Help! Buying a Canon 60D, need suggestions for lenses

Hey all! I am pretty new to digital filmmaking and in the next week I'll be buying a Canon 60D. (I chose the 60D over any other DSLR around my price range after months of hard research!)

I will be using the camera for filmmaking about 80% of the time and I would LOVE suggestions for good lenses.

What I am considering, so far:

Rokinon ultra wide angle 14mm f/2.8
Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6
Tamron 18-200 f/3.5-6.3
Samyang 24mm f/1.4 (I'm a little wary about this one because I heard anything under 2.8 for filmmaking wouldn't be the best.)

As you can see, my price range is in the $300-500 area.

THANKS FOR THE HELP! :)
 
Instead of getting all those lenses, you'd be better off with one single zoom lens - at your listed price bracket, that is.

Tamrom makes a neat 24 - 75mm fixed 2.8 aperture : link here

You can keep your aperture all the way open at 2.8 regardless of your zoom length, unlike the zooms you listed which will all pretty much close the aperture down the more you zoom in.

Samyang 24mm f/1.4 (I'm a little wary about this one because I heard anything under 2.8 for filmmaking wouldn't be the best

Just 'cos a lens can open to 1.4 doesn't mean you have to actually use that setting. You can set the aperture to 2.8 with that lens, any time you want. It just offers more versality. Going full open at 1.4 does have its issues, though, sure - more to do with too shallow depth of field. It's easy to overdo it.

You'd probably want more of a spread with your fixed lenses, anyway. 24mm, 50mm, 85mm would be more useful - (many good choices from Rokinon/Samyang in that area), but you'd need a bit more than your max of $500 to get there. Not too much more, so maybe pick 'em up one by one.

Hope that helped :)

.
 
Have a look into vintage lenses. There are downfalls obviously (needing adaptors, losing autofocus, etc), but some of them are really quite fantastic lenses for really low prices. And, as they were made in an era without autofocussing, the manual focus on them is a lot nicer than a number of lenses today. The build quality is really nice as well. http://vintagelensesforvideo.com/ is a useful website. It's pretty new, so doesn't have a heap of information, but it's a nice resource nonetheless.

You would be able to get a nice 28mm, 35mm and 50mm in your budget, and still have a bit of cash to throw around.

Although, if you need autofocus (I see you do photography), they mightn't be ideal. They also have a bit of a different look, which you might no like. And sometimes they can come in not-so-flash condition (to avoid this, ask questions on ebay, read the descriptions carefully - and if they're a dishonest seller, report them/lodge a claim for a refund). They also don't come that wide, as they are designed for full framed cameras, so if you do need something that wide, you may want to get something modern. I think zoom is relatively useless, but if you like documentary, then it may be of use to you (it also makes things a little more versatile in tight situations).

However, here is a few suggestions with how you could spread your budget using just primes

Lets say you want the 14mm Rokinon - based on the value the last two sold on eBay for, you can pick one up for around $280-$300 (although all current prices are a bit higher, so you might need to wait a bit for a good deal). I selected the 14mm, because it's going to be the hardest to cover with vintage primes
This gives you around $200 to play with.
The incredibly popular vintage Helios 44-m 58mm is $20-$30 (you can sometimes pick them up even cheaper). It's an odd focal length but a really nice lens (test of it on a 60d https://vimeo.com/26729587 - bare in mine this has had some grading)
The Miranda 28mm sells for around $20-$50 (this is about a 50mm equiv on your crop sensor) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x96YgeG8s4 the miranda on a t3i)

you still have $100-$150 to play with.

You probably want something between your 28mm and your 58mm.
I would suggest a 35mm, or maybe a 40mm. Probably a 40mm, because it's more in the middle of the two focal lengths.
At 40mm, there is the Konica Hexanon f1.8 which sells at about $20-$50 (https://vimeo.com/42406396)
At 35mm, you could try the Fujian 35mm (around $30) (https://vimeo.com/61456890). This lens has quite a specific look (partly because is not at all sharp at the edges). I don't currently have a 35mm, but may get this for a flashback sequence due to this look.

This comes in at
$350 - $460
There are, of course, plenty more options. The Asahi Super-Takumar lenses are very popular, the Tamron (https://vimeo.com/65788669) and Vivitar 28mm's (https://vimeo.com/17350203) fare well, and of course, if you need to get longer focal lengths, there are a number of options there too. It really depends what filmmaking you want to be doing, what your style is, and what focal lengths you want covered.

Remember; whilst having great lenses will help your final product, it won't make you a better filmmaker. If you are a rubbish film maker with a $500 lens, a good film maker with a $50 vintage lens will produce images that far exceed yours.
 
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Hi taylerbunge , and welcome to the forum. One caveat when shooting with the 60D, watch out for patterned subjects such as shingled roofs and patterned fabrics.

If you do decide to get the 60D, I recommend you save up an extra $49 and get a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. Either that, or get one used. Here is what this camera/lens combination can do:

http://vimeo.com/63490501

This is probably the best value-for-money wide, low light zoom for Canon. I prefer the higher resolution (watch at 1080p) of a camera like the Panasonic G6, but that's just me :)

Good luck with your new camera!

Bill
 
Thank you everyone for all your help!! I am definitely looking for a lens that can give a more cinematic look.

These are great suggestions and when it comes time to build a lens collection, I'm going to have so much to sort through.

As of right now, my camera arrives in 6 days and I'm definitely leaning towards buying a basic, all-purpose $150-200 lens. Like cheeseandachallenge pointed out, to improve my filmmaking it definitely depends more on me than my equipment.

So I'll buy a basic, all-purpose and wait a little longer to save up for a collection of nicer ones.

Now I'm looking at filters! Yet another search begins...
 
For the very basics, you could use a kit lens - but I think in terms of learning filmmaking (framing/composition and whatnot), using primes teaches you more (you can't stay in the same place and simply zoom to frame your shot better). And a cheap prime lens looks nicer and more cinematic than a kit lens will - in my opinion.

I'm not sure you have many decent options, outside kit lenses in that price bracket? I haven't really looked into it myself.
 
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