Lens advice

[ceemac]

I'm thinking of purchasing a used FF camera, probably looking at the Canon 6D(not MKII). One is body and buying a Sigma 24-70 f2.8. The other is body with canon 24-105 f1.4L The sigma looks like a great lens. The Canon 24-105 f4L is described as a good kit lens, but I can't find any info on the f1.4L (It does say 1.4L on the lens). I will be doing mainly landscapes, street scenes and non portrait shots of people. Love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks

 

[jaomul]

It's not a f1.4 lens if it's 24-105. It's f4. A 24-105 f1.4 lens would be about a foot long and probably weigh 3kgs.

I can't speak for the sigma but it's hard to go wrong with a 24-105 f4 for range and outright convenience. I don't think fullframe cameras need the f2.8 as much as they used to now that the cameras can comfortably shoot at much higher iso than older cams

Ymmv

 

[jaomul]

The 1.4 is actually written 1:4 which basically is another way of writing f number

 

[Braineack]

^^ it says 1:4, not 1.4

1:4 = f/4

 

[centauro74]

FYI, Sigma makes a 24-105 f4 that is sharper than the canon 24-105.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[ac12]

Today, I would go with the wider range 24-105 as a General Purpose (GP) lens.
I would find myself switching out the 24-70 often, to get a longer reach. Going out to 105 would be a lot more convenient for a GP lens, and reduce the need to swap out for a longer lens.

 

[Christie Photo]

The Canon is much more than a "kit" level lens. Here's some info.

Let us know what you decide.

-Pete

 

[TCampbell]

The Canon lens is an "L" series lens. These are Canon's top-end lenses and are generally hard to beat. Most cost more than $1000 ... only a few are less. The EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM was the original but there are have been a few updates recently. That lens was often bundled as the "kit" lens with full-frame Canon cameras (don't let the term "kit" fool you... when you get to full frame you're in a high-end category and the "kit" lens is also in a high end category).

Though I think the purchase price was around $900 to buy that lens stand-alone (it's one of the few lenses that was less than $1000) you could commonly find it for as low as $600 as a "white box" lens. This is because when Canon comes out with a new camera, initially they only sell the "kit" (camera + lens) and those who want to upgrade want the "body only" -- but would have to wait several months before Canon makes it available. So stores will open the box, remove the lens (which comes with it's own warranty card) and re-box it into a generic box so they can sell just the camera body alone. This made it an especially good deal (if you could find one) because it was technically "new".

I never owned this lens, but many people loved it. When I went full-frame, my conundrum was between the 24-105 f/4 ... or the 24-70 f/2.8 (which was more expensive.) But since I ended up also buying the 70-200mm f/2.8, I figured I'd do the 24-70 + 70-200 and have the whole range covered at f/2.8 and skip the 24-105 f/4. HOWEVER... if you were to ONLY buy ONE lens... then I'd recommend the 24-105. It'll be a bit more versatile as a single-lens solution until you end up acquiring more glass.

 

[Cortian]

Ken Rockwell on the Canon Zoom Lens EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM

Even with my short exposure to DSLRs, I find myself not necessarily in agreement with everything KR says, but I have found his site and his evaluations quite useful.

 

[ceemac]

Thank you all for your advice. It was f4, hard to tell from the picture. Guess I need full frame eyes. The reviews were helpful. I've read Rockwell's reviews on other lenses. I forgot about him, thanks.

You're right Tcampbell, "kit" does make it sound mediocre. It sounded like it would cover enough range for now. Nice to know it's a good lens.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

 

[Derrel]

I bought a Canon 5D kit for around $3,800, back when that was a hot, new full-frame d-slr! The huge box that the kit came in had...ta dah!...the 24-105 f/4 L IS USM lens inside! That lens made for a perfect general-purpose, one-lens, walk-around rig!

Yeah...it's got some distortion on the wide end...sure...but overall, a VERY useful focal length range. On full-frame, 24mm is quite wide! 28mm is less wide, yet still wide, but with less distorting of things at the corners and edges of the frame; 35mm is a wonderful lens length, a very useful semi-wide or pseudo-wide lens length; 45 to 55mm is very normal; 60 to 85 is short telephoto; 85-105 is moderate telephoto. The lens is not especially small, but it's quite,quite manageable, and on a 6D or 6D Mark-II, would be a good choice for a one-lens day at the sea shore, or the zoo, or on vacation, as well as adequate for studio pictures of many things.

 

[beagle100]

Thank you all for your advice. It was f4, hard to tell from the picture. Guess I need full frame eyes. The reviews were helpful. I've read Rockwell's reviews on other lenses. I forgot about him, thanks.

You're right Tcampbell, "kit" does make it sound mediocre. It sounded like it would cover enough range for now. Nice to know it's a good lens.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

I'd also pick the Canon 24-105 over the sigma
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

 

[ceemac]

I bought a Canon 5D kit

What's your opinion of the 5dMKII? and the 6D? especially for low light

 

[TCampbell]

The only problem issue the 6D had was that this was Canon's first DSLR that had built-in GPS. Since it can take a GPS several minutes to acquire a position fix, Canon feared that users would switch off the camera briefly (say... to change lenses), then switch the camera back on and start shooting... then get upset if the images weren't tagged with GPS data because it didn't have a position fix yet.

SO... they designed this camera model such that if you go into the menu system to enable the GPS ... the GPS is ON as long as there is a battery in the camera. Note I did not say anything about whether or not the camera is powered on... because that doesn't matter. If the battery is in the camera and the last time you used it, the GPS was on, then the GPS is still active and draining the battery EVEN with the power switch 'off'.

There are only two ways to disable the GPS. One way is to power on the camera, navigate to the menu page, and disable the GPS. The other way is to remove the battery (don't store the camera with the battery inside).

Users would forget to do this, and within a day or two of the last time they used their camera, they grab the camera and discover they had a completely dead battery.

In newer models of Canon DSLRs that have a GPS, Canon learned their lesson. They now offer an option to disable the GPS when the power is off and they offer a mode that puts the GPS into a mode where it just does very infrequent position fixes (so it's technically 'on' but not draining the camera as fast.)

The only other issue that stood out for the 6D was that the glue they use to attach the mode dial plate... seems to be weak or... maybe they just don't use enough. It just occasionally falls off (only for some users). That seems to be an uncommon issue (most 6Ds don't have their mode dial plate fall off). But considering we absolutely NEVER hear about this happening for any other model camera (Canon or non-Canon), Canon clearly did something different with the glue on this particular model.



Apart from that... the 6D technically has a slightly better sensor for low light as well as better low light focusing (actually it is one of the best cameras in the industry for low-light focusing.)

 

[ceemac]

Thankyou, Tim. I ordered the 6D, but as the store is closed today, I won't get confirmation they still have it in stock until Monday. In the meantime I bought the used lens EF 24-105 f/4 L IS USM. I couldn't pass up the deal, supposedly in excellent condition, but I can return it if it's not. comes with a B&W UV filter and hood for 660 can.