Two lenses in the cart for the 5D

9designs2

9designs2

9designs2

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Getting itchy ordering finger,

Have a 17-40L and a 70-300 IS USM sitting in the cart of an online UK seller.... with postage comes to £860.......

Should complete my lens plans, as I have the 24-105L and Sigma 170-500
The 70-300 seems an easy choice, as general and walk about option, the Sigma is a "special event lens".... ie Airshows and Motorsport etc.

The 17-40L.... read so many reviews and opinions not sure what to expect. Is 17 to 24mm worth the cost......
I do find the extra width from the effective 27.5mm I had with the 18-70 on the D70 quite good.

Is the 20mm prime any good as an alternative wider lens.

Does the 17-40 perform better than the 24-105 over the range of 24-40 ....

I guess it has good resell value ;)

I have to decide tonight, as I want them for the weekend at Duxford airshow !
 
Well I bought the 170-500, at the time I bought the 5D, about a month ago. As I didn't like the 100-400, after I had play with both in the shop.
So it's not an option !!!

Remember I have no crop effect on the sensor , so a 200mm lens is no use to me!


PS
I wouldn't carry a 100-400 around anyway, so doesn't help much !, still "need" the 70-300
 
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Yep do go for the wider stuff.... Would half expect the 17-40 to live on the camera, as 40mm looks quite useful.
When walking around towns and cities, or landscape stuff, the wide end is needed.
Use to have a sigma 17-35 on my F80 film camera, and have an 18mm prime on my Contax...which sadly can not be used with the adaptors, as it projects to far rewards, and hits the mirror..........I am gutted, main reason fro buying a 5D :mad:
 
Concorde Rules said:
This strikes me as a little silly. I always carry my lenses everywhere, when I get my 100-400 it would be in my backpack all the time.

Buying a 70-300 is a waste of money, (I have one only cos I cant get a 100-400 :p)
Click to expand...

Well I have a shoulder bag, after I have put the 5D, 24-105, and soon a 17-40 and 70-300 in. Then my Contax RX, with 6 prime CZ T* lenses which are all metal construction, would you like to volunteer to carry it for me, with or without a 100-400/170-500 lens crammed in ;) .... For me either the big lens are a "going to an event and need it lens" then I carry it around.


^^Gord^^ said:
I wouldn't use either the 70-300 IS USM or the 100-400 L IS on a 5D. Whilst both are good lenses for crop cameras they don't perform as well on full frame cameras.

You need to remember full frame cameras will really show up any slight issues with your lenses (due to the nature of full frame sensors) so you need to buy very high quality lenses.

Personally, I think that if you want telephoto lenses on a 5D then you have to look at primes such as the 300 f/4 and the 400 f/5.6 or the f/2.8 versions if you are really rich.

You of course could go ahead and use a telephoto zoom but it seems crazy to me to use one of the best sensors in the business with a lens that can't provide the same level of quality.
Click to expand...

Sorry but to me sounds bit elitist and crazy, when did Canon and others stop making decent zoom lens ??? They have been making such for years for full frame use.... on film !!! which is higher res then any current DSLR sensor.
Did lens quality suddenly drop ???

So at what point will you see a difference on an A3 sized print. Take your top end prime L and the 70-300, stop down to 5.6 or f8 on both, shoot the same pictures, tweak it in PS, print and compare. Could you tell which lens was used ? or does it only show up, when looking in the corners, when the lens has been used wide open, and you zoom in by 300% on screen ?? I've never actualy compared myself, so I'm speculating here.

This is a bit like me telling everyone in the HiFi Forum, not to waste your time buying CD player under about 2K, because your just wasting the potential of what's recorded on it....... which would be a little drastic, even if I personal wouldn't use anything less !!!

If I actually want to max out the potential picture quality, most of my Carl Zeiss Prime lenses will fit with an adaptor on the 5D, but they are all wide and up to 135mm plus an 80-200.... manually focused, with confirmation beep, and aperture priority or manual use only.

For me the blanket recommending of Professional lenses to all is out of context with there use. Like I say a real life lens comparison would make interesting viewing.... What do really get for the extra cost, as surely a lot of the pro stuff has the extra weather proofing and sealing, and not all about the optics.
Some time I will have to do a lens test.....

So if anyone is using anything less then a Full Linn active HiFi system, don't bother turning it on, it's rubbish !! ;) .........ROFL
 
Well I'm even more glad I didn't waste my money on 100-400 now! ;) .... I'm sure my Sigma will produce equally soft images for less than half the cost. :p

It does bring a point out made to me by a Pro Photograph who was teach me some 25 years ago. That the difference between a top lens and a consumer one, was about 2 stops.... ie, stop down a consumer lens by 2 stops, and your will have more or less got the same performance of a Pro lens... Like the report shows, you pay the big buck on the Pro stuff to be able to use it wide open. When with a bit of care with the ISO, then stop down and you're not going to notice much missing.
Should keep in mind the 100% viewing size of the 5d image is equal to about a 1.5 meter by 1meter print out ! Correct ?

Now I'm not trying to say the 400 isn't a better lens for sharpness, but as in my example, stop down a consumer lens and print to A3, how noticeable is it....
 
I don't think I or aztechnology, suggested not taking lens to an "event", as I said the 170-500 lens IS my event lens, in that I mean Motorsport and airshows..... I wouldn't walk around towns, cities and villages with it, or take it on a walk in the hills, perhaps some of the big L glass comes with wheels and a lead attached !! :D ...LOL
Which is the reason for the 70-300, an everyday lens, when I'm unlikely to need 500mm pulling power, but want something small and light to carry around.

Sometime it's a good test or challenge to actual pick one lens, and go out with the task of making the best use of it..... keeps your mind on the photograph, and not playing with the toys ;)
 
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