EF-S or EF or L or IS - WHAT DOES THIS NOMENCLATURE MEAN?

[peety3]

I truly appreciate your thoughts on how I got to where I am today. The Canon 7d was sort of a no-brainer as none of the more advanced cameras (Mark Series) have a built-in flash. This is a feature I use extensively to provide some fill when shooting in all types of conditions and a separate flash would not fit my on the go style for most of my work.. The 7d price is right and now that I know more about the lenses, if I want to upgrade the body, I can still use my EF L lenses.

The 7D is a phenomenal value, and an excellent camera. I do characterize it as a 'noisy' camera, but it does produce fantastic pictures. Two of our four cameras are 7D, and we're very happy with them as such.


As far as on-board flash, everyone is different, but I just don't see you using the onboard flash much if at all. Obviously if you don't own an external flash, it'll get some use, but they're never very powerful and they drain the camera battery, slowing down the overall operation of the camera. Three of our four cameras have pop-up flashes (40D does, 1D3 doesn't), and it's been at least two years since my fiance or I have used the pop-up flash. Granted, we have four 580EX IIs.

My lens consideration has been purely driven by The Digital Picture reviews. I currently have a Nikon 18-70mm and a 70-300mm. I am very comfortable with these two lens sizes for 95% of my photographic work. Using these as the base, I searched the Canon offerings to compliment my needs within a significantly upgraded package.

My advice to many people is simple: decide what lens you're going to buy next. Don't try to go two or three lenses out, at least until you have more than two or three lenses, etc. I started with the 24-105, which was the right lens to start with. I soon rented the 16-35, 70-200/2.8IS, and the 100-400. I shipped those three back knowing that I liked the 16-35, "needed" the 70-200, and didn't like the 100-400. I added the 70-200, found that I was missing the wide end, and added the 16-35. Next is a 24-70 to "replace" my 24-105.

Fortunately, my initial criteria had eliminated all EF-S lenses, unbeknownst to me. I would truly like to purchase the EF 100-400mm L IS USM, but the reviews were not fantastic when they used the EF 70-200mm L IS II USM as the baseline. Perhaps I am placing too much emphasis on the reviews, do you have any experiences to impart?

Ignoring my own advice, I have a wishlist that plans out my next 10 years (or so I think) of photography purchases. I can tell you that the 100-400 is not anywhere on that list, and the list goes so far as to include eleven white lenses (two zooms, nine primes; I am buying for two photographers though). However, that's based on a willingness to buy cameras so that I can put enough lenses on cameras for a particular shoot. It's about redundancy; I won't go out the door with just one camera, even on a weekend trip to Florida to visit my great uncle in a nursing home.


I will also suggest that you consider the EF-S 10-22 lens. It is a phenomenal value, and goes to show how the 7D can really be a money saver if you aren't needing the very finest in photographic performance. Those who want to shoot wide can either pay $1700 for a 7D and $800 for an EF-S 10-22 ($2500 total), or $2500 for a 5D2 and $1500 for an EF 16-35/2.8 ($4000). The only thing wider is the 14/2.8 prime, and that lens is $2200! A 1D Mark IV can't get as wide as the 7D/10-22 combo, even with the 14/2.8! FYI, the EF-S 10-22 is #2 on my wishlist.

I am part of a race team which mounts a yearly campaign that include the American Le Mans Series including the 12 hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Given their lengths, night time shooting is just part of the equation. Using an ISO of 1600 or 3200 with the 100-400mm might provide solid results, but I am not sure.

I'd say there's no way the 100-400 would be usable on a 7D in those conditions. I did a 36-hour team relay run in March. Each runner exchange point had one of those small "light tower" trailers, with perhaps four 1000w sodium vapor light heads. I took a Canon 580II flash on a PocketWizard for off-axis fill, and truly struggled with a 200mm f/2 on the 7D. All of my overnight shots were noisy, as I was probably pushing ISO6400 to get shutter speeds of 1/60th in the hopes of freezing the action. You might have more light than I did, but you'll need better shutter speeds and I don't think you'll have it.