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Canon Cinema EOS Camera Systems
For all Canon Cinema EOS models: C700 / C300 Mk. II / C200 / C100 Mk II and EF / PL lenses.

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Old February 2nd, 2012, 08:09 AM   #1
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What kind of lenses are you planing to use

I'm still waiting on our c300. But I've already got some new EF lenses to be ready when it arrives.

Here is what I will be using for most of my work. (Quick run and gun shoots all over Europe)

Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX, 11-16mm, f/2.8
Canon EF 24-70mm, f/2.8 L USM
Canon EF 70-200mm, f/2.8 L IS II USM

I had a chance to play around with a c300 last thursday. After that i decided to also get a
Canon EF-S 17-55mm, f/2.8 IS USM
for sure! A 17-55 EF-S will be great for most run and gun stuff.

Due of the EF-S sensor size, the 24-70L is already bit on the zoomy side.
Also the Image stabilisation of the 17-55 EF-S is great for doing some hand hold stuff, taking out some small hand movements.

Sadly theres no 17-55, F2.8 EF L-Series with stabilisation lense yet. So it will be interesting how well the EF-S lense will hold up over the time and how long it will take till canon makes a L-Series version of it.

What are you planning to use for most of your work?
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Old February 2nd, 2012, 10:59 AM   #2
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

I think Canon needs to ramp up their lens offering for cropped sensors. The 17-55 IS is a sure thing for the C300. It's quite fast and the IS works very well for video work. Same with the 70-200 USM II IS, a must have. Note that the new 2X III is very good and very useful to use with the 70-200. I also have the following:

EF 24mm f1.4L and EF 50mm f1.4, great for sit-down interviews
24-105 f4.0 IS (could be in interesting alternative to the 17-55 for handheld shooting)

I'd like a 85mm f1.4 but Canon does not have one. It's either 85mm f1.2L (bulky and $$$$) or 85mm f1.8 (cheap but not quite a 1.4). Sigma has a 85mm f1.4 that could work quite well.

I'd love to see Canon come out with the following glass:

10-22 f2.8
50-150 f2.8
60mm macro f2.0
16mm f1.4

Take care,

Thierry.
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Old February 2nd, 2012, 12:17 PM   #3
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

We'll be using a complement of L primes and zooms...but that 17-55 2.8 IS EF-S looks appetizing. Could be the best everyday handheld lens. I've never handled one. I hope the focusing mechanism is more L-like than the average EF-S lens (doubtful).
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Old February 2nd, 2012, 12:21 PM   #4
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

I wonder if all of Canon's glass is "registered" in the C300?

I have the 5D2 and recently got a 100L IS Macro. I happened to check if Peripheral Illumination Correction was available for the lens, and found that my camera didn't have it. I updated the camera firmware and it still didn't have it. I then called Canon support and found that I needed to run the EOS Utility to register my lenses on the camera. The 16-35L II and 35/1.4L were already registered. The 100L IS Macro and 70-200L II IS were not. Once I located the right buttons, I simply clicked the checkboxes associated with these lenses (and some other lenses that I'm considering in the future) and that solved it.

As I see it there are two approaches:

1) To ensure nailed focus on every shot, shoot at f/4 or tighter. In this case, a good Zeiss kit is probably the way to go. You get nice, long throw focus rings, and there is little falloff to correct by f/4. This is a conservative approach that makes sense on deadline.

2) For natural light shooting, one might want to shoot at f/2.8 or looser on a regular basis. (That said, with 10,000 ISO available, you can still shoot at f/4 and tighter in many conditions.) In this case, Canon lenses with Peripheral Illumination Correction enabled is the only way to go. Of course, at f/2.8 and looser, we get the double whammy of so-so focus rings and shallow DOF that make focus pulling tough. One needs a strategy for working with shallow DOF and Canon lenses (focus with the feet, embrace focus drift artistically, do many takes, frame wide, pray...)

PIC offers two advantages: when panning, you will have less of that "bright sphere" contour effect that can plague 8-bit video. The second advantage is that when color correcting in post, you will get the full 8-bits across the frame. Without PIC, things get dark in the corners and if you boost in post to compensate, you will get contour errors and less than eight bits of information. Add color correction to overly dark corners and things only get worse.

I don't know about the C300 (I assume it has PIC), but on the 5D2, PIC is properly implemented. It boosts the edges and corners before S-shaping, picture style, and 8-bit processing occurs. Yes, you'll get some gain noise out there, but you will get the full 8-bits to work with in post.
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Old February 2nd, 2012, 02:45 PM   #5
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

IS is critical. Handheld footage looks great with it. I'm going to sell my 24-70 and use:

17-55mm f/2.8 IS
24-105mm f/4 IS
70-200mm f/2.8 IS MK II

The only L prime I own is the 135. Great lens that I will definitely use from time to time.

I also have the ultrasonics 28mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8. Over time I will sell them and upgrade to L primes.
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Old February 2nd, 2012, 03:19 PM   #6
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

Another lens to consider is the 100L Macro IS. It's about the same size as the 24-105, but with f/2.8 speed. It's MUCH lighter, smaller, and less attention-grabbing than the 70-200L IS. Having just the 17-55 IS and the 100L IS is an affordable way to get f/2.8 and IS from 17 to 100mm.

BTW, the breathing from 1m to infinity with the L macro isn't bad. From the minimum to 1m? that's another story. :)
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Old February 2nd, 2012, 06:19 PM   #7
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

I've been editing a bunch of handheld stuff for a doc lately, much of which was shot on the 24-105, some on the 24-70 - and I have to say I'm on the fence about the IS. On the one hand it definitely produces a smoother looking shot than the 24-70 because small vibrations are eliminated. On the other hand it has a bad tendency to bounce off the IS limits and create odd looking and very noticeable motion artifacts - something that even low end camcorders have largely eliminated in recent years.

I assume this is simply a side effect of the lens being designed with still photography in mind and not video - and I'm curious whether Canon will take this into account in future IS lenses. Has anyone noticed this with the 17-55? I don't notice it as much on the 70-200, so I assume it varies from lens to lens.

Another minor issue to be aware of is that with a fader ND at full wide (even using a size up, 82mm) the IS will shift the image enough to bring it into the corners sometimes. You just need to zoom in a tiny bit to crop it out, but I tend to forget to do this while shooting more often than not.
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Old February 2nd, 2012, 06:27 PM   #8
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

I forgot about the 100mm. I've never used it but I already know it's a must have. Will pick one up this year hopefully.

As far as shooting with IS, I haven't noticed any problems like Evan described. I've shot with all three lenses extensively and always had good results.

As far as the ND goes, it's not needed on the C300 and I've never noticed my UV filter coming into frame so I think we're okay there. I stopped using my vari-ND a long time ago because it ruins the image. I can't wait to return to using internal ND to control exposure again!
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Old February 3rd, 2012, 12:21 PM   #9
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

Not sure about the 100mm macro, it's a really odd size for APS-C sensors. Imagine a 150mm macro on a full frame camera. I wish Canon would come out with an EF 60mm f2.0 or even 1.8 macro...
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Old February 3rd, 2012, 01:10 PM   #10
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

Zeiss has a 50mm f/2 1:2 macro that could be interesting. You don't get the falloff correction that you get with Canon lenses, but at APS-C, this isn't as big a deal as it is on the full frame 5D2. I haven't used the ZE 50/2, but it's well regarded. It's only a 1:2 macro, but on a crop sensor, that becomes 1:1.25.

diglloyd - Zeiss ZF.2 and Zeiss ZE Lenses For Canon and Nikon - Mini Review: Zeiss ZF/ZE 50mm f/2 Makro-Planar
Zeiss 50mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar T* ZE Lens Image Quality

One concern with macro lenses is breathing. The EF 100/2.8 (non-L) breathed like mad. The 100L seems to be better controlled from 1m to infinity, but I need to check it. I did some test snaps with my 100/2.8 before I sold it, so I should be able to get an objective comparison. I have no idea about the ZE 50/2 breathing.

And, yeah, 100mm on APS-C is definitely in no-man's land. At 160mm equivalent, tt's longer than 135mm on full frame, which is generally regarded as a tight portrait lens. It's also not long enough to be a real sports or wildlife lens. It doesn't accept a 1.4x or 2.0x extender, so that doesn't help.

Then again, it's close to the focal length of Canon's top macro lens, the EF 180/3.5 macro. So the 100L can be used as a traditional macro, for portrait closeups, and as a moderate sports lens. Compared to the 70-200L IS, it's cheaper, smaller, lighter, and stealthier. It has IS, though it lacks the range of the zoom.
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Old February 3rd, 2012, 04:40 PM   #11
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

Thanks for your take on the 100mm Macro Jon. I actually have a demo coming in for a few days I wanted to try on the 5D and since I just got a C300, it would be a good opportunity to try it on this cam as well.
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Old February 3rd, 2012, 05:22 PM   #12
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

Yes, good point on using the 100 on a super 35 sensor. One thing I will definitely miss is having a fast ultra wide. I love shooting with the 24 f/1.4 on the 5D. The closest thing I've seen to that would be something like the Red 18mm T1.8.

Anyone planning to use a PL adapter on the EF mount C300? Should work right?
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Old February 3rd, 2012, 05:36 PM   #13
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

I hear you on the wide, fast prime thing. I recently sold my 28/1.8 (and some other mid-grade lenses) to get the 16-35L II (and some other lenses, including the 100L). The 24L II now sits atop my to-buy list.

Regarding the PL mount, as I recall, some PL lenses work on DSLRs; others don't. With the C300 there's no mirror to worry about, so an adapter seems feasible. On the 7D I remember seeing some PL conversions. I'm not sure about a simple, twist-in adapter. Regarding clearances, there's no mirror but I wonder about the ND filters.
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Old February 6th, 2012, 07:58 PM   #14
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

so, i tested my tokina 11-16 today on my c300 and it worked great. surprisingly, the peripheral compensation WORKS!

there is still a very small amount of darkening in the corners i think (it wasnt a scientific test, just pointed the cam at a white wall), but there is a huge difference when you turn the PIC off.

loving this camera so far!

Have a bunch of work booked with it starting this week, so i should have a much better handle on it soon.
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Old February 7th, 2012, 01:39 AM   #15
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Re: What kind of lenses are you planing to use

PIC works on the Tokina? I'm surprised and impressed.

I've heard others report that PIC in Photoshop doesn't correct all 11-16mm lenses exactly right. If you look at a number of falloff charts from various lenses, sometimes, individual copies are offset side to side, top to bottom, or corner to corner. The PIC in both Photoshop and the camera would be based on ideal models, so if your lens is a bit off, it won't correct exactly right. In fact, the case I read about had one dark corner.

It's no surprise that would be the case on an ultrawide. With normal and tele lenses, falloff is pretty smooth. On ultrawides, the corners often fall away abruptly.

Still, if you only have one corner to correct in post, that's a win. :)
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