Need advice on lens choices

[ShutterbugJohan]

Why did they make an exception for the Powershot Pro1's lens?

They did it also for their video cameras. My guess is that the digicam, DSLR, and video each have their own marketing division and each get to choose when and where to use the "L" marketing tool. Chuck Westfall's comments likely only apply to the marketing division that he is in: DSLR, where it's been decided to only use it for full-frame lenses. Personally, I think Canon would make more money if they relaxed that marketing restriction, but it doesn't really matter to me how much money Canon makes.
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Thanks. That explanation makes the most sense. I just wish that they made some "L" EF-S lenses. :-)

[Colin]

You could probably put a nice red ring around the lens with some vinyl and adhesive...

[HiFiGuy1]

You could probably put a nice red ring around the lens with some vinyl and adhesive...
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No, no, no....all he needs to do is find himself a good autobody shop and get a red pinstripe. Maybe it could be tribal or something, so it would really stand out from the crowd. Of course, there's also always the Wal-mart vinyl pinstripe kits. []

[George Slusher]

If you want to use only ONE lens, then then 18-200mm might make sense--e.g., for traveling or hiking where size and weight would be a consideration. That's the only way I could put the 18-200mm over the 70-200mm f/4L IS, assuming that you can afford either. (They are very different in price--$1100 vs $595 at B&amp;H.) The latter is, according to several reviewers, the best zoom lens of ANY make, period. (It has considerably better image quality than the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and, according to one in-depth review, can be used at even SLOWER shutter speeds because of the superior IS. The main advantages of the f/2.8L IS lens come in when you have moving subjects, which IS doesn't help with, want to blur the background more, or need a lens built like the proverbial tank.)


If you haven't used the 70-200mm f/4L IS, you'll probably be VERY pleased. It's silky-smooth to zoom (I can use the little finger of my right hand to zoom!), extremely fast to focus, has a phenomenal IS, is a reasonable weight and size, etc. It's the best and easiest-to-use zoom lens I have to use. (I also have the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS for indoor sports, the 100-400mm f/4-5.6L IS for wildlife, the 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS for "walking around," and the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 for kicks.) The 70-200mm f/4L IS is a SUPERB landscape lens.


I would also recommend that you shell out the extra money to get the tripod collar. (It's one of the few L zooms that doesn't come with a collar.) That will be particularly useful for your slow shutter speed shots, as it will balance much better than mounting the camera on the tripod.

[quattrophinia]

Thank you for that George...

[George Slusher]

One more consideration: the 70-200mm f/4L IS can be used as a decent "almost-macro" lens by using the Canon 500D close-up lens. The 500D doesn't come in a 67mm size, but you could get the 77mm and a step-up ring so that you could also use it on the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens. (Technically, the 250D would be better for the 17-55mm lens, but it doesn't come in the 77mm size.) You could do pretty much the same with cheaper "close-up lenses," but those are usually a single element, which causes some loss in quality compared to the double-element 500D. I'll try to get some photos with the 70-200mm f/4L IS and 500D in the next few days--the flowers are starting to come out. The combination can focus only in a fairly narrow range, but you can use the zoom to vary the magnification.

[quattrophinia]

Thanks George, I love macro photography and actually thought about doing exactly that. What about extension tubes, do you have any experience with those?


Would love to see some samples of your macro photos... thank you

[Colin]

I like extension tubes for getting a non-macro, wider angle lens to get up close, but they narrow the focusing range, so that the lens becomes useless in non-macro situations. With the 35mm f/1.4, once you put the 25mm extension tube on it, you pretty much have to get right up against whatever you're trying to take a picture of. Want to back up, you need to change to a shorter extension tube.

[quattrophinia]

Ok... noted... thanks

[Jorn]

The 70-200 2.8L IS is just great. It was one my first lenses I bought when I switched from Olympus to Canon some years ago. The other lens I bought was 1 17-40 4L.


It's great for action (I shoot a lot of pictures from bicycle races) when mounted on a 1DmkIII