5D Lens suggestions

[Hammerhead]

Dear all,

As the title suggests, I'm looking for some ideas and recommendations.

The 100mm macro is sorted out, but how's about something intermediate and WA. The next year should see me diving with some very large fishes, in some very expensive places to get to, so I really want to get it right...

Thanks,

 

[bigfrog23]

there are several lenses that i would look into and recommend for you

EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
EF 24mm f/1.4L USM
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

i have the 16-35 and love it on my 30D and it make a good intermediate lens for me as i have to use the 10-22 ef-s for true wide angle for you it would make a good Ultra wide angle because you don't have a cropped censor. Canon just released a new 14mm 2.8 prime lens which looks nice i have had a chance to use the older version of the lens above water and it is very sharp. unfortunately my favorite lens the 24-70 2.8L will not fit in a housing very well so it has stuck to top side use only. for your wide-angle purposes i would highly recommend the 16-35L it is a very sharp lens for a zoom and is built with the quality of all the other L series lenses. IMHO it is just as sharp as the 24-70L in real life use also there is almost no distortion at 16mm. i love this lens and it finds its way onto my camera a lot.

 

[Hammerhead]

EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM

Love the sound of that, but might go a wee bit cheaper on the 15mm Fisheye.

That said, the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM sounds very sweet indeed.

Keep 'em coming and thank again!

 

[Kim]

Larry - check this place out. It'll tell you virtually everything you need to know and then some.....

 

[Hammerhead]

Thanks Kim, it's a useful site, but I'm looking primarily at the underwater aspect.

My EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM (in the bag) and EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM (still debating) should have topside covered...

 

[f3nikon]

A more important question is which dome port will work with which wide-angle lens. Using a flatport U/W is not a problem, its the dome port and its curved shape that will make or brake the picture.

All wide-angle lenses are design for land photograghy, with no real guidelines on which dome to use.

Plus another factor that I don't see brought up here or any other place in this forum is the minimum or closest focusing distance the lens is capable of producing. Which is key to U/W photograpy.

The standard of U/W wide-angle photography should be based on the 15mm Nikonos lens with a one-foot minimum focusing with an edge-to-edge sharpness that was perfected by Nikon.

This is because Nikon controlled everything from the type of glass lens to the curvature of the dome, its all Nikon design for U/W use, in fact if the Nikonos 15mm were to be used on land the image will be somewhat distorted.

Hey if I had to drop thousands of dollars on a system, I would at least what to know that it was money well spent and not find out that a P&S with an add-on wide-angle can do just about the same job at a fraction of the cost (not to bring up that sore but important subject again).

 

[Hammerhead]

F3, I already have the relevant ports, and was looking at this for my WA shots: -

Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye - Photozone Test Report / Review

Not the most expensive, but almost certainly enough for underwater. Topside, there are other - non-fisheye - lenses I'd go for to do a similar job...

 

[f3nikon]

That’s fine for land use but U/W with a dome port one is changing the optics because the dome is now a part of the camera’s lens. If the curvature (6inch or 8inch dome) or distance from the dome to the lens is not correctly matched the edges on the image will go soft or out of focus.

The housing makers should step in and recommend a specific lens that will work (edge-to-edge sharpness) with their dome, from actual U/W testing. Unless you are willing to buy and assortment of wide-angle lenses and dome ports then test them out yourself.

Plus the min. focusing distance of the lens is very important.

 

[Hammerhead]

EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM

Love the sound of that, but might go a wee bit cheaper on the 15mm Fisheye.

That said, the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM sounds very sweet indeed.

Keep 'em coming and thank again!

Dammit, Ike don't make a port for this one, so the 17-40 sounds more likely.

Off on a tangent, howsabout any suggestions for alternatives to the Canon 24-105 f4 L IS USM for a general topside (sorry) lens?

 

[f3nikon]

Can't help you there I am more of a prime lens user than with zooms.

Difference Between Zoom and Prime Lenses - Photography Tips

Add to that most prime lenses have a closer min. focusing distances, which is a plus for U/W use of shooting close to the subject.