NuGuy wrote:
Apologies for the late reply, work has been manic. I've decided on the 1.4 DC DN trio and will be making the purchase in the next week or so. I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all of the replies - the help I've had in this thread has been absolutely invaluable. Thank you.
I've had time to think of a few more questions seeing as though I'm learning so much on here!
Which lens would you recommend I use for video? If I'm getting the 1.4 DC DN trio shall I just use the 16mm as it'll be a wide angle-ish lens? Would the 16mm also be good for indoor video?
It depends upon the type of video. For example, what the lighting conditions are and if you are on a tripod or gimbal of some sort or just handheld.
But yeah, the 16mm would be fairly wide for video indoors and good for lower light with it's wide aperture.
There's also the 11-22 or 15-45 which have optical stabilization if you want to do a bunch of freehand shots walking around, although the slower aperture means that you would need to bump your iso up higher in low light.
I'm pretty sure there is a setting to turn on digital stabilization on the M6 body, but that essentially crops the image down a little bit in order to damp camera motion. May not be a big deal depending upon the application.
If I really did want an 1.4 85mm lens in future after getting bored of the 56, I'd go for the Sigma 1.4 85mm DG HSM lens in the EF mount and adapt it (just because I prefer having one third party for all my lenses for a consistent result). The only problem is, adapting lenses will be very new to me so could you guys recommend the best adapters you'd use for this please? (EF to EF-M).
I haven't used it myself but I imagine you can't really go wrong with the official Canon adapter.
Probably the stupidest question I'll ask on here but when I get my lenses through is there a good way to know how far away my subject would have to be from my lens to be in focus? For example if I'm wide open at 1.4 then how far do I tell my subject to stand to get them razor sharp? And if I'm self-shooting a protrait how would I know how far to stand to remain in focus?
Different lens designs will have different minimum focus distances (i.e. the closest the lens can focus). These will often be listed if you look them up (sometimes labeled as MFD), but it's also fairly easy to get a sense for just based on trial and error.
For the self-portraits, thunder storm mentioned cable tethering to a computer, which would work, but it may be simpler to wirelessly tether to your phone (which you can also use to adjust exposure and as a remote release).
I also wanted to ask about which tripods and SD cards you'd recommend but before I did I wanted to ask whether this would be allowed as I've aimed to be true to my original question in my first post here and not stray from my original topic which was about 1.4 lenses for a Canon body. I'm just being helped by so many of you here that I don't want to start a new thread or go to a different section on the website (so if you could recommend a good tripod and SD card that I should use for the M6MII that'd be wicked!).
For tripods, there are lots of different types built for different applications and budgets. A landscape photographer going on a hike is going to have different requirements than a videographer driving to an event or a portrait photographer taking headshots in their studio.
One fairly universal benefit to having a lighter camera though is that you likely won't need a massive tripod like you would to keep a larger DSLR steady.
Besides stuff like height, weight, or leg lock design, a major difference is whether it is designed for video vs stills use.
Typically video tripods will be a bit heavier duty so that they don't move when you pan a camera around, but the biggest difference is going to be in the tripod head. That's a separate piece that threads onto the base/legs and serves as a pivot for your camera. Lots of tripods are sold with the a head included but you can buy them separately or mix and match stuff.
Still heads are typically designed for quick movements and/or fine adjustment to change your framing. Something like a ball head with a quick release or a geared/pivoting panorama head.
Video heads are designed more for smooth motion so that there won't be any jerks or bumps in the footage when you start and stop panning. These are typically fluid filled to help smooth motion and often include an arm or lever to aim the camera with.
You can take video from a stills head or stills on a video head, they just won't necessarily work as well depending upon what you are trying to do.
SD cards are not all that critical, you just want something that can read/write at least fast enough to not limit your burst rate or video capabilities. For example, if it is a really slow card and it takes the camera a while to write a photo to it, your buffer may fill up quicker and/or take longer to clear.
As a general rule, I don't trust any cards no matter how fancy they are and I always back up stuff when I get home if it's something that I care about.
Be aware that the SD rating system is pretty arbitrary and confusing. For example, I bought a SanDisk 64GB card from B&H back in 2018. It is listed as "SDXC, V30 I, U3, Class 10, 90MB/s". The card with the same markings sold today is listed at 150MB/s, lol.
If you search on the SD speed rating system, you will find a better explanation than what I can give here. But realize that past a certain speed point, you won't see any benefit.
There are also a few threads in this forum like this one that might help:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4432716
