All this talk about the M9 has me looking at 5Ds

I knew a guy who carried the following 5D kit around with him on his bike:

5D
28/2.8
35/2
50/1.4
85/1.8
550ex flash with index card and rubber band for bouncing.

He put rings on the 52mm threads to make them 58mm like the other lenses and only carried a single set of filters.

It sounds like a lot of stuff, but it was surprising how nicely he could pack it up into a compact bag. His photos were good indoors and out, so I guess this kit worked pretty well for him. All of the lenses are very small (for AF SLR lenses).

If I were doing the same thing it would be:
5D mark II
24/2.8
35/2
85/1.8

I'd prefer a 24/2 or a higher quality 35/2, but those are the only AF choices canon has unless you want to go for the huge (but extremely nice) f1.4 L lenses.

Currently, I often use the above kit but without the 24/2.8 and with a 35/1.4L instead of the 35/2. I'll also throw in an OM 21/2 sometimes. The 35/1.4 is a dream, but it's not fun to carry around for long periods of time.

Interesting tidbit: The 35/1.4L weighs about the same as the Voigtlander 35/1.2.
 
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I've used both, own a D700 and I can only say that image wise they are so close, I think the Canon's default in camera sharpening is too high which is probably why I liked the D700 more. It gives a much more film like image if you like. Obviously the sharpening can be set higher. Where the Nikon knocks the pants of everything else though is in the upper iso levels. 6400 and 2 more stops to go. Thats a 3 stop advantage over the Canon and for a lot of what I like to photograph it makes a difference. 12800 and 25600 need a little post with dfine or similar but are perfectly usable.
 
Hi nightfly,

A lot of good stuff has already been said, but I hope you don't mind me chipping in with my thoughts...

After years of really not liking the idea of digital, I finally got a 5DII last month. It was largely due to friend who has had a 5D since they were released, and the quality of his shots are quite superb - as you say, there was a quality there that I hadn't seen with other digitals.

So, I think your plan is a winner.

I got my 5DII with the kit 24-105L lens, and it's optically pretty impressive, but it's very big and bulky. So I got a Canon 50/1.4 too, and the beast is much easier to handle with that - I plan to add a 28/1.8 and an 85/1.8 when funds allow. (I had a look at a 28/2.8, but it feels really nasty and plastic, is slow and noisy to focus, and doesn't have full-time-manual focusing).

I also got an Olympus adapter, for £10 (~$16) from Hong Kong, and all my Olympus Zuiko lenses work fine with that - so far I've been out shooting with my 85/2 and 21/3.5, and I've had great results.

So yes, I'm repeating myself, but the plan of getting a 5D and thinking of sticking Zuiko lenses on it is a winner, in my opinion.

Cheers,
 
Thanks for everyone's feedback. I have a friend who recently got one and I'm going to see if I can try it out. And I think my dad has an OM2N with a coupla Zuiko lenses that hasn't seen the light of day since the Regan administration which I could probably "borrow".

This is the reason I really like this forum. Lots of informed, interesting opinions that go way beyond pixel count and features. Thanks everyone.
 
My wife is a Canon 5D user. Me Olympus.

5D wins in cleanliness, high ISO. Olympus creams it in color accuracy (my wife admitted that herself, and she's not a "kool-aid" drinker off any brand)

Although high quality, the 5D tends to produce images that are too warm for me. For fall sceneries, it's awesome, for others, not so much.

Nikon is more neutral (that's probably why some people calls it lacking "punch").

I'm checking out D700, especially when I found out that I can use Leica R lenses on it with infinity focus by modifying the mount (reversible). Glorious!
 
PatrickT said:
Yep, just buy an adapter as mentioned above, pop it on the lens and start shooting. I normally shoot wide open or close to it, but if you want to stop down, you have to use stop down metering. That means when the aperture ring is turned on the lens, the viewfinder will become darker accordingly and that is how the camera meters. Kind of a pain when you want to shoot at f8 or whatever (because the viewfinder becomes fairly dark) but not a big deal at all when you shoot close to wide open. I have some focus-confirm adapters which will actually tell you when the image is in focus, just like your Canon lenses would. Of course, you have to manually focus (which I like).

But yeah, you can use aperture priority or manual, focus and shoot away. It's great.

I haven't used my Oly 50/1.8 much as I tend to use the 50/1.4 more (although it's slightly bigger and heavier). It is one of my most used lenses and I love it. I'm not a pixel peeper but I'd say it compares favorably to the Canon alternative.

The 28/3.5 vignettes wide open but when you stop it down a tad it really shines. Another lens I'm going to grab soon is the Oly 24/2.8 which was rated one of the best 24mm lenses ever by 16-9.net. Oh, and it's tiny too 🙂.

Feel free to check my flickr gallery for a ton of photos with some of these Oly lenses on my 5D. I shoot a lot of models and mainly use my 50/1.4 for them wide open. See for yourself, just search 50/1.4 in my photostream.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/weezintrumpeteer/

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions!

Patrick

Oh and Keith, let me know if you want to get rid of any of the Zuiko glass 🙂
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Not bloody likely! 😛

My 24mm f2.8 Zuiko is on my black OM-1 with a roll od Velvia in it as we speak. I also love my 85mm f2 and my early 50mm 1.4 has impressed me a lot lately. I always used to chose the much more expensive 1.2 over it but lately the 1.4 seems to have favour. The OOF areas of the 1.2 can be a little insane at times! 😱

I'm almost beginning to suspect there may be a second hand 5D and OM adapter in my future! What does one pay for the OM adapter for the Canon and who sells it?
 
Thardy said:
The M9 is introduced with much pomp and fanfare, but a canon 5D love-fest breaks out. 😀
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I hadn't considered the irony of this situation ... but you're right! 😛

And I'm getting some serious 5D gas here ... my M8 is looking nervously at me but my Zuiko lenses seem to have an air of expectation! 😀
 
Keith said:
Not bloody likely! 😛

My 24mm f2.8 Zuiko is on my black OM-1 with a roll od Velvia in it as we speak. I also love my 85mm f2 and my early 50mm 1.4 has impressed me a lot lately. I always used to chose the much more expensive 1.2 over it but lately the 1.4 seems to have favour. The OOF areas of the 1.2 can be a little insane at times! 😱

I'm almost beginning to suspect there may be a second hand 5D and OM adapter in my future! What does one pay for the OM adapter for the Canon and who sells it?
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Damn. 3 of the 4 lenses you mentioned are ones I'm looking out for (24/2.8, 85/2, 50/1.2). Oh well, I'll keep looking 🙂
 
Keith said:
I hadn't considered the irony of this situation ... but you're right! 😛

And I'm getting some serious 5D gas here ... my M8 is looking nervously at me but my Zuiko lenses seem to have an air of expectation! 😀
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I tried to find you some photos taken with both a 55mm 1.2 zuiko and a 28mm f3.5 zuiko but I couldn't... Pity because they were really impressive lenses on the 5d. Even the clumsy 55mm 1.2, which was far from technically perfect.
One thing you need to do with the 5d is get either the EE-S focussing screen or a katz eye split screen for use with MF lenses, it's not easy with the standard screen to get good focus all the time.

I actually went through the process of using old MF lenses on my 5d - I had zuikos and a Zeiss ZF 50mm. I ended up just going back to the canon AF primes - even the cheapest ones are either equal or better to MF glass in image quality, and the AF makes life a lot easier. The ZF zeiss was a dissapointment - just wasn't really as good as I thought it would be. The canon 50mm 1.8 is sharper at wide apertures, and has nicer bokeh.

Although, in saying that, I'd love to get some Leica R lenses on a 5d with a split screen - thats gotta be pretty close to the ultimate digital MF slr.
 
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this thread makes me laugh--at myself. i have checked on it a few times today. i have no interest in buying a new camera--and no money for it!--but this thread sure makes the 5D mark ii look appealing! if i were to opt out of the M system, it'd be darn tempting ...
 
OT ... it just occured to me ... are two 5D's the same as ten double D's?

Because I had this girlfriend once who told me she had ten double D's ... I thought it must have meant she had two Canons which was strange because she appeared to have no interest in photography?

My god ... that sounds even worse! 😛
 
ramosa said:
i have no interest in buying a new camera--and no money for it!--but this thread sure makes the 5D mark ii look appealing!
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I had no interest in a 5DmkII and still don't - but I'm very glad Canon released it as I was able to pick up a 5D quite cheaply from someone who just had to dump his to pick up the mkII right now. I wasn't even sure I intended to hold on to it, but the 5D pairs up so nicely with a couple of my prime lenses that its a real keeper. 12Mpx is plenty for the sizes I print (up to 19"x13"), so the oldie is a goodie as far as I'm concerned.

...Mike
 
Jamie Pillers said:
They make adapters to allow use of Nikkor lenses on Canon bodies (but not the other way around). So check out the Nikkor AF-S 35/1.8. Small, cheap, and brilliant image quality across the frame.
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It's true that the lens will mount, but you won't be able to adjust the aperture. Also, that lens is designed for a smaller, APS-C sensor, so you will not get the full image on a full frame sensor. There will be severe vignetting.

I'm not sure how that would work with selecting the apertures actually. You might jsut be able to shoot it wide open all the time?
 
nightfly said:
What would be the smallest, lightest, 28-35-50 lens kit you could put together for a 5D that would yield a good street and travel kit?
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I don't know what would happen in the full frame 5D, but in my 10D I tested the 50/1.4 and 50/1.8 side by side, and the 50/1.8 won. The 50/1.4 went back to B&H. The 1.8 is smaller and much cheaper.

You could try the 1.8 first and go for the 1.4 if unsatisfied. AF is noisy though, and the lens looks terrible. If you want hyperfocal marks you would need to find out a "Mk I" version of the lens (much nicer construction too). One auction going on:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CANON-EF-50MM-1...nses?hash=item3a52a46aaf&_trksid=p4999.c0.m14

That's the version I have, BTW.

Edit: another auction

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-EF-50mm-f...nses?hash=item255652896b&_trksid=p4999.c0.m14

- Cesar
 
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I can't recommend the D700 highly enough. I love my M2, but for paid work, I can't do film these days, so the D700 comes out. I use a 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, and 105 f/2 for 99% of my portrait work and I love the combo--fantastic camera, stunning files up to iso 3200 and definitely printable at 6400 even. Plus, if you're at all interested in flash, Nikon's flash system is far superior to Canon's.
AF is snappy, DOF is shallow (compared to crop sensor digitals), and files are nicely sized; big without being so huge that you need 16gb cards to get anything done.
 
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