80D lens recommendations

[mabuse]

Looking to get back into photography again, used to have the Canon 20D but it stopped working (after 11 years) and only photography I have done in the last 2 years is with my wife’s Canon PowerShot and my iPhone.

My current gear:
Canon 20D body (Dead)
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Canon Speedlite 420EX

Like to shoot portraits, night scenes, indoor, landscapes, sports(my kid's basketball/soccer games), low light, macro and creative photography.

Really think I want to go with the 80D. Some have suggested I should go Full Frame, not sure I’m ready to make that jump at this time.

So I’m getting 80D, what about kit lens?

80D with Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM gets pretty good reviews. Is this worth over my current lenses I have now or do you think I should just stick with the 80D body only and use my current lenses?

Also thinking about getting two more lens:
Canon 10-18mm f/4-5.6 IS STM
Canon 24mm f/2.8 STM
Thoughts on these.

A future purchase would be to save up for Sigma 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 DG OS HSM or Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for wildlife shooting.

Do you think this setup would suit me well for the kind of photography to shoot, how would this integrate with my current setup? Too much overlap or should sell off certain lenses.

I have around $900 in Amazon credit plus another &1,000 I have saved up. Sorry for the multiple questions.If you want me to post these questions in other forums I will. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

[jaomul]

I'd get the 80d with some kind of STM kit lens. You have quite a lot of lenses. Use them, see what you think you need after a while.

The 50mm should be a good portait lens, there is a fairly low priced STM model as well if you felt like another purchase.

The reason I mentioned STM lenses is I reckon it's worth having one or two of these to take advantage of the 80d video ability

 

[TCampbell]

You have a lot of very good lenses. It looks like all of them can be used on either a full-frame or crop-frame body (all "EF" lenses can be used on any EOS body... the important bit is that it's just "EF" and not "EF-S" or "EF-M").

The 20D had an "APS-C" size sensor (dimensions are roughly 15mm tall by about 22mm wide) and the 80D happens to have the same APS-C size ...so the angle of view will be the same when you use any of these lenses.

A full frame body (1D X series, 5D series, or 6D series) will have a sensor that measures roughly 24mm tall by 36mm wide. This changes the angle of view for all lenses (they'll all shoot "wider" than you are used to with your 20D).

Any new (currently offered model on the market) is going to be a huge step up from your 20D ... especially w.r.t. ISO & noise performance. The sensor resolutions are all much higher, but the ability to shoot at high ISO and still have relatively low noise has made huge gains in recent years.

A full-frame sensor will tend to do much better in the ISO department. A 6D II is more than a full-stop ahead of an 80D in terms of shooting in low light at high ISO and still having low noise.

I'm looking at your lenses and you mentioned both basketball and soccer. For soccer you might want a zoom with a bit more focal length on the long end... ideally something like the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM II would be good if these are "daytime" games (lots of light). Basketball always tends to be indoors and your EF 70-200mm f/4L USM is very good focal length range - as long as you can keep the shutter speed high enough to avoid motion blur. The 70-200mm f/2.8L version collects a full stop more light (so you can shoot with shutter speeds twice as fast).

I actually do _not_ like the 50mm f/1.8 for portraits. The old version only had a 5-blade aperture that wasn't very round. This give a very jagged out-of-focus blur that wasn't very flattering. The new version uses identical optics... except they've substantially improved the build, switched to the STM focus motor, and they've replaced the old 5-blade aperture with a 7-blade aperture which is much more well-rounded. This creates an out-of-focus blur which is much smoother.

Also for portraits... consider using your 70-200mm f/4L ... but step back from the subject and shoot them at the 200mm end using f/4. That's a very nice look.

 

[mabuse]

Thanks for the info. So do you think I should just get the 80D Body and forgo the 18-135mm kit lens? Just continue using my existing lenses and save up for the 70-200mm f/2.8L. I guess the question is: Is there any advantage 18-135mm has over my existing lenses? Should I sell off some other lenses and replace with 18-135mm.

My most used lenses previously:
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8, and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8.

The Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 used to be my walk around lens. I also used the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM for a bit longer distances. Always felt like I never really took out the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM all that much.

 

[Cortian]

That Canon 18-135mm lens is highly-regarded as a great "walking around" lens. It would be on the top of my list if I didn't already have the 17-85mm lens and I didn't want to get something better for macro photography, first.

 

[zombiesniper]

With the current lenses that you have I would personally just get the body UNLESS as has been stated above you intend to get into video.

If video is not an immediate priority go with the body only. Between the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM you have the focal range cover with some pretty decent glass.

 

[mabuse]

Thanks for the response. The 80D will be used primarily for photos, although I wouldn’t rule out video as I have 3 boys: a 13 yr old and 10 yr old twins (2 play sports and 2 are in band) plenty of opportunities to use video.

 

[ac12]

As a General Purpose lens the 18-135 on the crop body is a GREAT lens.
I use the Nikon equivalent (18-140), and I am more than pleased with it. OK I wish it were 1 stop faster, but then it would be HEAVIER. Dang trade-offs.

I have a bunch of other lenses but the 18-140 is on the camera most of the time, like 90+%.
The other lenses go on as specialized need lenses; macro or for more reach (70-300, 500 or 800mm) or faster (35 f/1.8 or 70-210 f/4).

Earlier in the school year, I recommended that the yearbook advisor buy the T7i with the 18-135 lens. He purchased two of them. This combo has worked out very well for the kids. The 18-135s have rarely come off the cameras. This means less chance of dropping and damaging a lens, when changing to another lens. And less chance of getting "stuff" onto the sensor. Their previous kit on the T5 was 18-55 + 70-300. I'm going to recommend 2 more 18-135s to replace the 18-55 and 70-300 on the T5s.

But the 18-135 is really a day time lens. The 18-135 lags in low light, such as indoor sports (basketball, volleyball, etc), and outdoor night games under light (football and soccer). Here we have to crank up the ISO on the T7i to 12800 to shoot at 1/500 sec, or ISO 25600 to shoot at 1/1000 sec. The T7i is our low light camera, the T5 can't get the ISO as high as the T7i, and really struggle in those lower light conditions.

I shoot the indoor sports with a 35mm f/1.8, so that I can shoot at ISO 3200, 1/1000 sec, f/2.
But I loose the wide angle of the zoom, which I do miss when the players are CLOSE to me (I'm down on the court floor).
For volleyball, one of the parents uses a 50mm f/1.8 on his crop body camera. It gives him more reach than my 35mm.
Your 17-40 f/4 would be fine on the court floor.
Your 28-70 f/2.8 or 50 f/1.8 should work fine on the court floor or in the close high school bleachers.

If you are shooting soccer, on the field, next to the sidelines and endlines, the 18-135 works great. I've gotten shots that I just could not get with my 80-200 on a 35mm camera. When the players come CLOSE to me (like 6 to 10 feet), I simply zoom out to 18mm. This makes for some cool shots from the endline. However, if you are up in the bleachers, the 18-135 is probably too short and the longer 70-200 or 70-300 IS lenses would work better.

re the 70-200: I found the 70-200 to be too long on the short 70mm end when shooting on the field and the players come close to me. I have to back up, without tripping and falling down, to get far enough to "try" to get most of their body in the viewfinder. Or ignore the players when they come close, which is what we did when shooting film. OK, I am spoiled by what I can do with the wide end of the 18-140. On the long end, 200mm seems to be adequate to reach to the other sideline and into the other half of the field (when I am on the 30 yard line). I find it difficult to track fast moving action at 200mm, so I end up backing off.

I would just love a 40-140 f/2.8 DX/crop sensor lens.
The closest is the discontinued Sigma 50-150 f/2.8.

Given a choice I would rather use my 18-140 to shoot soccer.
The only time I struggle is night games, when, to gain an extra stop I switch to the 70-210 f/4 lens.

 

[ac12]

An example of a close endline shot with the Nikon 18-140 lens on my D7200 DX camera.

(Photos deleted, sorry.)

For this shot, I am standing about 4 feet back from the end-line. That blue line on the other side of the player is the 5 yard line. So the player is about 15 feet or less from me, and moving FAST, from my right to left.
EXIF shows the lens was at 32mm, no distance info.
Just based on the recorded focal length, I could not do this shot with a 70-200 lens, with a 24-70 yes.
#1 - I had to keep the center AF point on the player (white #10), so he, had to be in the center of the frame.
#2 - I cannot track FAST moving subjects with a tight zoom on the subject, I need space around the subject to deal with changes in direction, which happens often in soccer. So I crop in the computer, not the camera.

This is a late afternoon shot (4:52pm). The sun has not yet gone down.
Exposure data: ISO 1600, 1/1250 sec, f/5.0, aperture priority, meter was in center-weight mode.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I have the 80d, 55-250 stm, 50mm stm, 24mm stm, 18-55 stm and tamron 150-600 g2. I use them all minus the 18-55 really. Depends what you're shooting really. I bring the 55-250 for events like school stuff, indoor sports. I like the 24mm for indoor shooting, 50mm for portraits and the 150-600 for wildlife. I don't use the 18-55 really.

 

[lance70]

With your current glass maybe consider a 35mm 1.4 lens.

 

[mabuse]

Just wanted to return to say thank you to all who responded to my original post with your suggestions. I decided to purchase Canon 80D (body only). So far the camera has exceeded my expectations. My next camera will most likely be a full frame, but for now, I think I made the right choice in sticking with the crop sensor.

Also ordered an extra battery and SD card. Next up I need to get a new carry around bag already have a Lowepro backpack (looking for something a bit smaller). Any recommendations for a bag that will hold camera plus 2-3 lenses.

Need to get some of them cleaned. Can anyone provide recommendations of somewhere to get lenses cleaned. Have tried myself, but still I have spots on lenses.

 

[john.margetts]

Len scleaning - if the spots are on the outside any proprietary lens cleaner plus a soft cloth/lens tissue will suffice. If the spots are inside the lens, just ignore them. They cannot affect the image at all.

 

[mabuse]

Thanks, when open the images in Photoshop I am seeing spots in the same location in the image.

 

[Cortian]

Next up I need to get a new carry around bag already have a Lowepro backpack (looking for something a bit smaller). Any recommendations for a bag that will hold camera plus 2-3 lenses.

Don't know how it compares to what you have already, but here's what I have:

That L-shaped space with the camera and lens in it is sized such camera+lens fits even with the longest lens, the one that's on the upper-left.

In addition to camera plus two lenses: Extra filter and battery charger to the left of the lens that's on the camera and strap, batteries, and more filters (can't see them) on the bottom (which is really the top). I've room for a speedlight there.

The zippered compartment up top has a couple cables in it.

I like the small access on the side, which will let me take the camera out and put it back w/o opening the whole bag.

There's the product tag.

It's got a couple straps on the bottom to hold a tripod and some other attachment points.

I had the smaller version, at first. Ran out of space and the camera store let me exchange it for this one.