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Buying a 70D body this week. Any lens suggestions would be VERY helpful.

aholeinthewor1d
Apprentice

I know a lot of people debate about getting a camera with a kit lens or getting the body and then a better lens. I am not asking about that. The deal I am getting through Adorama is for the body only so I have to get a separate lens. For right now I just want the best possible "general" lens I can get for a decent price. So I am considering getting the normal 18-55 STM lens that would normally come with the kit but I wanted some opinions about if there was anything better for the price or around the price. This is canons rebate form with some lenses and I would also consider 3rd party lens suggestions. http://www.adorama.com/pdfs/rebates/Canon_MIR_Nov_2014.pdf

 

If you had to get the body only please let me know what you would get for a general lens. If there is something similar to the kit lens price (or a little higher) that is better I would like to get that. Thank you!!

40 REPLIES 40

I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????Smiley Frustrated

 

"How about the Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS?"

 

One of the real "sleepers" in the Canon line.  This lens does it all and very well considering it's price point.  Some call it the "Golden Boy" of lenses.  It is my next in line, to the 24-105mmf4 L, best buy in a Canon lens."

 

And so did others, including some very knowledgable people here on the forum.  I can only say it so many ways.

You may not like my selection but that is what I would do.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

The EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM offers an f/2.8 focal ratio available at all focal lengths in the zoom range.  This boosts performance in lower light and also allows for a narrower depth of field (when you want to deliberately blur the background but have a tack-sharp subject -- although that works better at longer focal lengths because depth of field naturally gets broader at short focal lengths.)  USM lenses have very fast focusing motors.  USM lenses allow for continuous manual focus at all times -- even when the camera has auto-focus swtiched on.  This is because the focus ring has a clutch which allows the ring to slip (intentionally) against the focusing mechanism -- so you can't hurt it if the camera wants to go one way and you want focus to go the other way.  Lenses which regaular auto-focus motors should not be manually focused unless you switch off the AF system to avoid damaging the mechanism.

 

The STM lenses are faster to focus than the standard kit lenses.  They're not quite as fast as USM but much faster than standard focusing motors.  The focus performance is great for video.  The STM is also designed to be extremely quiet -- so quiet that if you record video using the internal microphone the camera will not be able to pick up noise from the focus motors (sometimes it can... but it's very faint.)

 

STM lenses are "focus by wire".  There is no mechanical connection between the focus ring on the lens barrel and the actual focus mechanism inside.  Instead it senses that you are turning the focus ring and the motors move focus with you.  This means you get "full time" manual focus even when the lens is in AF mode... but the lens has to be "awake" for this to work.   If you release the shutter button... after a few seconds the camera's metering and focus system goes to sleep (but the camera stays on) -- this saves power of course -- but it also means that turning the focus ring does nothing.  You have to touch any button that wakes up the focus or metering system (e.g. half-press the shutter will do this) and then the STM lens will follow your focus changes.

 

The EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM is going to be a bit more versatile than the 17-55... given it extends the focal length of the lens by another 70mm.  This makes it a nice all-around general purpose lens without going overboard.

 

I stay away from the "super zoom" lenses... these are lenses that offer a VERY broad zoom range from short to long.  E.g. an 18-270mm is a "super zoom".  These lenses are convenient but that's the only thing they have going for them.  It's difficult to make a lens with a very ambitious zoom range AND have very good optics at the same time.  Lenses are often a game of trade-offs... part of the reason your camera allows you to swap lenses is because no single lens is ever the "best" at everything.  Buying a super-zoom where one lens "does it all" is a bit counter to the whole point of having a removeable lens camera.  You end up with a single lens which tries to be "jack of all trade ... master of none".  

 

Zoom lenses with less ambitious zoom ranges tend to have better optics.  e.g. if you divide the high end value of the range by the low end value of the range (e.g. 55 ÷ 18) and it divides in some 3-5 times... that's great!  If it divides in less then 10 times (e.g. 135 ÷ 18 = 7.5), that's good.  If it divides more than 10 times then the lens is a "super zoom" (e.g. 270 ÷ 18 = 15) and the optical quality starts to get mushy on these things.

 

With that said, times are changing and optics are getting better.  Todays entry-level lenses are pretty good compared to even some fairly expensive glass of past years.  Once a lens is designed it will likely sell for years and years without an update.  Lenses designed within the past few years tend to be a bit better than the lenses of just a decade ago (assuming the lenses are in the same class.)

 

I left out Canon's "L" series lenses... these are Canon's highest end lenses.  But there is a rule that to qualify as an "L" series lens, in addition to having higher end build, optics, and other areas of performance, the L lenses also have to work on EVERY Canon EOS body, film or digital, past or present (and presumably future).  Since EF-S lenses cannot work on film or full-frame bodies, they don't qualify as "L" series regardless of their quality.

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

cale_kat
Mentor

If you're interested in the 70D for video making you might want to consider the two different (at least two) auto focus types in Canon lenses, STM and USM. For video, USM offers distinct advantages that you might not consider if your "focus" is on still photography.

 

http://petapixel.com/2013/08/26/video-comparing-canons-usm-and-stm-lenses-using-the-70ds-dual-pixel-...


@cale_kat wrote:

If you're interested in the 70D for video making you might want to consider the two different (at least two) auto focus types in Canon lenses, STM and USM. For video, USM offers distinct advantages that you might not consider if your "focus" is on still photography.

 

http://petapixel.com/2013/08/26/video-comparing-canons-usm-and-stm-lenses-using-the-70ds-dual-pixel-...


The other way around, I think. (And the article you linked to seems to confirm that.)

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

Thanks for the correction.

mrz1342
Enthusiast
Hi based on my same question and advices here i understand we would have two options to set 70d gear for covering all peruses: first crop-lens-combo including 50 f1.4 + 70-200 f4L is + 60 f2.8 macro. Option 2: 24-70 f4L is + 70-200 f4L is + 100 f2.8 macro. Some professionals believe that ff lenses are not responding very well on apc crop cameras like 70d and some say its no problem you can us ff lenses on 70d just you need add a wide lens with lower focal range 10-20mm to your gear. And still even i am confusing Smiley Happy any pro advice?

" Some professionals believe that ff lenses are not responding very well on apc crop cameras like 70d ..."

 

This is nonsense.  EF lenses work very well on crop bodies like the 70D.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

EFS lenses work great on crop cameras, and I would recommend them to anyone who is not on a super cheap budget. The only thing is that the zooms tend to be a little long/awkward.

The "normal zoom" on a full frame camera starts at 24mm. Typical will be a 24-70 or a 24-105 zoom. That is what most people expect in a zoom range for full frame.

The "normal zoom" on a crop is 18-55mm, or 17-55 or 18-135. They start at 17 or 18 because that is how wide most people want to be able to go on a normal everyday lens on a crop, because the crop adds a 1.6x multiplier to every focal length. Lens designers have adjusted the 24-xx focal length of full frame to a 17 or 18 to xx length to give a similar effective range.

You certainly can go straight to a lens like 24-xx On a crop body but you may find it a little frustrating at times to have your widest possible shooting perspective to be like 38mm equivalent. Hard to get multiple people, or head-to-toe images, etc to fit into a shot, etc. Or you might not care for wide shots and never miss them. I actually think I could live with it myself, not being much of a wide shooter.

I think you would get a lot of good use out of a 17-55 f/2.8. Great lens. Great wide aperture for low light and for shallow DOF that makes your subject pop. And twice as bright as an f/4 lens, to keep you from needing grainy high ISO's as often. And with an "adjusted" focal range that is what Canon and Nikon and everyone else thinks most crop shooters need.
Scott

Canon 5d mk 4, Canon 6D, EF 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS mk2; EF 16-35 f/2.8 L mk. III; Sigma 35mm f/1.4 "Art" EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro; EF 85mm f/1.8; EF 1.4x extender mk. 3; EF 24-105 f/4 L; EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS; 3x Phottix Mitros+ speedlites

Why do so many people say "FER-tographer"? Do they take "fertographs"?

Howdy!

You don't say anything about what your photographic interests are or what kind of budget you are working with.  In general I advise folks to go with the fastest lenses in the focal lengths which fit the subjects in which they  are interested.  The F:2.8 70-200 rather than the F:4, for instance.  I will say that if I was interested in Macro, I would definitely go with the new image stabilized 100mm (which can be found previously owned for not too much green).

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