Canon 7D lens

[stortecky]

I am looking at getting a canon 7d with Iklite housing. I am looking for a lens that will be a good general lens to take pictures of fish, coral, and the smaller stuff. I have a G11 now and really like the range of photos I can get with that. I guess I am looking to be able to capture similar pictures with this lens.

Thanks

 

[doctormike]

I have a 7D, it's a great camera, and especially good for video. You will love it underwater.

I have been using the Tokina 12-24 for a number of years now (I used to use it on my 10D), and it is terrific. Fast, good focusing, nice range and very sharp. Great for reef shots, big animals, wrecks and general video work. Other people have said good things about the Tokina 10-17 and the Canon 10-22.

The other lens that I use and enjoy is the Tamron 60 mm macro. I also have the Canon 100 mm macro, but the 60 mm is much better IMHO for macro work. The longer lens makes it harder to hold the shot due to the narrower angle of view, and I don't think that the fact that you can be a bit further from a subject has ever been an issue for me.

Better expect to buy two lenses, though... I don't think that you are going to find one lens that will be good for macro and wide angle...

Mike

 

[stortecky]

Thanks Doctor Mike. For the wide angle you use now are you able to get okay shot of like a 3-4 inch sea horse. I not looking to fill the whole shot but I really hate missing those shots. But I am guessing that I am not going to find the magic lens that does it all in one nice little package.

I was also looking to get a macro lens. Thanks for the advice on the 60mm I was eying up the 100mm. If anyone has any input on a macro for a Canon 7d that would be great. We want to use this lens for topside picks too.

Thanks again

 

[doctormike]

Thanks Doctor Mike. For the wide angle you use now are you able to get okay shot of like a 3-4 inch sea horse. I not looking to fill the whole shot but I really hate missing those shots. But I am guessing that I am not going to find the magic lens that does it all in one nice little package.

I was also looking to get a macro lens. Thanks for the advice on the 60mm I was eying up the 100mm. If anyone has any input on a macro for a Canon 7d that would be great. We want to use this lens for topside picks too.

Thanks again

Sure... remember, once you make the transition to a DSLR, you are going to have to think more about what you are shooting for, since you probably won't have the same range as with a point and shoot. So of course, if you bring the wide angle lens, you will see some amazing little seahorse, and if you bring the macro lens, a whale shark will show up..!

You can get shots of small objects with the wide angle, but it will never be as good as with a macro lens. I had the wide angle in Bonaire last year, and saw a seahorse, so I got this shot by jamming the lens right into it's face and then cropping the image.. but you can see that it is nowhere near as good as a similar image with a macro.

Here is a thread about the 100 vs 60 issue, I definitely say go with the 60: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/362042-100mm-600mm-macro.html

 

[ileiman]

I am looking at getting a canon 7d with Iklite housing. I am looking for a lens that will be a good general lens to take pictures of fish, coral, and the smaller stuff. I have a G11 now and really like the range of photos I can get with that. I guess I am looking to be able to capture similar pictures with this lens.

Thanks

I have a 7D in Ikelite housing.
I started with the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye in the 8" dome port. I think it is a really good wide-angle lens to begin with if you are shooting marine life. I even use it on wreck and personally like the fisheye effect.
For the next lens I got the Canon 60mm EF-S macro in flat port.
Now I am considering to get the Sigma 17-70mm OS HSM as a kind of scouting lens, between really wide angle and true macro.

 

[Craig Hoover]

The 60mm macro by Canon is the easiest macro lens to use. I have no problem with this lens in autofocus. The 100mm is slower in autofocus and practically it is necessary to use the setting that limits focal distance from 0.3 to 0.5 meters. Alternatively a focus gear can be used to shoot the 100mm lens in manual focus. Camera shake is a larger concern with greater working distance. The narrow angle of view (a little more or less than 20 degrees for both lenses) prevents shooting subjects larger than several inches.

I am curious about the Tokina 35mm macro lens. The angle of view is approximately 40 degrees and magnification is 1:1. This seems to indicate that increasing working distance would enable shots of subjects up to perhaps six or eight inches while still allowing shots of half inch critters at the camera's closest focusing distance. Has anyone shot with this lens?

Craig

 

[bvanant]

I guess I am the contrarian here. In my 7D, the 60 is definitely not faster focusing than the Canon 100 macro, the 100 is quite a bit faster. I am also not sure why Craig thinks that you can't shoot big stuff with the 60. Here is a shot of my wife sitting in her office/loft and I can assure you she is larger than a couple of inches.

It was shot through my 60 macro port on the Nauticam housing.

The 60 is indeed easier to shoot, but quite a bit harder to light well due to the small working distance. The 100 is the much better lens if you are interested in going the super macro route since add on lenses will increase the magnification a lot more on the 100 than the 60. That all being said, for most beginners, the 60 is the better FIRST lens, but you will likely get the 100 as well. As for the Tokina 35, the biggest problem is that it extends quite a bit as it is focused, making the correct choice of ports a bit more tricky.

Bill

 

[doctormike]

I am also not sure why Craig thinks that you can't shoot big stuff with the 60. Here is a shot of my wife sitting in her office/loft and I can assure you she is larger than a couple of inches.

Well, you do have good vis in your office...! However, I think that using a 60 mm lens to shoot anything fairly large will mean enough of a water column to give pretty poor results in most situations.

 

[Craig Hoover]

Bill,

Are you talking about the 100mm IS or the 100mm? I use the 100mm IS. Also note that I shoot from the beach where visibility is usually in the 10 foot range with particulate in the water. When using autofocus the lens may be thrown off by moving particulate in the water column. Since the 60mm has a smaller water column than the 100mm for the same magnification, this problem is not as prevalent with the 100mm. My knowledge is based on 4 months of shooting every weekend with one of these two lenses so I may still be considered a novice in DSLR.

Craig

 

[Ozwald]

I too have a 7D. With the editing programs available I think a 17-35 is a nice choice for a lens. Kinda gives you the best of both and if you know what you are doing with elements or photoshop I believe you can get the results you want. I can.