What lens do you prefer to use for general video shots on your 7D
 

Right now I got the kit lens but I am wondering if you guys prefer something a bit more wide angle for general videoing shots?

I got the telephoto lens for surf photography but don't have a wide angle & not sure if it would be used all that often.....

Which kit lens do you have? There are several different ones being bundled with the 7D.

Hi Jeff,

I have an EF-S 18-55 (not kit for 7D), it works okay hand held. But my EF 85mm doesn't work without being braced or on a tripod. The shaking on the lens makes the rolling shutter more noticeable. Not sure how far into telephoto you are but 55 and less is more stable. If you're shooting from the shore I don't see how you can get away from using tele lenses anyway. I shoot in an urban setting so I need to have wide (or walk real far).

@everyone
Has anyone noticed if the IS on the tele lenses (say EF 70-200 IS) really is useful for video while handheld? Some comments I've read on the net say you'd end up using tripods at tele anyway, was curious if it does help when its not possible to use a tripod.

My 7D arrived today. Haven't had a chance to RTFM yet or do anthing but will tomorrow. I got the 28-135, but I also already have a Tamron 17-35 for wider angles, and a 50mm f1.8 for lower light needs. For the type of thigs I shoot, I've always wanted a wider lens over a longer one. If I didn't already have the Tamron, I probably would have popped for the 17-55.

The primary issue is that the noise made by the IS mechanism is picked up by the on-camera mic. You can't really hear it when recording, but you'll be surprised how loud it is on playback. Depends on the lens though. The 24-105mm f/4 L IS is really loud.

Congrats Bill! I love that lens; I've had photographs published in two books now with that particular lens. Excellent choice! I've got one right now, borrowed from a friend, to use with my 7D for the next ten days or so.

For right now, my main "walkaround" lens is a 24mm F2.8 EF. Being a FF equiv of around 38mm it's fairly close to the 35mm "wide normal" I used to use a lot with a Nikon F2 kit the small USAF photo lab I managed at Shu Lin Kou AS on Taiwan.

A lot of my work has always been in close and tight and before zooms really hit big that 35 was a pretty fair workhorse. Involved a lot of moving forward and back to get the right composition. So I'm in what used to be fairly comfortable territory, I keep a 50mm F1.8 EF in the bag if I need something a bit longer and if I know I'm going to need a variety of focal length options I'll carry the 18-55 and 55-250mm EF-S lenses.

I prefer the two primes though. Sharper.

It sounds like another reason to go with an external mic detached from the camera. I am just bought a wireless bodypack mic system for the videos I am doing related to filming educational videos. My hope is better sound that the internal mic & since it is on the person being videoed & not near the lens, it should eliminate picking up the IS mechanism noise. Later this week I should have time to test it out & determine if it works as well as I am hoping it will.

I just picked up a Tamron 18-270. So far, I like it. Any opinions on this lens out there? It's mostly my walkaround for family stuff, though I'm getting pretty sharp images out of it. I have several Nikon primes with an adaptor for film-type shoots.

LOVE the 7D so far.

Well, something to consider as far as zoom lenses go, is that you might want one with a fixed aperture through the zoom. If you have variable aperture then your camera steps down during the zoom which makes for very noticeable lighting transitions. I have a cheapie 20-35mm f3.5-4.5 lens on my camera whie I'm waiting for a tamron 17-50mm f2.8 to be delivered, I can't zoom while shooting video with it.

Another would be that your lens is parfocal, which means focus will stay relatively constant during zooms. These are things we aren't used to thinking about with camcorder lenses as they are almost invariably incorporated into those cameras by the manufacturer. For me this is a learning experience that I'm sure that those who currently use 35mm adapters have already been though.

Tamron 28-75mm 2.8

Tamron 28-75 review

Canon 16-35mm f2.8 does the trick for me. If I want STUPID wide, I go Canon 15mm f2.8 fisheye.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L

I've had the 28-135mm IS for a long time, now for both still and video. That new 18-135 was of interest, or the 10-22mm, but ef-s still seems wrong to me.