Want just 3-4 lenses, need advice...

Hi Guys,

I bumped up to 7D seven months ago, after almost two years with the 400D. I generally like portrait and travel photog (landscape and street), plus video in those segments as well. To not remove the joy from traveling, which is the original reason I like to travel, I have been thinking of just keeping 3, max of 4, lenses with my 7D. I like the great outdoors but due to the size of our family and social network, I am often likewise tasked to photograph gatherings, reunions, etc.

My current lenses are (all Canon except where indicated):

• 17-40mm f/4L
• 50mm f/1.4 USM
• 28-135mm IS USM
• 55-250mm IS
• Tamron 10-24mm

Here are my thoughts re how to get to just 3-4 lenses:

1 Give up the 28-135mm and the 17-40mm L in favor of the 24-105mm f/4L; this does not give me the width of 17-40mm and I will miss the 135mm, but then it means one less lens to carry. Question is - does 24mm suffice for most small to mid-sized group portraits?

2 I should look for a lens that doubles up as a good zoom and a good portrait. I love my 50mm f/1.4, very happy that I upgraded to it from the 50mm f/1.8 but if I can give it up and the 55-250mm without compromising on image quality and lowlight capabilities (of the 50mm especially) in favor of just having to carry one lens, I am open to ideas.

It follows that the 3-4 lenses I choose to keep will be good for videos too. This is yet another reason I am hesitant to let go of the 50mm f/1.4 because it is fast, does good video in low-light settings, easy to manually focus and provides creamy background blur.

By selling 2-3 lenses, I only need to add a few hundred dollars to get new one/s - that is the ideal scenario. I would prefer not to fork out anything more than $500-700.

To recap: I want a lens for landscapes, solo and group portraits (static or street) and occasional zoom into flying creatures and distant lighthouses.

Your ideas will be appreciated, thanks in advance. If you have similar photography interests as I do, all the more I would like to hear from you!

--
Noogy
http://www.pbase.com/joshcruzphotos
Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 400D, Canon D10, Lumix TZ5, Kodak V1253

My thoughts:

On the 7D (or any 1.6 crop) the 17-40 is the best general purpose lens. It is a 24-70 FF equivalent, without the weight of the F2.8. If I had to have a 1.6 crop and one lens this would be it. I would for sure miss 17-24 on a 1.6 crop.

After that I have to have a fast (F1.4) prime in the 35-50 real mm range, so the 50F1.4 might be a little long, but it will work in low light and also do portrait work.

Next is a 70-200, the 70 end of this will give you a good portrait lens. The 70-200s are nice on a 1.6 as it gives you a little more reach. The F2.8 are nice to have but heavy, the F4s are super sharp and the IS version is super.

So there you have it, sell the 28-135mm IS USM, 55-250mm IS, Tamron 10-24mm and pick up the 70-200F4IS. That is what I would travel with.

If landscapes is one of your subjects, as you mention, then 24-105 isn't going to cut it. I managed to smash my 12-24 last week while on a hike and had to make do the rest of the trip with 24-105 and 70-200. 17mm is the bare minimum and, at least for what I shoot, 12mm or less is a must-have. I actually haven't had my 17-40 out in a while - 12-24 for landscape and other wide stuff, 24-105 for mid-range, and 100-400 for sports. My 70-200 actually doesn't get out much either.

(all of this is for a 1.6 crop camera)

If you want to stick with only few lenses, my choice would be:

EF-S 17-55 - by far best lens for APS-C sensor, fast, good for group shots, IS will help you in low light

EF-S 60 Macro/EF 85/EF 100 Macro - any ofthat could be your portrait lens,kinda longish but all very sharp, with 60 and 100 you have additional Macro setup

EF 70-200 - that depends on your budget left, I liked 55-250 on 550D but I had really sharp copy, weather you need 2.8 or 4 IS or not, is up to you (or more likely up to your pocket).

I would throw EF-S 10-22 later and some fast prime to cover other opportunities. Don't worry if you are planning to move to FF, use 17-55 and sell with little or no loss when you ready to jump.

17-40 f/4 is the best general purpose lens for a crop camera? I wonder what happened to the 17-55 f/2.8 and 15-85 IS

For the record, I think the 17-40 f/4 is the most useless lens to own on a crop body.

calpolyeda said:

My thoughts:

On the 7D (or any 1.6 crop) the 17-40 is the best general purpose lens. It is a 24-70 FF equivalent, without the weight of the F2.8. If I had to have a 1.6 crop and one lens this would be it. I would for sure miss 17-24 on a 1.6 crop.

After that I have to have a fast (F1.4) prime in the 35-50 real mm range, so the 50F1.4 might be a little long, but it will work in low light and also do portrait work.

Next is a 70-200, the 70 end of this will give you a good portrait lens. The 70-200s are nice on a 1.6 as it gives you a little more reach. The F2.8 are nice to have but heavy, the F4s are super sharp and the IS version is super.

So there you have it, sell the 28-135mm IS USM, 55-250mm IS, Tamron 10-24mm and pick up the 70-200F4IS. That is what I would travel with.

Click to expand...

I just got back from Mexico - I blew it
Last year I took my 10-22 , 17-55 and 35-350 .

This year I took my 10-22 , 17-55, 50 1.8 mk1 and the 28-135 . Did not use the 50 1.8 , the 28-135 was too short .

My advice the 10-22 , 17-55 and 35-350 [ I am looking to buy the 100-400 IS which would make the 350350 a back-up . ] I don't think a 70-200 would be long enough .

Quite honestly I just don't use the 28 , 35 or 50 any more . The 17-55 is better .

Sorry , none of the lenses I listed you own except the 28-135 and you already said it's going bye-bye .

BY-the-way I have read the 7D can get confused with different brand names . I think you can reset but you lose all MA's you have done .

Just throwing these out:

Travel? I think I'd go:

15-85. Wide enough that I don't need the 10-22. Fewer lens swaps than the 17-55
50 1.8. Light a small enough that you won't notice it.

55-250. Very light, compact. Good for macro-ish things - butterflies and the like. An extension tube lets the 55-250 close focus get even closer for macro-ish shots.

If I wanted a portrait & proper macro lens then I'd swap the 50 for the Tamron 60mm f/2 is looking suitable. Small, light, a stop faster than the Canon. But mainly small and light.

When travelling I've actually taken:
Sigma 10-20
Tamron 28-75 2.8 (now dropped in favour of 18-55 IS)
50 1.8
55-250
100 2.8
Sigma 100-300 4

But the above is when I've got a place to dump it all, and go on daytrips with what I think I'll need. If travelling 'light' I'd reduce it to:
10-20
18-55 IS
50 1.8 (though I might be tempted to leave it, never seems to get any use).
55-250

Apart from the 10-20 these are all very light and small lenses.

Noogy said:

• 17-40mm f/4L
• 50mm f/1.4 USM
• 28-135mm IS USM
• 55-250mm IS
• Tamron 10-24mm

Click to expand...

The easiest would be to swap 17-40, 10-24 and 28-135 for 15-85IS.

If you really want UW, you could keep 10-24 and swap 17-40 and 28-135 fro 24-105.

--
Roman
http://www.barshay.org/photo
http://public.fotki.com/rbarshay

I am in kind of the same situation with my 7D.
Canon 17-40 4L is the best universal lens, sharp and very reliable.
Tokina 11-16 2.8 or something similar A MUST for landscape photography

Canon 70-200 4L is a very good lens however you don't cover whole range between 40 and 70mm. I am personally happy with my Sigma 50 - 150 2.8 but as I know this lens is not very popular...

Canon 10-22mm
Canon 15-85mm or 24-105mm L
Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS L, or the new 100-300mm L
Canon or sigma 50mm f/1.4 for low light

There you go.
--
Grizzly bears of Glacier National Park
http://www.parkcamper.com/Glacier-National-Park/Glacier-grizzly-bears.htm

I have not read all of the responses, so I apologize if this is redundant.

I use the 24-105 on my 5D all the time. Is it wide enough for group portraits? Depends on how much room you have. If you have a lot of room sure. But I recently did a wedding and the best light for group shots was on a porch. Not much room, so I found the wide end on my 5D very handy. I also have a commercial client who has me shoot in a hotel room, i.e. confined quarters. I would be lost without the wide end.

I have the 85 mm f1.8 that I use for portraits on my 5D. No zoom lens will give me the sharpness I need when I use f2.8 to really isolate the subject from the background. I suspect the same is true for the 50 mm f1.4 on a cropped frame camera.
--
Jim
http://www.pbase.com/jcassatt

My 50D kit was build around keeping weight down for travel. I currently own just the following Canon lenses:

• 10-22
• 17-55 2.8
• 85 1.8
• 70-200L F4 IS

I also have 1.4x TC II and a thirty year old Nikkor AI-S 50 1.4.

I would strongly recommend any of the lenses list above, though the Canon 15-85 maybe more useful for you, if low-light is not your thing.

I usually travel without the 85. An external flash unit is more valuable, so my 420EX occupies its space in the backpack, along with the teleconverter and a close-up diopter (58mm Canon 500D w/ step down ring) for the 70-200L.

One of the beauty with Canon's lens system is the fact that there are three superb lenses providing perfect coverage of 10 to 400mm without any significant overlap including image stabilization at all FL> 24mm, i. e.

1) EF-S 10-22mm 1:3.5-4.5 USM
2) EF 24-105mm 1:4 L IS USM
3) EF 100-400mm 1:4.5-5.6 L IS USM

You may add EF-S 17-55mm 1:2.8 IS USM for low-light purposes, for example. This is the lens strategy I have followed step-by-step in recent years. I did not purchase all lenses in one shot, of course, if you can (at least partially) your dealer should consider a big rebate.