Cheap lens ideas for Canon 1D

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vaizki

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Jukka
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Now I'm dipping my toe into APS-H waters, with a cheap 1D incoming..

I have some specific flash photo ideas and other weird things I'm going to try out with a 50/1.8 on the 1D and of course I'll give it a go with the 70-200/2.8 as well which should do me fine in my portrait experiments.

So I'm left with the need for something a bit wider than 50*1.3 to try out with groups and indoors. And I realized being an APS-C user for so many years, I've offloaded all the EF lenses I didn't like and am left with nothing but EF-S on the wide end.

Have owned the 35/2 which I think was pretty crap but hey it might be my best choice.. No USM, sorry excuse for a focus ring.. let it go after it sat unused in the bag for over a year. I know the 24-70/2.8L (or 28-70) is what I really want. But I'm not going to throw that money into a so far <£200 experiment just yet.

So ideas on cheapies that won't completely sell out the 1D?
 
vaizki said:
Now I'm dipping my toe into APS-H waters, with a cheap 1D incoming..

I have some specific flash photo ideas and other weird things I'm going to try out with a 50/1.8 on the 1D and of course I'll give it a go with the 70-200/2.8 as well which should do me fine in my portrait experiments.

So I'm left with the need for something a bit wider than 50*1.3 to try out with groups and indoors. And I realized being an APS-C user for so many years, I've offloaded all the EF lenses I didn't like and am left with nothing but EF-S on the wide end.

Have owned the 35/2 which I think was pretty crap but hey it might be my best choice.. No USM, sorry excuse for a focus ring.. let it go after it sat unused in the bag for over a year. I know the 24-70/2.8L (or 28-70) is what I really want. But I'm not going to throw that money into a so far <£200 experiment just yet.

So ideas on cheapies that won't completely sell out the 1D?
Click to expand...

Depends if you want a prime or a zoom. Considered a 17-40 f/4 secondhand maybe?
 
A prime would do fine but the cheaper ones seem very long in the tooth.. Then again I guess most of them are so much simpler than zooms in construction that AF can be reasonable without USM.. Not much personal experience unfortunately.

The 28/2.8 looks like a better candidate than I thought, reading some more opinions.
 
zeugma said:
Depends if you want a prime or a zoom. Considered a 17-40 f/4 secondhand maybe?
Click to expand...

Owning both the 17-40 f/4L and the 35mm f/2 (on a 5D) I'm not convinced that the 17-40 at 35mm delivers better quality than the prime. It may be a close run thing on occasion, but I reckon the 35 f/2 edges out the 17-40 from f/4 through f/8 and certainly with lower distortion.

I am a fan of the 35mm, though. It's light, compact and visually discreet if you can get over the noise of the motor. I'll quite often go out for an hour's shooting at lunch with nothing else but either that or my 50mm f/1.4. It's provided me with some of my most popular photos on Flickr.

The 17-40 is quite a flexible lens, though. I used it as a mid-range zoom on a 300D and a wide zoom on the 5D; and it delivers nice colour.

The 28mm f/2.8 is a fairly similar design to the 35mm f/2. They were both part of Canon's first prime offering in 1987 along with the Mk1 50mm f/1.8 and 24mm f/2.8. The 28mm shares a five-blade iris and a non-USM motor with the 50mm and 35mm. I don't own one, but I'd expect similar performance and a similar shooting experience on both.

The 28mm may have an obvious advantage on a crop if you're looking for width. 35mm on 1.3 only delivers 46mm equivalent. And it's a lot cheaper than most of the alternatives. :)
 
Thanks Musicman, yes I regret I sold the 35/2 now.. but only a bit. Yes the images were pretty good but the build and handling were offputting. And nothing is very discreet on a 1D I'm sure :D

Been offered the 24/2.8 at 210 gbp and while not exactly beer money, sounds like a not-so-bad deal. I'll probably think it over long enough for someone else to nab it :)
 
I have owned a 24mm f1.4L, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.2L, 135mm f2L, 70-200 f4L and a 28-300mmL. Main camera i a 1d mk2 but I have also got a 1d I bought for £300. Tonight a mate gave me a sigma 28-200mm aspherical IF. I believe its not an expensive lens but this is what I produced on it.

28-200.jpg

I am going to sling the combo over my shoulder and use it on a wedding tomorrow as a second camera but I bet I love the images :)

stew
 
Big surprise today.. I tried the Sigma 30/1.4 lens on the 1D just for fun, to see how much of the picture is blacked out by the DC (=crop sensor) lens not imaging the whole sensor area.. well:

Sigma%2030mm%20on%201D.jpg


Yes, there's serious vignetting (especially for a not-so-wide prime), but it's MUCH better than I thought!

And isn't vignetting in fashion now :lol:

Since I don't use the Sigma 30/1.4 nearly as much as I should (probably because of the 17-55/2.8), I'll probably swap it for a EF 28/1.8 that would also run perfect on the 1D as well..
 
That vignette actually looks quite cool, and couldn't you fiddle with photoshop's fixer-upperer for that kinda thing?
 
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