Re: Lens advice
 

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8, 50-135mm f2.8 with a 60D

Love these lenses....

(Watch in its true form in 1080p)

YouTube - ‪TVP San Antonio‬‏

Re: Lens advice
 

The Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 is a great lens (other than the build quality) but on a crop body it is not that wide.

For wide you will want either the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 (constant aperature) or the Canon EF-S 10-22. I have both, and tend to use the former for video and the latter for stills.

Re: Lens advice
 

How wide you go depends on what you shoot.

The 17-55 will be wide enough for general action. You will be able to pan around on a tripod and "get a lot in" without looking like an effects shot. When you go wider, you need to take care. Panning on a tripod will show perspective distortion. Unless you really stop down, everything will be in focus except the ground in front of the camera, which can look like you have a crummy lens, rather than like sweet, shallow DOF footage.

On the other hand, you can do pushes and jib moves with a wider lens. You can push the lens right up to an object to give it attitude. You can film from odd angles for a good effect.

My rule of thumb is this: if you tend to shoot from a tripod at eye height, you don't need a wider lens. If you frame while laying on the ground or from the top corner of an elevator, you do. ;)

Re: Lens advice
 

That's a good rule (or a good thumb!)

Always a hot topic
 

Just buy and use the lens you can afford. There will always some regrets and surprises. I use Tamron 17-50 (image stablization), Samyang fisheye and a Canon 55-250 for family video. Quite good picture quality, lightweight and yet covers a wide range.

Re: Lens advice
 

Hey Edward in the video you linked on the lens flares effect how did you do that? Is it a simple key framing?? steve

Re: Lens advice
 

Hey Edward - I ended up with exactly the same two lenses for my 60D - the Tokina 11- 16 and 50 - 135, both f.2.8. Love them, but there's a bit of a gap between 16 and 50 that I fill with my Signa 15 -30 f/3.5 - 4.5.