5D Classic Lens Collection

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dave_walton

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Dave
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I've just managed to bag myself a 5D classic and I'm looking at the lenses I have.

Canon 17-40L F/4
Canon 50mm F/1.8 MkII
Canon 70-200L F/4 IS

Do you thing it would be worth getting another couple of primes for low light / indoor use, I was thinking 35/85mm?

I do have a 580exII also.
 
Hi Dave

Depends upon what and how you shoot really and whether the kit you have will hold you back in any way ?

For low light shooting I doubt many will advise AGAINST 35/85 primes.

I use both 35L and 85L and basically both are wonderful on FF bodieslike your 5D. You cannot go wrong with either. Similarly, the nearby non-L versions are nice too.

My advice is to get used but mint gear, give it a go and if it works for you keep it. If not, you can easilly pass on such lenses. BTW, EOS CLASSIFIEDS currently has a Siggy 85f1.4for sale for 580GBP which is not a bad price !

Good luck with your selection.
 
In my experience 35 and 50 are too close together to be much use as a pair on the 5d. I'd go just 35/85 and move the nifty on. The 85/1.8 is a great partner to the 5d for portraits (suits my style anyway) and I found the 35 a much more interesting focal length than the 50, in fact I'm heading towards 17-40, 70-20 f4, 35, 90 macro and 135 on a full frame canon
 
Maybe swap the 50/1.8 for a 50/1.4? For me, 50mm on full frame is perfect for many purposes, but everyone is different of course! The other lens I would recommend is the 300/4L. Combine it with a 1.4x teleconverter for a 420/5.6 monster. Of course, that is more use on a crop camera, but still nice to have nonetheless :)
 
It really depends on what type of photography you do, I've got a similar line up (50mm f1.4 and 70-200f2.8) and am about to buy a 5D.

My next lens is going to be the 100mm macro, after that I'm going to see how I get on. I'd like a wide fast prime, but will see how I get on with the 50mm and 17-40mm for a while as I get used to the new camera.

Having said that I've used a 5D with the 85mm f1.8 a fair bit and it is a good combination, especially if you like taking portraits!
 
I moved to the 35mm/85mm combo and love them. Sure, they're a compromise when compared to zooms, but I like them so much that I've been ditching all of my L zooms (well at least when I finally sell my 24-105).
 
Whether you NEED more lenses depends on what you shoot. (I wouldn't be without my 100-400) but you might like to form a relationship with some MF lenses.... then suddenly you'll need all kinds of primes - 28mm, 50mm 1.4 or even 1.2, 135mm, 200mm and.... see what I mean?
 
85mm/1.8 has served me very well on the 5d. 70-200 f2.8 is great but just too big to take a lot of places, hence pondering on changing it for the 135mm prime.
 
The 85mm 1.8 is great on the 5D imo. I have a Sigma 50mm 1.4 too which has great IQ but I feel like the AF isn't as fast as it could be.
 
dave_walton said:
Canon 17-40L F/4
Canon 50mm F/1.8 MkII
Canon 70-200L F/4 IS

Do you thing it would be worth getting another couple of primes for low light / indoor use, I was thinking 35/85mm
Click to expand...

Yes to both and you'd be pretty close to my EF glass collection that I use with my 5D, short of a 50mm f/1.4 which replaced an f/1.8 and 15mm fisheye. 35/2 and 85/1.8 respectively.

Depending exactly what kind of low-light work you're doing, a 35 f/1.4L might be of more use than the f/2. Maciej Dakowicz makes great use of his for after-dark street photography.

Works for me. I keep hankering after a mid-range zoom like a 24-105 or 24-70 for a general purpose walk-around lens, but I suspect I'm more likely to get a wide-ish TS-E before any of those for the stuff I do.
 
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I have a 28/135 zoom constantly on my 5D, I'm not a great fan of very wide lenses (maybe its just me?) so although I know 17/40 is a god lens I see no need to have one.
85 1.8 is nice too as it fits between the 28/135 but is faster.
I also have the 70/200 (f4 IS) not sure it works well for me as the 28/135 covers a lot of its range, I might be tempted to go 300 prime instead, will try a 1.4 TC first I think.
But I also have a 50D where the 70/200 sits nicely.

Matt
 
Thanks all for your great replied, I'm coming from a 7D and going to a 5D classic to go back to basics.

I grew up on an Asahi Pentax and I felt the 7D just took too much away from the art of photography for me.
 
ive got a 5d classic and just about to add to my lenses

I've got 20mm f2.8mm, 24-105mm f4L IS and the 50mm f1.4.

Im going to buy the 70-300mm f4-5.6L IS this week...

Hopefully that will be all I need bar the 105mm macro when I can next afford it!

mark
 
I absolutely love my 5D.

My main lenses are 24-70mm f2.8L, 50mm f1.8 (Mk1) and my old 80-200mm f2.8L. Only lens I currently am thinking of adding is an 85mm f1.8.

Compared to my backup 40D the 5D is leaps ahead in image quality. Only thing I somtimes would like is some better ISO performance, but other than the 5D Mk2 or 1D MkIV I don't think any other Canon comes close.
 
I've gone against the flow and got the 24-105/4L IS as a general purpose zoom. Then I have 35/1.4L, 85/1.8, 135/2L and 70-200/2.8L IS II for faster glass. They're all very very nice.. the 85L II didn't make the cut because of price and slow AF. Maybe some day.

Wideangle? Umm nope :bonk: I have the 10-22 on the 7D for that right now :) But it looks like the 16-35L II is calling me.. unfortunately, besides the crazy 14L, there don't seem to be any primes wider than 24mm that are really worth the money over the 16-35... if there is, tell me :)

My point.. if you are putting money into fast primes, why not look at the 24-105 as a zoom option.
 
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