Lenses for Canon EOS 7D?

[TL88]

Hi All

yes I know an old camera but ive been told it should be good for a beginner such as my self to start on?

I have a few questions?

Should newer lenses fit old models eg do lenses have a standard attachment?

I have an 1855 lens for it atm.

Im wanting to capture animals both stationary and moving. Also (I don't know what category this fits into) but street life. Also some architecture and how the light bounces off things including people within the buildings.

Anyway, what would be a good 2nd lens to go for?

[John King]

TL, the 7D is a fine camera. Anything made since about 2003 can take fantastic pictures. I have several images taken with my 5 MPx E-1 (2003) printed at A2 size on fine art paper. They are all but indistinguishable from those taken with my 10 MPx E-510 and 12 MPx E-30. Need to use a 4x magnifying glass to see the slight differences.

Lenses are another matter. I cannot advise you on specific Canon lenses, but I can advise you to buy the best quality weather and dust sealed lens/lenses that you can afford.

Crop camera lenses and 135 format lenses may share the same mount within a camera brand, but they are different in other important ways.

[MarkChap]

Unfortunately you are not going to get 1 lens to cover everything you want to do - ahh the joys of the photography bug

Your nature is going to require a long lens, 400mm - 600mm ish
Street - a lot of people use 35mm - 50mm for that, so your 18-55 should be good

As for the mount ALL, and only, Canon EF and EF-s and 3rd party lenses designed to fit the EF mount will fit the 7D
Buy the best you can afford, will do you well into the future

[ameerat42]

As for where to place things for posting, ask self what is the main purpose of the picture.
If the play of light on the buildings, then architecture, people in it or not.

There's nothing wrong with the 7D.

A hint (mainly to avoid the incorrect placement of carts and horses): learn to use what you've got till
you know it backwards. You're a beginner; no amount of gear is going to help you yet. Try to discern
with practice what you need by finding out what you're trying to achieve. It also eliminates a lot of
arm-waving and pocket emptying:nod:

[arthurking83]

.....

Anyway, what would be a good 2nd lens to go for?

Define a price point and the answers will come with more specificity!

eg. if you only have a couple of hundred dollars to spend .. I'd look at the Sigma 70-300 f/4 -5.6 lenses for your camera. $150-300 .. a reasonable lens for the money.
Can be good enough to give you a feel for what focal lengths you prefer to use.

if you have $3K to spend, then by all means .. a 70-200/2.8 IS would be the most obvious choice for a bit of extra reach fast shutter speeds and so forth.

But what if you don't shoot much beyond about 100mm?? :confused013
What if you tend to be at the longest end of the focal length range all the time? .. if that's the case, then a 100-400mm lens would be the better option.

[Morgo]

The 7D is a fine camera.

You can use the 18-55 for street life and architecture. Upgrading to the 17-55 2.8 wouldn't hurt or grabbing some fast primes.
If you wanted wider the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 is a good lens on the 7D

What budget do you have for a wildlife lens? Around $1k will get something adequate such as a 150-600

[Thor]

Im wanting to capture animals both stationary and moving. Also (I don't know what category this fits into) but street life. Also some architecture and how the light bounces off things including people within the buildings.

Anyway, what would be a good 2nd lens to go for?

I would look at a 70-300 f4.5-5.6 as a budget option for animals that you cant quite get near. You can go longer but your looking at 3-4x the price for a lens like the SIGMA AF 150-600mm 5-6.3 DG OS. Again it not a bad thing spending cash on good lenses but how deep are your pockets. Also assuming that your shutter speed are fast then those apertures will only let you capture decent pics in full sunlight. forget about evening light.

For budget wide angles for some architecture there's the Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM. You can fit loads into the frame. Its as wide as you would want on a crop sensor camera. Though some like the sigma offerings. All depends on the apertures you want to shoot at also.

My favorite all round lens for my old 50d is the canon 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS. It has produced some quality pics and wont blow the bank.

Good Luck with it..

[TL88]

First dub question

can you break this down

70-300 f4.5-5.6

size of something - fstop?

fstop being Aperture: basically a variable sized hole in the camera lens where light shines through and is cut off by the shutter

or something like that

- - - Updated - - -

Apparently a whole Stop A whole Stop change in aperture lets in either half as much light or twice as much light. On your lens (or in the view finder, or maybe on an LCD menu on your camera) you typically see numbers like ƒ1.8, ƒ2.8, ƒ4, ƒ5.6, ƒ8, ƒ11, ƒ16, and ƒ22. These are whole Stops which, as previously explained, lets in twice as much or half as much light compared to the Stop beside it

Oh im confused lol
.

[John King]

Gidday TL

70-300 = zoom lens with focal length (FL) range of 70mm to 300mm.

f/4.5-f/5.6 = aperture range from widest FL to longest FL, i.e. the lens has a variable maximum aperture.

e.g. I have an f/2.8-3.5 50-200mm zoom for my cameras.

[ameerat42]

Yes, see! Not so "dumb" after all:D

The first part refers to the focal length range of this zoom lens: from F=70mm to F=300mm.

The 2nd part is the Maximum Aperture (opening of the lens diaphragm) EXPRESSED as an F-stop.
F-stop is the ratio of Focal Length divided by Aperture.
That is, the maximum aperture gives an F-stop of 4.5 to 5.6 over this zoom range, and all other F-stops
are affected the same way over the zoom range.

Such info is in the Library.

Distinguish between F-stop and Aperture, as they are not exactly the same. The F-stop is a measure of
the aperture in use. Mostly, Aperture itself is less discussed than F-stop. You will hear such as:
"...pretty small aperture...", "...pretty large aperture...", "...shooting wide open..."
F-stops "run backwards" to actual aperture: the larger the F-stop number (like f/16) the smaller the aperture.
So for the lens above, f/4.5 is "wide open".

F-stop also indicates a set theoretical light intensity that reaches the sensor. Won't describe any farther at this stage
as it's widely available online.

[TL88]

Thankyou very much! Im just reading more now

[ameerat42]

I suppose it's apparent, but the description above for "f/16" actually means
1/16th of f, where f is the focal length.

- - - Updated - - -

Getting back to the subject of lenses for your camera, I meant to say somewhere that I have the
Sigma 70-300 DG Lens. There are two versions listed, and one is an APO(chromatic) lens. From what I
can see, they are both fairly cheap. Here are two links with UD$ prices, but look in Oz for the same.
Non-APO: http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/telephoto-lenses/70-300mm-f4-56-dg-macro

APO: http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/telephoto-lenses/70-300mm-f4-56-apo-dg-macro
(ODDLY:confused013 the specs for each say max magnification - macro - is 1:4, but mine goes to 1:2, or half life size.)

Now, what do I think about it?
(Well, I paid $50 second hand.) It was my "mostly on the camera lens" for a good while. I thought its
image quality (henceforth IQ) was not too bad for what I needed. BUT ONE thing I have since found
is that I CAN'T get very good shots withOUT optical stabilisation any more (ie, OS, IS, VR). This is not the
fault of the lens, as it happens on any of the old lenses I use, esp on telephoto settings.

If you go for one of these lenses be aware of that limitation.

[TL88]

Thankyou very much for your feedback!

[ameerat42]

A local price for the APO version: https://sigmaphoto.com.au/lenses/70-300mm-f4-56-apo-dg-macro

(Remember the lack of OS!!!)

[TL88]

So this isnt good as it has a lack of OS

What does APO mean?:lol2:

[ameerat42]

If you can hold it steady, it's good. I can't:(
Look up "apochromatic".

[TL88]

So im looking for apochromatic lenses just with more OS

[John King]

APO = apochromat = without chromatic aberration (coloured fringing around objects under certain lighting conditions).
Often wishful thinking rather than an absolute statement of fact ...

[TL88]

Where did my thread on lenses go?

- - - Updated - - -


Can't help you with tripods, but in this case you'd best be looking for a lens with OS, IS, or VR,
as discussed in your thread on lenses.

Could you explain what OS, IS or VR stand for?

[John King]

Could you explain what OS, IS or VR stand for?

OS = optical stabilization

IS = image stabilization

VR = vibration reduction (Nikon's term for the above)

These all mean the same thing, ILIS = In Lens Image Stabilization

An alternative system available on some brands/bodies is IBIS = In Body Image Stabilization, available on some Sony, Pentax, Panasonic and Olympus bodies. Some of these combine both IBIS and ILIS in a synchronised manner. Some offer either/or.

[ameerat42]

Moved your post and John's reply to this thread on lenses.

[TL88]

Finally got my hands on the camera, im in hospital atm so had to wait for mum to bring it in. The lens it has on it is a 15 85 and very high end stabilisation (not sure how to say that properly) so should be ample for me to start with even with my shaky hands :)

Dad said he paid about $1000 in 2010 for the lens and that was on a discount as he bought the camera at the same time.