, and build quality is much the same. Any of them will

make you happy.

good luck,

Go with the 400D and the glass.

The 5D is great, but you need to have the setup to make the most of it.

When you have some good lenses, then look at a better body.

good luck,

I think Ken tends to find what he's looking for.

Sorry, couldn't help myself :)

Two things:

Unless you aren't planning to go much further with photography, you don't buy lenses for

a particular camera, you buy them for life. That said, it is useful to know at least your

immediate future is 1.6 multiplier cameras.

I used to think primes were the way to go, and if you want the ultimate in image quality

they probably still are, but zooms are now so good that I have basically changed my mind.

The only primes of mine that now get any serious use are an 85/1.8 and my 100/2.8

macro - for low-light portraits and macro use. The rest just don't get used much.

With digital you also want to avoid changing lenses more than you have to for the obvious

reasons.

For people who want a good general setup that won't break the bank in the same way the

f2.8s will pretty much the best is:

17-40/4L

50/1.8

70-200/4L

These are some of the best quality wise and price-wise that canon offers, period. They will

survive many camera 'upgrades' and allow you shot shoot most things.

good luck,

Why not stop for a while?

The 17-40 and 70-200 are great and the 50 is a $70 treasure.

The 28-105 is OK. A better lense would be the 24-105. I got one and have a stack of

primes I'm just not using anymore (the exceptions being an 85 for low low light and a 100

macro). IS is a god send and not having to change lenses and risk dust and crap getting on

the sensor is great.

The thing is though, I have seen anything in your post that says "I need a lense to do X

with". You just want to spend money?

Why not go on holiday with what you've got (and your significant other of course)? A few

days somewhere nice with interesting things to photograph seems a more useful thing to

do than buy something you don't seem to need. Who knows? While you're there you might

figure out that you need a new lense for some specific purpose...

thats my two cents.

I got a portable storage device (combo card reader and harddrive) for not much more than

$130US.

It has no preview, just a boring old text display that tells you capacity and confirms the

images have been loaded. These are much cheaper than the newer lcd devices with whiz-

bang screens and previews of images.

Its about the size of the old 60GB ipod photo. Mine is 40GB, but its a standard 2.5 inch

laptop drive that is user swapable.

I only took 3GB of CF cards, but downloaded 25GB of raw files over a 2 week holiday,

worked flawlessly and doubles as an external 40GB HD when I'm at home.

Don't even think of buying lots of cards, it just costs too much. CDs don't store enough for

8-10 MB raw files, a portable device or a laptop with DVD burner (if you want to carry it

around) is the way to go.

regards,

Hey Yakim,

did you get the 24-105 in the end?

Just wanting to compare thoughts, mine has made me wonder if I really need many of the

lenses that now seem to sit in the closet unused...

regards,

Jim,

there have been problems in NZ with this.

All the cameras came in through the grey market and the body serial does not match with

the software serial. It seems to the knowledgeable eye that the body serial number has

been altered.

Canon is investigating, but it stinks to high heaven from the updates that are coming

through the press.

It may not be the same issue as you seem to have, but I took this as a good opportunity to

warn people out there that there is some sort of weird scam operating - at least in this

part of the world.

regards,

Yes, it will be called the Rebel YZ and will have a built in pizza oven.

If you send me $2800 I will fed-ex one to you.

Seriously, there might be one announced around September if canon keep to their 18

month cycle. MAYBE.

Nobody who knows will tell you anything and anybody who tells you something doesn't

know, they're just guessing.

Look up what happened in Jan/Feb this year with the 30D coming up to the

announcement.

regards,

No matter how Nikon likes to say that full frame is not such a big deal, it IS.

For any given MP count, a FF sensor allows bigger photosites (pixels), which is inherently

less noisy as the signal does not need to be amplified as much as with a similar MP chip

with smaller photosites for a given ISO.

Nobody, including Nikon, has figured out a way to beat simple physics!

That said, the Nikon system and lenses are impressive.

Take a look at the whole picture.

good luck,

The apeture relates to the lens, not the camera.

On all EOS cameras the apeture can be directly controlled either by using manual mode to

set both apeture and shuttter speed, or in AV to set apeture.

Have you also tried putting it in P and 'shifting' the program to see if the apeture will go

lower than 5.6 at the right shutter speed? Another option is to put it in Tv mode and

reduce the shutter speed to see if it picks a larger apeture.

Also, is this a canon EOS lense or third party? Might be a compatibility issue.

Another, possibly stupid question, are you turning the right dial? In Av the wheel by the

shutter is what you want to change apeture, not the control dial on the back.

If all that fails you might have a real problem...

Hope that helps.