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Which Canon primes for Birger mount?

Jaime Vallés

Jaime Vallés

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Hello, all! Like most everyone here, I'm very excited about the Canon lens mount from Birger. I don't own any still lenses yet, so I'm looking for info on Canon prime lenses. Needless to say, the less expensive, the better. A lot of folks have been discussing zoom lenses, but they only open to f2.8 or so. If I want low light ability and sharpness, I assume I'm better off with prime lenses for those purposes. So I ask you: which ones to get? Assume I want to spend $1500 total on the lenses. Is this cool? Am I crazy? Thoughts?

Thanks for your time.

PS- I don't want this to be a discussion about whether I should get Nikon vs Canon. Lets focus this on Canon lenses exclusively, for use with the Birger Canon Mount.
 
Your not going to get much in the way of fast canon primes for $1,500. that being said the 35 1.4 seems like a winner, the 20mm not so much. 50 1.4 and 85 1.2 are also great.
 
Mike Prevette said:
Your not going to get much in the way of fast canon primes for $1,500. that being said the 35 1.4 seems like a winner, the 20mm not so much. 50 1.4 and 85 1.2 are also great.
Click to expand...

Actually, I purchased nearly a complete set for not much more than that. It was some work to locate a few of them, but I ended up with a great set of glass.
 
These are the lenses you want to get...
eosglass.jpg

More than $1500 for sure but still cheaper than the Red CF zoom. And f1.4.
 
Jaime Vallés said:
Assume I want to spend $1500 total on the lenses. Am I crazy?
Click to expand...

Crazy...no. Unrealistic... yes.

For that money I would forget the Birger and get a FD mount from Kmuse and go with fast Canon FD primes. You can get 6 lenses all F/1.4 to F/2.8 for about that amount of money -- 20mm, 28, 50, 100 and 200mm and only spend $1200.00. And pickup a 300mm F/2.8 for another $750.00.

Otherwise you need to triple your budget for fast EF primes. However, I think you will find that the new zooms compare very well with the primes - just be sure to test them as they are all over the map. I just got a new Canon EF 16-35mm II and I had to try 6 lenses to find a really good one -- but that one very sharp at F/2.8.

Considering the speed of the RED... And if you are set on EF lenses and a Birger I would get a two F/2.8 zooms: A 16-35mm F/2.8, a 70-200 F/2.8 and a 50mm F/1.4 for $2800.00--- plus the $$ for the Birger of course.

Good luck!
 
the 85mm f/1.8 is great and only around $300. The extra cash for the f/1.2 is hard for me to justify, but everyone has their own preferences. Here's a comparison of the 2 that I found a while back:

http://www.wlcastleman.com/equip/reviews/85mm/bokeh.htm

50mm f/1.4, is great. 100mm f/2.8 macro is incredibly sharp and around $400. 135mm f/2L is beautiful and about $900. It's the fast wide angles that'll getcha on price.
 
Build quality is what I'd call "ok" - it's not L quality, but very serviceable. But the images.... I love the images!

Graeme
 
Thanks for all the feedback! Evin, your list looks great, but it's way too much for what I'd spend on SLR lenses. I'd be willing to go up to $2000 total.

Well, how about something like this? I found these prices at Amazon and a couple of other online stores, all lenses sold new.
Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM - $169
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 - $236
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II - $69
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM - $319
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM - $811
TOTAL - $1604

I understand that there are faster/sharper/better lenses out there, but for a starter kit using the Birger Canon mount, would this work?

Also, would Sigma, Tokina, or Tamron lenses with a canon mount work on the Birger canon mount? Some of those are remarkably inexpensive.

EDIT - I'm not concerned about the lenses breathing, since it's a relatively easy fix in post.
 
I have the Canon 50mm 1.2 USM L series and it is superb. Very narrow depth of field, especially wide open. Amazing bokah. It's a 72mm front and heavy but beautiful glass.

M
 
Jaime Vallés said:
Well, how about something like this? I found these prices at Amazon and a couple of other online stores, all lenses sold new.
Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM - $169
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 - $236
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II - $69
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM - $319
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM - $811
TOTAL - $1604
Click to expand...

Really, you could probably get away with just the 17-55 f/2.8 and 85 f/1.8 out of that group. You gain a stop on the 28,35, and 50mm primes, but you get flexibility with the zoom and it covers all of those focal lengths. If it were me, I'd skip the mediocre primes and get the better glass as I went along. That being said, it's less than $500 dollars more for the 3 more lenses, so you kinda can't go wrong. Also, I can't personally vouch for any of those 3 lenses, but I'm sure that they are perfectly acceptable.

The Sigmas, Tamrons , and Tokinas should work the same as Canons in the mount. Some of them are pretty good, especially for the price. I have a Tokina 12-24 f/4 and I love it. It's got a bit of CA, but not enough to usually bother me. Someone posted a press release for an 11-16 f/2.8 that is coming out that looks promising, too. The Digital Picture:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/

has reviews and sample photos from most Canon lenses and a bunch of the others. As well as a few other sites. I've been digging through all of the reviews and price points trying to decide what else I want to add to my EF mount lenses before my camera comes, as well. So, Good Luck.
 
You think so? I think more like Wendy's face, but there's some of me in there.

Graeme
 
My wish list for a Canon package for personal work would include just 3 zooms at this point, no primes, and I'm willing to pick through a few of each to find the best...

EF-S 3.5/4.5 10-22mm
EF 2.8 24-70mm L series
EF 2.8 70-200mm L series

All of them will work a matte box (the 24-70 with a bit of hood modification), all have a front filter diameter of 77mm for easy sharing of heavy ND's, and the group will cover a nice range of focal length including a decent wide when shooting cropped 2K. I might consider an additional short zoom as well of the 17mm to 55mm range...

All subject to change, based on Birger recommendations, etc...
 
OK, I'm getting the sense that a set of Canon primes for $1500 is wishful thinking. However, if Sigma works on the Birger EOS mount, then all I'd need are these 2 zooms:

Canon EF-S 17-55mm F2.8 IS USM - $929
Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 EX DC HSM - $599

The same range and aperture as both RED zooms, for around $1500 total. The Birger mount makes the short focus throw issue of SLR lenses moot, and I save a ton of cash. Whaddayathink?

Is there a Canon brand alternative for the Sigma 50-150 f2.8?
 
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