Video Lens?

LawrenceChiu · Apr 9, 2012

What do you guys prefer when you are taking videos on the dSLR?
I'm planning on making time elapse videos such as flowers blooming from sunrise to sunset, sky changing color, etc.
I don't have the 50mm f/1.8 but I can afford up to the 50mm f/1.4.
What do you guys think? Any other recommendations on third party lens? I see like a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 for $300 at my craiglist.

I also want to take either landscape and/or portrait pictures when not taking videos.

Sw1tchFX · Apr 9, 2012

AF lenses don't have smooth enough focus rings for video. Get a Zeiss 50mm, or an old Nikon AIS 50mm. 100x better for video than the newer lenses.

TheInformer · Apr 9, 2012

I would pick up one of the manual focus rokinon lenses.. They make great video lenses and great portrait lenses.. They are also super sharp and fairly priced... http://amzn.to/HwZorX :thumbup:

LawrenceChiu · Apr 9, 2012

I would like to prefer AF lens though. I want to be able to shoot like portrait and landscape with AF when I'm not shooting video. If I'm purely shooting on video only, then I would have bought the Rokinon lens in a heart beat since it's so cheap. I might add the extra $100 to get the 50mm f/1.4 if that's the case to get the AF motor.

Big Mike · Apr 10, 2012

Canon U.S.A. : Professional Imaging Products : EF Cinema Lenses (EF Mount)

analog.universe · Apr 10, 2012

Have you done stills with a nicely engineered manual focus lens? I honestly prefer it most of the time to autofocus... You may not miss AF as much as you think.

You can get some old Zeiss on eBay pretty cheap. (There were a lot of lenses made for Contax mount that are easy to adapt to Canon)

The Cine lenses Mike linked to have a manual aperture ring without hard clicks, as well as standardized dimensions for compatibility with video accessories, and calibrated distance and T-stop scales. The Zeiss Compact Prime series lenses have the same features, but both of these lens lineups are much more expensive than still lenses.