Fast Prime for night shots recommendations

Hello Everyone,

This post is an extension to Weewillo's request for lens advice with a 7D.

I am headed off to Disney next month with the fam. and wanted to add a lens to the ****nal for capturing many nighttime events such as the Spectromagic parade (a parade of lit-up floats) and the Santa parade.
I would like to not have to depend on my flash for fear of loosing the feel of the parades or light shows.

I went 2 years ago and just looked up the old pictures to see how I captured the shots before. I was using a T1i with the kit lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) on Program mode. I want to say that I have come along way and will be setting the camera manually this time. Anyway...most of those shots are between 18mm and 30mm with ISO at 1600 or more. Many pictures are not sharp due to the shutter speeds @ 1/4 a second or longer!


Now my body is a 7D and my primary lens is a 24-70 f/2.8L. I was considering the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and almost pulled the trigger until I read a post that made me go back and check those old picture focal lengths. I am thinking I would be better off with a wider lens. I was looking at the Canon 28mm f/1.8 so I could achieve much faster shutter speeds and/or lower ISO. I know most of you are not fans of the Canon 35mm f/2.0 and I can see why. I also know that a few have the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and like it. I have a certain comfort level with Canon lenses but will be interested in your responses. I would probably grab one from their refurb. site if possible.

As always, thanks.

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Originally Posted by Firephoto

wanted to add a lens to the ****nal

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WTF? On a family forum, I can see censoring certain words. But what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is wrong with a noun meaning, "An array of resources available for a certain purpose," that also happens to be the name of a somewhat po****r football team?

http://www.premierleague.com/javaIma...3324941,00.gif

EDIT: Ok, this is just over the ****ing top. What the hell (ok, I can say hell but not **** or ****?) is wrong with "p-o-p-u-l-a-r?" And it censors the embedded links, too, such that clicking on the team logo above, which is supposed to link to the premierleague.com home page for the team, is a dead link because the 'offensive' (?!?) word is part of the URL. Sheesh.

Ok, but to the real issue at hand. I really like the 35mm f/1.4L as a nighttime walkaround lens, albeit on my 5DII. The short focal length mitigates what could otherwise be a problematically thin DoF.

John,

You are too funny. I guess I'll have to say "collection" from now on.:p

I agree that the 35mm f/1.4L would be ideal for this purpose on a full frame camera. For the 7D, though, you might prefer the 24mm f/1.4L II USM. As a wider angle lens, it is even more forgiving with depth of field than the 35mm, and it lies right in the middle of your desired focal length range.

Unfortunately, these fast primes are not cheap, but they hold their value well. All of the more affordable options are either too slow (various f/2.8 primes), optically disappointing (28mm f/1.8 or 35mm f/2) or non-Canon. I have no experience of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, but I wouldn't rule it out if I was on a tight budget.

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Originally Posted by neuroanatomist

WTF? ...

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Neuro, good point well made. I noticed the same censorship problems elsewhere on the site. One post mentioned the Zeiss 50mm fl****gon (f-l-e-k-t-o-g-o-n) and another used the word do***ent (d-o-c-u-m-e-n-t). Both of those posts appear as originally intended now.

Well.....isn't that special.....

Attachment 100

Andy, I reported the issue to Bryan, and he removed the censorship list for now. Seems the function behaves differently on the new forum (presumably by removing words on the list when embedded in other words, rather than only as standalone words).

I used the Sigma 30 f/1.4 at Disney in 2008 for the entire day and it worked great. The shots taken at night were exceptionally well which included the parade and the fireworks over the castle.

As I mentioned in my thread earlier, I'm looking at a similar lens, but more for indoor low-light shots (it will have other uses too of course). I felt a lot of support for the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and think that's what I'm going for because I can't really afford L glass.

I own and use the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 quite often. I was hesitant to buy a third-party lens, but I've been nothing but impressed with it.

My only concern is that I don't have microadjustment on my 60D, so any significant focus issues are going to need to be handled by a shop. I have no idea where I can turn to for that sort of thing short of taking the lens back to where I bought it from.

One more vote for the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX HSM. The lens is great for low light work and I can also recommend it. A bit soft wide open (might be my technique also) but stopped down it's great and still fast enough.

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Originally Posted by ham

My only concern is that I don't have microadjustment on my 60D, so any significant focus issues are going to need to be handled by a shop. I have no idea where I can turn to for that sort of thing short of taking the lens back to where I bought it from.

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You can find out from the Sigma website or by googling who is the authorized service center for Sigma glass in your area. At least here in Finland Sigma warranty covers the possible adjustement of the lens to play nicely with the camera (only downside you will have to leave your camera body to the shop for a little while). My copy of the Sigma 30mm front focuses a bit but I haven't needed the fine tuning by the service center because I can use a slight micro adjustment with my 7D.

Firephoto:

You did not say whether you had other uses for the lens other than your up coming trip. From your original post, it sounds like you are getting new lens for that trip. If you want a new prime and this is as good as a reason as you are going to get to justify the lens (sounds good to me:p), then the others have more relevent information above. However, if you are laying out this kind of cash for one trip, it may be better to rent a lens for the short time you will be using it:confused:. You already have a 24-70 f/2.8L which is pretty nice glass, and it should cover you for any other casual low light shooting you may have.

Pat

Pat,

That is a good point. I'll have to think about how I am going to use the lens afterwards.

I am thinking that I would be stopping either lens, Canon or Sigma, to f/2 or smaller to deliver a certain depth of field which wouldn't be a tremendous gain over the 24-70 f2.8L wide open. :confused:

I was leaning towards a Canon EF lens because DPP has lens correction and if I ever go full frame I can keep it.

I went with the majority and got the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX-DC HSM lens. I ordered it Monday and it showed Tuesday. I haven't had much time to test it out but, the focus looks good which was my biggest concern. Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

Keep us updated with your thoughts on the lens. There are many other members still on the fence with regards to the Sigma, and they'd be eager to hear another opinion on it.

Hi All Somewhere in the posts someone mentioned a Conon referb lens site.. can I have the URL/WWW please. Ta

This is the link to Canon Direct Store - Refurbished Lenes & Speedlites:

http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs....mc_id=C126149

I just got the Sigma 30 f1.4 after a long journey that involved returning a Tamron 17-50 with focus issues and putting a Zeiss 35 f/2 up for sale (live it but can't deal with MF and moving subjects). Initial results look really good. I'd heard f1.4 was not useable, but I am not finding that at all so long as the subject is stationary and you don't need much sharpness out of the corners of the frame. But I rarely care about the corners when at f1.4. The build quality and handling are great. Hopefully I'll have some test shots at some point soon.

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Originally Posted by thekingb

Hopefully I'll have some test shots at some point soon.

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Looking forward to it.

Here's a shot with the sigma 30 f1.4.
7D @ f5.6 1/250s flash fired
http://db.tt/r9F2AE1b

Very, very nice!! Congrats on the new glass!!

Thanks Denise! Here's one at f2 and no flash.
(for some reason I can't get a high res version to upload. Ugh)
Update: high res now
http://db.tt/EoA4pwcQ

I had this lens on order at Abe's for a long time and got tired of waiting so I cancelled ...sure wish I wouldn't have now!!