Lenses for shooting video on 7D

Stu McOmie · January 24, 2010

Hi,

I'd like to know if anybody has recommendations for lenses for the Canon EOS 7D, specifically for shooting video. (bearing in mind that it's APS-C size, not full frame)

I'd like an affordable general purpose zoom lens, and a standard lens (35mm? 50mm?) as fast as I can afford for around £150 (ish) for shooting in low light.

Basically, I'm going to buy a 7D and I want a better zoom than the kit lens, in addition to a fast prime.

Thanks :)

Hal Smith · February 1, 2010

There are two companies about to offer 7D's that have PL mounts on them. They have to remove the mirror for the camera be able to mount any PL lens.

http://www.hotrodcameras.com/?s=7d

http://www.syndicate.se/Default.aspx?Id=304

SYNDICATE'S CAMERA

Stu McOmie · February 2, 2010

There are two companies about to offer 7D's that have PL mounts on them. They have to remove the mirror for the camera be able to mount any PL lens.

http://www.hotrodcameras.com/?s=7d

http://www.syndicate.se/Default.aspx?Id=304

SYNDICATE'S CAMERA

haha, I can barely afford the standard body, let alone $4000!!! (also I don't own any PL lenses) but thanks for the link.

Saul Rodgar · February 2, 2010

Hi,

I'd like to know if anybody has recommendations for lenses for the Canon EOS 7D, specifically for shooting video. (bearing in mind that it's APS-C size, not full frame)

I'd like an affordable general purpose zoom lens, and a standard lens (35mm? 50mm?) as fast as I can afford for around £150 (ish) for shooting in low light.

Basically, I'm going to buy a 7D and I want a better zoom than the kit lens, in addition to a fast prime.

Thanks :)

It depends how fast you want your zoom lens and prime to be, among other things, like if you want it with full aperture control on the barrel, AF for still work, optical stabilization for hand held, etc. I would read DSLR lens reviews online and go from there. There are dozens of lenses in the range you talk about.

Some of the third party lens makers, (Sigma, Tamron, Phoenix, etc) can be softer than the more expensive camera manufacter lenses (Nikon, Canon, etc) but some of them are of high quality and are really good buys, for the price. My guess would be to narrow it down to the sharpest, fastest Canon EOS mount (APS-C) zoom with the widest focal range you can afford, and the sharpest, fastest prime EOS mount (APS-C) lens you can afford. ;)

Edited February 2, 2010 by Saul Rodgar

Gregory Middleton · February 2, 2010

The Canon EF 16-35 T 2.8 is a very nice lens. So is the 85mm L series. I have a very old 50mm EF from maybe 1993 which actually performs very well.

greg

Hi,

I'd like to know if anybody has recommendations for lenses for the Canon EOS 7D, specifically for shooting video. (bearing in mind that it's APS-C size, not full frame)

I'd like an affordable general purpose zoom lens, and a standard lens (35mm? 50mm?) as fast as I can afford for around £150 (ish) for shooting in low light.

Basically, I'm going to buy a 7D and I want a better zoom than the kit lens, in addition to a fast prime.

Thanks :)

jacob thomas · February 3, 2010

The Canon EF 16-35 T 2.8 is a very nice lens. So is the 85mm L series. I have a very old 50mm EF from maybe 1993 which actually performs very well.
greg

I've only used the 16-35mm briefly but from what I recall it was pretty nice. The 85mm 1.2 is great but for the fact that it isn't really manual focus (turning the focus ring won't do anything if the camera is off and doesn't work that well when it is on either). Having said that I have got some nice results with it.

I have the 24-70mm 2.8 L on my 7D 90% of the time and it works quite well, but it's probably more than £150.

Matt Read · February 7, 2010

Aside from all these other considerations, also think about the weight of the lens.

I shot some stuff with the 7D last week. I was primarily shooting handheld and the camera was unmodified, no cage rig, just the body and the lens. I found it to be quite an awkward situation. Since the only way to see what you're shooting is on the LCD screen (the viewfinder is inoperative as the mirror has to be raised to continuously expose the sensor), you have to hold the camera out in front of you to see what you're shooting. The body itself is already quite heavy (at least for me; my previous experience with SLRs has been an old Minolta SRT-202) and I found it difficult to get steady handheld shots, even on a wide lens (around 35mm). Also, after barely an hour of shooting, my wrist started to hurt.

So if you're planning on shooting handheld with this camera, I would suggest you look for the lightest lens you can find, so as not to add any extra weight to the camera and seriously consider building or buying some sort of cage rig to hold the camera. If you're going to be on a tripod most of the time, don't worry about it though.

February 23, 2010

I've done several commercial shoots with my 7D and I do have a Canon lens set:

16-35/2.8 L

35/1.4 L

50/1.2 L

85/1.8

100/2.8 Macro L

135/2.0 L

The way these lenses are used when we shoot the 35mm and 50mm are the ones that we use most of the time.

You could get away using only these lenses. They have a very shallow DOF and works great even wide open.

CA is a bit week on the 50mm but so far no disturbing CA have been interfering with the final results.

The widest lens 16-35 I seldom use but it's a great lens to have on a steadicam at 16mm. 2.8 makes DOF decent without being to shallow.

My longer lenses are all really sharp and 85mm is used often. I prefer the 85/1.8 to the 85/1.2 because the 85/1.2 is expensive and uses focus by wire. Not a good thing.

Chad Stockfleth · February 24, 2010

I've done a few commercial shoots with Canon cameras recently (7D, 5Dmkii) using a variety of lenses.

16-35L

35L

50L

50 1.4

100 f2

100 Macro

24-70L

70-200 2.8L

All perform decently from an optical standpoint, but the main problem with still lenses is focusing. They require a smaller turn of the barrel to make a large adjustment, so it can be a bit like cracking a safe to keep focus. If you can live with that, you can live with these cameras.

For the 7D shooting both stills and video I might put a kit together like:

35L

85L

135L

17-55 2.8

That's going to cover a lot of territory.

I'm curious to check out the new Zeiss MF lenses in Canon mount. Optically they are supposed to be quite good and having solid, manual-focusing rings couldn't hurt.

K Borowski · February 24, 2010

$4000? Pfft. Think about the amount of money you'd be spending running an 8-perf. film movement through that at 24 fps (180 feet per minute). Just saying. . .

Alain Lumina · February 25, 2010

I have a 7D and have been struggling with price/performance in buying lenses.

Here are some things I found out, I am not a seasoned "pro" so I may be wrong somewhere here.

1) You can buy cheap pentax manual lens to canon EOS mount adapters

2) You can buy all sorts of cool manual focus, all-metal super Takumar and Pentax SMC lenses for cheap, Takumars are I think

42mm screw mount, you can get adapters for those too. I got a Pentax 50mm 1.4 for about $90.

3) It's hard to get cheap wide, and for shots in cars and interiors, it makes things really hard without them

4) However, I went too far for my price range when I got the canon 10-22 super wide for $700. It is sort of a specialty lens and

I cannot afford that much on that. When I'm not shooting a landscape, I keep having to swap it out.

So in short I think you DO need something like a 16-17-18 for all around shooting- 24 or 28 are NOT enough!

But you don't really need a 10-11 or similar unless you are doing realestate pictures of interiors.

5) Canon L lenses get me hot and are all metal but DON'T have image stabilization, which for handheld helps I think.

6) If you're operating guerilla and/or run and gun, changing lenses while your $1600 camera's sensor sort of sits naked out in the breeze

is REAL nervewracking. and you have to worry about BOTH lenses while you're at it also.

7) THis makes me long for a nice all-in-one lens if I can do it; like an 17-55, which could do a lot of interior, outdoor and even portrait style

I think. There is an zoom L lens that's F4 throughout, but is that enough to get blurred background?

8) What I don't know about is how noticeable, and in what specific aspects, does something like a 35 1.4L canon exceed the performance

of the the above zoom a the same distance-- contrast, sharpness? Sample Shots?

9) I would ask the aggregate user base here and I think this is not hijacking-- (a) What is the BEST beauty lens for facial closeups (B) best REASONABLE (<$600) lens for facial closeups?

Thanks

Tim Tyler · February 25, 2010

I just got a 7D a week ago. I bought some used Zeiss primes and a zoom in Contax/Yashica mounts and added adapters to EOS.

On the doc-style shoot I'm doing this week, I've ended up using my old Canon 85mm f/1.8 exclusively for the interviews and a Tamron 17-55 f/2.8 for b-roll, both lenses I've had for several years. The Zeiss lenses have pretty much remained in the case since I don't have an AC to pull focus. Even with the Zacuto viewfinder it's nearly impossible for the operator to know if he is in focus without an HDMI external monitor. With my EOS lenses I can activate the 7D's auto-focus which will lock-in the subject in a second or two when not rolling.

I'm looking into maybe getting some manual focus Voigtlander primes with EOS chips that I think will work with the 7D's focus system. http://www.cameraquest.com/Voigt_SL2.htm Maybe the chip is just for the iris control though.

Having very fast lenses is not much of an issue with the 7D since ISO-400 looks great and even 800 is acceptable.

Although I haven't run any tests and I haven't even had a chance to critically view the footage from this week's shoot, I suspect that even mediocre lenses will look okay at 1080, particularly as far as resolution and sharpness are concerned. Don't forget, the 7D has an 18MP sensor that's scaling down to 2.1MP (1920x1080). Obviously a lens with poor flare control or CA will not look good at any resolution.

Satsuki Murashige · February 25, 2010

(a) What is the BEST beauty lens for facial closeups (B) best REASONABLE (<$600) lens for facial closeups?

Probably this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6148...nual_Focus.html.

I have it and it is decent. A little low-con wide open, and it flares a lot in direct back light. But it's got a decent focus ring for the price, and the bokeh is nice. The iris is irregular-shaped past f8/11 split, but you probably won't be using it at such a deep stop anyway. Close focus is 3'6".

Bill Totolo · February 26, 2010

Probably this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6148...nual_Focus.html.

I have it and it is decent. A little low-con wide open, and it flares a lot in direct back light. But it's got a decent focus ring for the price, and the bokeh is nice. The iris is irregular-shaped past f8/11 split, but you probably won't be using it at such a deep stop anyway. Close focus is 3'6".

Just an example of what you can acheive on a 35 year old Nikon 50mm non ai lens:

5D MKII