[Tony Davies patrick]

There are no set lenses that you ‘must’ use for video; any lenses in the Canon line-up, or in fact almost any lens (with an adapter) from Nikon, Pentax, Contax, Leica etc will do – it all depends on what your subject is.

Fast lenses are in vogue for the 5D Mark II when used in video mode, and although I do own a rack of extreme-fast lenses from Canon and Nikon they are not always needed.

For filming subjects at extreme low light-levels and when you require narrow depth of field, a lens such as the 24mm f/1.4, or 50mm f/1.2 or 200mm f/1.8 might be the best optics to use; but if you are filming landscapes in that same low light- you will need to stop those same lenses down to smaller aperture in the f/5.6-f/11 region to maintain a decent DOF – so a 24mm f/3.5; 50mm f/2 or 200mm f/4 will work just as well – plus the fact that they will be less in weight and price.

If you have plenty of time on your hands, then a prime fixed aperture lens often the tools for the job, but if you are constantly changing angles and subjects within a short time frame, then zoom lenses are the best option.

I prefer fast zooms, and have found for most video subjects f/2.8 is a good maximum aperture – so 17-35mm, 16-35mm, 24-70mm, 28-70mm, 70-200mm, 80-200mm f/2.8 lenses work very well for both stills and video. If you are mainly working in decent light and require medium-small apertures fro more DOF, then the slower zoom lenses will work just as well.

For run-and-gun situations or when you are constantly being faced with fast-changing subjects at short or long ranges when it is impossible to change lenses, the all-in-one quality zooms such as Canon 28-300mm L or 35-350mm L can be your saviour.

A lot has been discussed about using IS lenses for video, and it certainly does help in some situations, but I’ve found that using IS on a Canon XL2 or XL-H1 video camera fitted with 20X lenses compared to a 5D fitted with EOS IS lenses does not relate to the same type of filming or results.

Most of the time I turn off the IS mode on all my lenses when shooting video with a 5D and much prefer to either use a tripod or steadycam with the IS turned off.

The vital thing that stumps most photographers who use the 5D in video mode is camera-shake. I often use a specially adapted Hasselblad magnifying eye-piece clipped to the live-view screen of the 5D and this does help a lot for both manual focus and to maintain good framing; but I also use a special shoulder & waist brace to keep everything rock-steady when I am filming without a tripod.

Without a doubt, one of the most important extra items that I use for filming handheld with the 5D over uneven terrain is my steadicam. Match a 5D Mark II + steadicam + wide angle zoom lens, and you will be amazed at how smooth your video footage can be.

So try to understand how to use your 5D Mark II in video mode first, and above all learn how to keep it steady, and then choose the lenses which fit your subject matter.

GlobetrotterWorld
https://www.NIKON.me.uk
https://www.CanonLens.co.uk