Henry Gentles Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Just bought a 600D and have the 18-55mm kit lens, 35mm carl Zeis Jena and now I'm wondering what I should buy around 100mm?? Any suggestions, I need it for video so manual and fixed aperture is good and it has to be 2nd hand under $200 as I'm a poor student. What would be the best bang for buck? ps. I realise I can use adapters for alot of non canon mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 I'm not sure what the used rate is, but the Canon 85mm 1.8 is a fantastic lens for not much more than that new. You could probably get one from 200-300 used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damphousse Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Just bought a 600D and have the 18-55mm kit lens, 35mm carl Zeis Jena and now I'm wondering what I should buy around 100mm?? Any suggestions, I need it for video so manual and fixed aperture is good and it has to be 2nd hand under $200 as I'm a poor student. Why do you need a 100mm lens for video on a Canon 600D?! A 600D has a cropped frame sensor and an excellent built in 3x zoom for video. So your 18-55mm lens on the long end can be turned into a 55*1.6*3=264mm lens! A 100mm lens would be a 100*1.6*3=480mm lens! I'm an amateur so I don't really know the movie business but are people on tight budgets routinely shooting 500mm lenses in the independent film world? I would think your money would be better spent elsewhere. One thing I've noticed with all these primes is you end up spending a lot of money for very dubious benefits. I would just save up and get a single Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens. The lens is well reviewed and most primes in that range are less then two stops faster. And if you go for the primes with IS some aren't faster at all! I was looking at the Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS. It's $600! The zoom that is just as fast and a lot more versatile is less then 50% more. IS is nice because you can actually hand hold without a rig and get some decent shots. Put Tragic Lantern on your 600D and check out the 3x zoom function. By the way Magic Lantern/Tragic Lantern by default will not let you zoom past 3x because beyond 3x will degrade picture quality. You should use 3x zoom whenever you can. It gets rid of a lot of moire/aliasing. Using a 100mm lens vs 3x zoom would actually degrade your image in a lot of scenarios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharding Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 3X is great, and Tragic Lantern high bitrates are great too, I'm glad that post is doing the rounds! ;) 3X does eliminate moire, but when you're using the Mosaic Engineering filter as i am... it's seems to look quite soft, while standard 1080p looks moire-less. must just be the nature of such a blurring filter. Jello is always worse in 3X mode though, very distracting. It can give some awesome close-ups with a 1:1 macro lens, really close focusing, but keeping it still is hard... remember crop modes don't give you shallow DOF though, as they use a smaller sensor area, and that's what something like an 85mm or 100mm lens does really well, not just telephoto distance shots... An 85mm or 100mm can work as a really intimate close portrait lens, the full sensor area helps with this look. So both crop modes and actual lenses are really useful. Both have plusses and minuses and are great tools, rather than one replacing the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Prater Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 I don't think you need a 100mm lens. 35mm is a terrific lens for your 600d. It gets you close to 50mm on full-frame. You could go a year without needing another lens. Use the hell out of it. Find out where it's strong -- and where it's weak. Spend your $200 on buying a shoulder rig and a ND filter and start shooting. Here's a video that I shot with a 550d and a cheap 50mm prime: https://vimeo.com/59777345 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Gentles Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 Looks like my daughter is gonna grab my ex wifes OM10 which has Olympus 50MM Zuiko and a Tamron 70 - 150mm?? for me. Apparently the ex was gonna throw them out!! She spent a fortune back in the day, took some happy snaps for 2 weeks, then buried it with the other crap she never uses!! Does the the Olympus stuff take an EOS adapter well? That 50mm is an awesome lens, has a real 3d quality about it and nice bokeh too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Promit Roy Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Obvious choice in new lenses is the Rokinon 85mm IMO, in either photo or cine versions. Both versions are running under 300. You might be able to get something decent used for less though. Jenkly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharding Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Yes I always recommend the 50mm Olympus f1.8 as a lens for canon, it's ideal. You can pick em up for 30 quid and they whip a lot of Canon lenses. My personal favorite on 600D is a rather pricey 28mm! Different tastes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Gentles Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 I don't think you need a 100mm lens. 35mm is a terrific lens for your 600d. It gets you close to 50mm on full-frame. You could go a year without needing another lens. Use the hell out of it. Find out where it's strong -- and where it's weak. Spend your $200 on buying a shoulder rig and a ND filter and start shooting. Here's a video that I shot with a 550d and a cheap 50mm prime: https://vimeo.com/59777345 Wow that's a great clip!! How did you color grade this? It looks so open and fresh, very original!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damphousse Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 To be honest with you if you have the kit Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II I would just get started with that. If you don't have a bunch of stabilization gear tripod, monopod, rig, steadicam, etc the images stabilization in the kit lens will do more for you than ANY prime. If you want to get a fast piece of glass get the Canon 50mm 1.8. It's about $100 new and gets good reviews. Plus it is super easy to unload if you decide to get something else later. Personally I shoot the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens most of the time because it is kind of fast and has IS. I can't say it enough. Some form of stabilization is key. All these people shooting non Canon primes must have plenty of stabilization rigs/tripods. Seriously try out your lowly kit lens with IS vs a nonCanon with no IS. I don't care how nice the bokeh looks the shakiness destroys the scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Gentles Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 Yes your quite right, I like the kit lens, it's quite sharp and very convenient and just works. And will get the 50mm when I get more cash for sure. I'm getting some ok photos with the kit lens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharding Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Great stuff! The only difficult thing is manual focus in video using that wobbly focus ring, and it's quite slow at the 55mm end... but yes it certainly functions to learn the ropes and decide if you want to spend more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Hi, Sorry to jump in on your thread but I am in a similar situation as you (registered here for advice on this...and more). I have the 600D which I use mainly for video. My main usage would be to shoot wedding films and the odd short/fictional film. I have been playing around with the kit 18-55 with IS for a couple of months and find the low speed limiting at anything more than 18mm to be limiting while shooting indoors. Working mainly with available light. I have a budget of about $400 when converted to US$s. I was thinking of getting the Tamron 17-50 2.8 (Non VC). This is well within my budget. The VC version is available for 30% more. Which one should I get. I also have an Olypus Zuiko 50 mm 1.8 (all manual) adapted to fit the 600D which is quite good but the it has a rather long and slightly rigid focus ring which makes focussing and racking focus rather difficult and jerky. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Gentles Posted October 22, 2013 Author Share Posted October 22, 2013 I would definitely get the Canon 50mm 1.8 first. It's only like $120 delivered off Ebay and it's fast and sharp, perfect for indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Normally I would have done that. But I have the Zuiko 50 mm and don't want another nifty fifty. I'm looking for something like 17-50 as it has almost everything covered. Using the 3x digital zoom I have tele till 240mm (35mm Equivalent) which is more than what I need. Also since a almost all of this wedding stuff is real time wouldn't it be better to go with a zoom then to keep changing lenses, especially since I am a single shooter. The dream lens of course is the Sigma 18-35 1.8, but that is double my budget and not available locally. I had originally thought of looking at two used primes. Either a 24 or 35 and a 60 mm macro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelbb Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 I have a budget of about $400 when converted to US$s. I was thinking of getting the Tamron 17-50 2.8 (Non VC). This is well within my budget. The VC version is available for 30% more. Which one should I get. Neither. Save up so that you can afford to buy the Canon EF-S 17-55m F/2.8 IS. It is so much nicer than the Tamron. When I bought a 600D I bought the Tamron as I was loathe to spend more on the lens than I had on the camera. Long story short I returned the lens the next day & bought the Canon instead. The Tamron is slower to focus. Needs to be switched between AF & MF has a really noisy AF motor plus it focuses & zooms the wrong way compared to all my Canon lenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Gentles Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 For me, for weddings I would use the 18-55mm kit lens for wide and the nifty 50 for indoor general stuff and portraits, with the crop sensor it's about 80mm? The kit lens get dissed but it is very sharp and if you get bad results it's not because of the lens. Not suggesting you 'd get bad shots of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 So I went around looking for lenses. No amount of online research beats physically holding the product if not using it. I don't like the feel of the Tamron 17-50 one bit. The focus thow is too short. Almost as short as the kit lens. Though my worry with the kit lens is the fact that the dront end of the lens extends/contracts while focusing, resulting in a slight shake. Unfortunately the Canon EF-S 17-55m F/2.8 IS is FOUR times the price of the Tamron (Non-VC), so way out of budget. I think i'll do some more tests with the kit lens and then figure out the upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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