Canon 5D MKII user, Buy new lenses? or 1D Mark IV

[Balwazer]

Hello ALL,

I am a professional photographer I do many type of photography but focusing mainly on fashion.

I already have these lenses:

24-105mm F/4L

70-200mm F/2.8L IS II

Segma 105mm F/2.8 macro

Canon 50mm F/1.8

I have profoto studio equipments.


THE QUESTION IS:

IF I already have the 5D mark II, and I have extra $5500

Should I buy 1D Mark IV or should I buy more lenses?

IF more lenses what lenses??

I dont do one type of photography, you can see my portfolio at Bader Alwazeer photography - Bahrain


Waiting your help

[TPF Sponsor]

[tirediron]

No, the question is: "What are you not getting from your current equipment?" Trust me, if I was routinely turning out shots like yours, I wouldn't change a friggin' thing about my gear. Wonderful work!

[subscuck]

I have to agree with tirediron. You seem to have everything you need already. Great work.

[bentcountershaft]

I looked through your site and have to agree with tirediron, it's good stuff. The only thing I didn't really see was any action or sports stuff. If that's something you're thinking of getting into then you may want to pick up a 1D4. If you aren't really into that though I think I would look at some nice primes or something, possibly an ultra wide like the 14L. That's just me though.

[Derrel]

Your work would be even better with lenses that have more "character". The beautiful ladies are nice, but the images are pretty sterile, from a lens point of view. GVoing through that portfolio, almost every image looks like its neighboring image, from a LENS point of view. The 24-105-L is a very neutral,sterile lens, with almost zero optical character . I own it,and shoot it a lot, and it has almost no visual "impression" on the 5D. If it were me, I would spend the money on lenses that have "character",and which can put a visual impression on photos. Something that has exceptional bokeh, and which is also useful for fashion work would be good. For example, the Canon 135mm f/2-L puts a huge visual impression on its images,and is a very fine lens. It has shallow depth of field, and th transitions from out of focus to the sharp focus areas, and the transition from in-focus to the out of focus background is VERY beautiful from the 135/2-L lens. It is a must-have Canon prime.

The Nikon 105mm f/2 AF-D Defocus Control lens is another lens that would be good, even on a Canon body with adapter. It too has a beautiful "impression", and can be used to increase background or foreground out-of-focusness, or used as a sharp lens, set to -0-.

How about a wide-angle lens that has a truly wide aperture, like the 24mm or 35mm f/1.4 L lenses, or the 45mm Tilt-Shift or 90mm Tilt-Shift. The 24-105-L zoom lens is not a very good lens for shallow depth of field; at f/1.4, it still makes the entire background visibly sharp enough to be distracting at times. The 24 or 35 1.4 lenses would allow you to shoot wide-angle pictures with OOF backgrounds, and both have a very nice "impression" on the images they make. The same goes for the Canon tilt/shift lenses...I've seen some very beautiful work done with both the 45 and 90 Tilt-shift lenses...very creative visual effects can come out of using those lenses tilted.

Perhaps too you ought to consider some very OLD, outdated, poorly-coated lenses that give a more old-fashioned, softer, and more-romantic feeling, like some Pentax M42 thread mount lenses from the pre-set era, used on an adapter. Or even one of the three Lensbaby special effects lenses.

[Balwazer]

Thank you for the nice comment you made my day. But I forgot to mention theat I have 50% discount that will end in 3 months time .. So i thought I take advantage of it before I loose it

[Balwazer]

Your work would be even better with lenses that have more "character". The beautiful ladies are nice, but the images are pretty sterile, from a lens point of view. GVoing through that portfolio, almost every image looks like its neighboring image, from a LENS point of view. The 24-105-L is a very neutral,sterile lens, with almost zero optical character . I own it,and shoot it a lot, and it has almost no visual "impression" on the 5D. If it were me, I would spend the money on lenses that have "character",and which can put a visual impression on photos. Something that has exceptional bokeh, and which is also useful for fashion work would be good. For example, the Canon 135mm f/2-L puts a huge visual impression on its images,and is a very fine lens. It has shallow depth of field, and th transitions from out of focus to the sharp focus areas, and the transition from in-focus to the out of focus background is VERY beautiful from the 135/2-L lens. It is a must-have Canon prime.

The Nikon 105mm f/2 AF-D Defocus Control lens is another lens that would be good, even on a Canon body with adapter. It too has a beautiful "impression", and can be used to increase background or foreground out-of-focusness, or used as a sharp lens, set to -0-.

How about a wide-angle lens that has a truly wide aperture, like the 24mm or 35mm f/1.4 L lenses, or the 45mm Tilt-Shift or 90mm Tilt-Shift. The 24-105-L zoom lens is not a very good lens for shallow depth of field; at f/1.4, it still makes the entire background visibly sharp enough to be distracting at times. The 24 or 35 1.4 lenses would allow you to shoot wide-angle pictures with OOF backgrounds, and both have a very nice "impression" on the images they make. The same goes for the Canon tilt/shift lenses...I've seen some very beautiful work done with both the 45 and 90 Tilt-shift lenses...very creative visual effects can come out of using those lenses tilted.

Perhaps too you ought to consider some very OLD, outdated, poorly-coated lenses that give a more old-fashioned, softer, and more-romantic feeling, like some Pentax M42 thread mount lenses from the pre-set era, used on an adapter. Or even one of the three Lensbaby special effects lenses.

I heard allot about the 135mm lens, I am thinking about it + 50mm 1.2 ..

I do sometimes interiors shooting (apartments, houses) and I need a very wide angel but my clients dont like the distortion with the wide lenses ... so the tilt and the shift are meant to correct this right?

Nobody recommended the 1D mark IV so far ...except for sport and I dont do many..

[Schwettylens]

buy UWA, 35mm L, T/S, 85mm L etc.

[Balwazer]

buy UWA, 35mm L, T/S, 85mm L etc.

UWA? ultra wide aperture?

[j-dogg]

Perhaps too you ought to consider some very OLD, outdated, poorly-coated lenses that give a more old-fashioned, softer, and more-romantic feeling, like some Pentax M42 thread mount lenses from the pre-set era, used on an adapter. Or even one of the three Lensbaby special effects lenses.

Have a 1963 NKK Nikkor 105mm f2.5 for this exact reason.

[Hardrock]

UWA= ultra wide angle. The 135L that was mentioned is a Fantastic lens. If you are only doing fashion I would get new glass like the 35 f1.4 and 135f2 or even the 200f2 its supposed to be one of Canons best lens. But if you are going for sports get the mkIV. Also the resolution on the 5d is greater than the mkIV.

[Balwazer]

Nobody said anything about the need for a spare camera

If anything happen to my 5d mkii after three months I will be so sorry that I didn't buy the 1d Mark iv when I could buy it half price.

Isn't a spare camera very important thing for a photographer?

[bentcountershaft]

If I could get one for half off I would have a hard time not buying it, whether I needed it or not. I certainly wouldn't blame you for doing so.

[j-digg]

. For example, the Canon 135mm f/2-L puts a huge visual impression on its images,and is a very fine lens. It has shallow depth of field, and th transitions from out of focus to the sharp focus areas, and the transition from in-focus to the out of focus background is VERY beautiful from the 135/2-L lens. It is a must-have Canon prime.

This is what id recommend.... been drooling over this one for awhile after viewing countless great images taken with this lens, even though I have a 100 2.8 which is relatively comparable in FL... Its pretty cheap for an L, still coming in under 1100 new even after the recent price hikes, and seems to be just magic for portraiture when paired with a 5d2... Check out this thread on POTN, there are some great ( along with a few not so great ) examples: Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM - Page 405 - Canon Digital Photography Forums

[Mike_E]

You don't already have a 2nd body?

Check this out then.. I converted a Zeiss Ikon Contina L lens on my canon 5d mark II