wide-telephoto zoom help

mmmatt

Hello again!

Here I am again tapping into the knowlege base of the kind folks here. I am in the market for a "do it all" (hurts to even say!) zoom lens for my 5d. I have recently started shooting bar/bat mitzvahs with a very busy photog who specializes in them. He is turning down bookings and has brought me in so he can double book.

Anyways, after shooting a couple of these crazy events, I have noticed a need for a more expansive range lense than what I currently own. I currently have the 24-70 f2.8L, 135 f2L, and the 70-200 f4L. I love all these lenses and this package works wonderfully for me for weddings and for day to day shooting. With the bar mitzvahs I have been working on however, I find I am often having problems getting in close enough to use the 24-70 and miss the wide end when using the 70-200. The 24-70 works wonderfully for the formal stuff for shure... it's just the party shots where I am lacking.
Moreso than a wedding, the party after is a really big part of the affair and it seems that those shots are nearly as important as the formal and posed rehersal shots (can't actually shoot durring the service in most cases). Also unlike weddings, the mass of kids are completely oblivious to us grownups and they don't make it easy. There are many group activities/dance things and it all happens too quickly to be swapping the L-glass around. So... I am now looking for something that can do it all(ish).

This is all flash work so speed is not a concern really... I can swap glass when I shoot ambient light or want a little less DOF. Also IS is no big thrill to me in this rage as it is all moving people anyways.

So I'm looking at the sigs, tammys and canons in the 24-135 ranges, and 28-200 range. I know they are all going to disappoint me when I look at my images full size compared to the L-glass, but hopefully the ability to frame more acurately and crop less will outway the softness of inferior glass. I'm not affraid to use unsharp mask... Also, the reduced weight would be a godsend. I am aware of the 24-105 f4L, but I just don't have the scratch for that right now and I'm thinking the long end won't be long enough on the full frame 5d.

Oy vay! Any suggestions?

Matt

mercphoto

I think your best options are:

24-105
28-135
a second body (with different lenses mounted)

mmmatt

mercphoto wrote:

I think your best options are:

24-105
28-135
a second body (with different lenses mounted)

first off, thanks for the quick responce!

Are you saying the canon 28-135 IS over the 24-135 sigma or tamrak? The second body thing I do some at outdoor weddings when I can do without flash on the 2nd body (I have two 580 exII's and 2 brackets, but that is a lot of bulk swinging on my neck!) Also, my backup body is an xt which leaves a gap in my coverage (24-70 and then approx 112-320 with crop factor) and I just don't like to use the xt when I have a 5d. That being said, I guess selling the xt and buying a 20d/30d would make some sense... then I could probably get by with the 24-70 on a crop body, and still have similar controlls as my 5d. (I like the thumb wheel and use the cf that allows focus point control with the joystick)... hmmm. I have actually been considering that anyways.

Matt

mercphoto

mmmatt wrote:

Are you saying the canon 28-135 IS over the 24-135 sigma or tamrak?

I generally do not consider non-Canon lenses.

mmmatt

mercphoto wrote:

I generally do not consider non-Canon lenses.

OK. Thanks again!

Matt

Photoskipper

I got the 5D with 24-105 F4 as a kit lens. It works very well for me for the past 2 years and covered 5 long trips and tens of official function/event photo projects. I love the 24-105 and find it is a great all rounded lens for event and portraits. It may be a bit slow but yet the 5D has good noise control on the higher ISO, it compensates 2 -3 stops.

Adding the 70-200 F2.8 IS and 2x TC first then latest 17-40 F4, I completed the collection of the wide-tele lenss collection.

Tried the new 1D Mark III 1.3X crop body with my lenses, I found it works very well also. You may consider it for the higher frame rate, live view and dual card (CF/SD) for the projects.

mmmatt

Thanks for all the help. I ended up scoring a mint 20d for $341 shipped. Hopefully the 24-70 on the crop body will do what I need for the crazy kid parties. Still might end up grabbing a 24-105 f4L though... maybe if my view camera sells I will jump on one of those soon. Though I now have the hots for the 5d mkii ...