Just curious; did you buy the FS700 with kit lens?

[Peter Corbett]

I opted for the body-only FS700, but have some buyer's regret that I should of got the camera/stock lens kit. It was only AUD$650 dearer with the lens. The negative reviews on the 18-200mm put me off but I was just curious if other FS700 purchasers had gone for the body-only or lens kit...

[Alister Chapman]

I did get the kit lens. It's so cheap when you buy it with the kit.

Although I don't like the lens, it is growing on me a little as the auto iris is much smoother than on a Canon DSLR lens. It's near impossible to see the iris steps. The autofocus on the FS700 works surprisingly well and I think one good way to use the kit lens is with the one push autofocus button. Trying to accurately focus manually with it is a bit of an art and can be very frustrating due to the lag and lack of repeatability.

[Cuong Dinh]

I ordered with kit lens. Save my money and so far no complain :)

[Will Thompson]

I'd be interested to know if anyone has compared the FS700 kit lens to its equivalent Canon or Nikon.

[Cuong Dinh]

Originally Posted by Will Thompson

I'd be interested to know if anyone has compared the FS700 kit lens to its equivalent Canon or Nikon.

Check this out

First time to test FS-700 @ 240fps on Vimeo

From beginning to 0:13 is the kit lens. After that I shoot with Canon 70-200mm + Metabones.

[Chris Medico]

I bought mine with the lens. I want to see if it is useful for steadicam applications. Otherwise I'll be using vintage Canon FD glass on it.

[Will Thompson]

Originally Posted by Cuong Dinh

From beginning to 0:13 is the kit lens. After that I shoot with Canon 70-200mm + Metabones.

Very nice images, Cuong. From the video, the Canon appears sharper, but the shots on the kit lens were short. Having seen more of the footage, what was your takeaway?

[Morton Molyneux]

I bought mine with kit lens as the price was right.

Have the Sony LE-EA2 and a Nikon adaptor coming next week. Then will have a selection of Nikon lenses to rotate between F3, D4 and FS700.

[Galen Rath]

Retail for the kit lens is $900, with FS-700, it's $600, easy to sell it on Ebay for what you invest.

[Bill Kerrigan]

I bought mine 2 years ago with the release of the VG10... it's now on it's 3rd camera.
I find it very useful outside, when shooting ENG style.


Bill Kerrigan
www.kerrigan.ca

[Lee Mullen]

Originally Posted by Peter Corbett

I opted for the body-only FS700, but have some buyer's regret that I should of got the camera/stock lens kit. It was only AUD$650 dearer with the lens. The negative reviews on the 18-200mm put me off but I was just curious if other FS700 purchasers had gone for the body-only or lens kit...

Where did you purchase Peter as Videoguys don't have it in yet?

[Peter Corbett]

I got it from Dan at Videocraft. Sort of wish I'd got the lens now, but the focus issues and speed put me off at the time. The Sony 70-400 is more attractive to me.

[Matt Davis]

As I have an FS100 already, which I bought with the kit lens - not buying another one... BUT...

I think the FS700 will wear it more often - the face detection, spot focus and all. If I hadn't got the kit lens, I would still buy it. It has its haters, but it also has its uses. I think my usage of the lens will double with the FS700. Double - like, from 10% to 20%. It's an absolute female dog to focus manually, and the autofocus mated to the FS100 was at best ponderous and most of the time the lens exhibited a curious desire (like all other AF systems) to deliver super-sharp backgrounds regardless of your scene.

But as i) sharp focus is critical in HD, and ii) it's not the fastest lens and manual focus is less than a knack at the best of times, the FS700 'does the right thing' and you get a lens that will capture most blind R&G event based assignments.

[Kieran Steele]

I bought it without the Kit lens. I spent at least a day researching and umming and ahh'ing about the kit lens or something else. Decided I wanted it, but the body only version was available in OZ two weeks earlier. Figured I'd get it later if I needed it.

Well.. I have the metabones canon, novoflex nikon, and sony LA-EA2 adapters, and have been going through all my lenses and testing them.

I have a bunch of Nikon primes. No autofocus, No IS, manual trigger of iris through adapter. Not going to be too run and gun on the FS700.

The canon lens though all listed as supported only 1 out of 3 worked with Iris and that using latest v5 adapter.

I tried the focus transition and spot focus using a 50mm emount sony. It's just too good for product stuff and the 18-200 kit lens to too much of a good all rounder if you are doing daylight only and need to pack light. (he says not having it yet).

Couldn't even get the lens in oz except out of hong kong (in the middle of transition to the lighter black LE version), so I bought a VG-20 as a B camera (my old b camera suited jvc), comes with the same lens, and I will just borrow it's lens.

So yes, buyers remorse, maybe should have waited, but after testing a bunch of lenses, its really not too much to pay to have it in the arsenal. Would I buy two sony zooms in its place? Probably not. I can always use a Nikon 70-300mm I have with manual everything.

I did also get a Tokina 11-16mm sony mount for the steadicam. Be interesting to see how well the LA-EA2 autofocus works (plenty wide so "should" be easy)

[Peter Corbett]

I thinking I will be getting the new 18-135mm A-mount Sony zoom for walk-around use. It's under $500 and should have much better AF. At least that's my spin on it!