5d mark 2 lenses

Hi all, our house was burglarized last week but chubb was quick to step up to the plate with a check covering all replacement costs. That means i'm on my 3rd acquatica housing (yet to take delivery of this). in replacing my lens army I realized i've only really been using the canon ef 85 1.2L topside and the 15mm fisheye underwater over the past year. the 17-40L was collecting dust and i see little reason to replace it. I just started shooting video yesterday with this new 5d and love that feature over the old model (though it takes forever to upload clips to flickr so probably need to reduce the quality). Long winded point of this thread being, has anyone tried the canon ef 24-105mm lens underwater? I do not see it listed under the aquatica lens chart and was hoping this might be a half decent replacement for the 17-40 for video topside though i've never once tried that lens. FWIW, they don't list the 85 1.2L either on their lens chart and yet i was able to take that beast underwater as an experiment a few times with the old 5d and get some decent shots. i've long since given up on macro photography as it just doesn't interest me and the thieves left me one stupid lens- the 100mm macro of course.

I've never been one to grab the big white lenses either but would appreciate any tips forum members have for video out of the 5d for family shooting which is what most of my top side subject matter is. thanks in advance for any help (i did try searching the forums before posting but got nothing regarding the 24-105 lens).

As a follow up question, now that I've spent the day reading about lenses, I didn't even know about this canon 16-35 f2.8 lens. I've already got the 15mm on order but must presume that the 16-35 works SIGNIFICANTLY better underwater than that old 17-40 given the better sensitivity to light. Again, any thoughts would be appreciated. thx

Lee,

Sorry to hear about the theft. That's always a bummer. Glad the check is coming for replacement though.

I really like the 15mm fisheye on the 5D/5DMKII underwater. I've been considering the 16-35 II, but it doesn't fit the port on the 5D housing setup. It does fit on the the 5DMKII setup though with the Type IV port (Subal), so I may consider this lens in the near future as it seems like it could be a good all around lens for shooting sharks, etc. Even though I don't shoot near as much macro, I do feel that the 100mm macro is a fine lens for this type of photography on the Full Frame 5D/mkII's. That said, I'm finding for my interests, I like to stick with as wide as possible in prime lenses.

For topside, I've been super happy with the 70-200 2.8 IS lens and also like the wider 24-70 L. I have a few specialty lenses, but those are more in a studio situation, or for video work.

Good luck with the new lens purchases.

Cheers,

Joel

Newmediasoup, LLC

Hi Lee wow what an interesting situation. I too had all my gear stolen a few years ago and it gave me a chance to re-assess my needs.

It sounds like you're looking for a wide and mid-range lens arsenal for use w/ the 5DII and Aquatica housing. The new housing looks fabulous - you're lucky to get to use one.

I have teh 5DII and the main lenses I use topside are the 17-40L and the 24-70L. I also have some fast primes but I don't really use them as I rely more on the camera's high ISO capability instead of swapping lenses.

Underwater on FF, the 17-40L or 16-35II are your best choices, and of course the fisheye. If you want something really fast try the 24LII

For a mid-range lens, the 24-70 and 24-105 are choices but they are hard to house. Drew posted a thread about the 25-105 a few weeks ago so I'd check that out. Both lenses extend a lot during zooming, and I personally think the 24-70 is the better choice.

Topside for an all-round telephoto, I like the 70-200L and the 100-400L

Cheers

James

Thanks fellas. FWIW, I did get an email back from Jean @ Aquatica who said they are working on extension ring placement and focus gear for the 24-105 and will soon be on their price list. However, i think you raise a good point since that specific lens will do A LOT of hunting especially in dark conditions. I have used the 70-200 before with some nice results and notice they have a rebate at the moment so will probably place an order for that topside for capturing the children. I was not aware of the "new" 24L. I wasn't too fond of the old one but last used it over 3 years ago. I'm a sucker for prime lenses and went and demoed the new 24L yesterday and wow is that a beauty. Given that I'm not replacing many of the lenses, or 15 years worth of jewelry, and replacing the macbook pros with less expensive macbooks, i've got some spare money from our insurer to use on quality rather than quantity. I think I've got it now: 15mm & 24L (the two i'll most use diving) and the 85L and 70-200 IS L for topside photos should have me covered very well. And should my patience return or I develop a sudden passion for macro photography, i can always use that 100mm and the macro port which have gone unused for the better part of 2 years and were sitting in storage in a closet that the thieves did not open. thanks again for your help.

as James says, the 24-105 extends a long ways when zooming (and it's physically long to begin with) - but even worse the entrance pupil moves a long distance thru the zoom range. at 24mm, the entrance pupil is pretty nearly at the front surface of the lens, but as the lens is zooms out about 1 1/2 inches, the entrance pupil moves back toward the camera by nearly 2 inches. you could use long port extensions with a dome to get the entrance pupil in the center of the dome for decent sharpness across the field (hopefully) and take whatever you get zooming out from there - perhaps you will get decent results at the very short end and the long end with something of a muddle in between, unless you really have a need for this zoom range i'm not sure it would be worth the trouble.

i think James is right about the 17-40 being a better choice under water, or a fisheye combined with the 100macro which very well matches the resolution the 5D2 is capable of

topside, i'm happy with the 24-105, the 70-200 f4 IS (which is probably the sharpest zoom Canon makes), and the 100-400 (i have a good copy, and although it's not the sharpest, i was suprised how much better the 5D2 resolution is than the 5D). to really match the capabilities of the camera though, you need primes like the 50 1.4, 100macro, 135 f2, 200 f8, etc. (depending on what you're shooting). so far, it seems to me that tele extenders have a more adverse effect on resolution even with good primes than with lesser cameras (and give disappointing results on the 70-200).

Thanks guys and all the power to you with the 17-40L. I had it and it collected dust with the 5D. I personally much preferred the 15mm than what I captured with the 17-40. Perhaps I'm not very good with focus gears and zoom lenses and my talents are better used on focus gears with prime lenses. I've even had great success in the pool with my son just putting the lens on automatic and letting the camera do the work. It will be interesting to see if I notice much of a difference in quality between the mark 2 and the old 5d.

James (or anyone else for that matter), I see you mentioned the 24LII which i demoed and adored yesterday. Have you taken that lens underwater in an aquatica housing with nice results? It's not listed as supported with a focus ring and therefore one would HAVE to dive with that lens on automatic as opposed to manual until they support it (I reached out to Jean and she confirmed this is in fact on their to do list). If anyone has dove with the 24LII, I'd love to see some photos because I'm skeptical until I know for sure that I can dive with a focus ring as it is possible with a lens that wide that perhaps there is some distortion from the dome?

Matt Segal has the 24LII - I have the V1. I have dove w/ my lens used in the Aquatica 5D housing. Autofocus is fine - the lens is f1.4 afterall. If you can't get focus, you can always use the * button and lock focus on your hand or fin.

Cheers

James

Matt Segal has the 24LII - I have the V1. I have dove w/ my lens used in the Aquatica 5D housing. Autofocus is fine - the lens is f1.4 afterall. If you can't get focus, you can always use the * button and lock focus on your hand or fin.

 

Cheers

James

James, when you used the 24L in your aquatica 5d housing did you have it in the 8 inch dome port without and extension rings? If so, I presume there were no problems with the reflected image and the size of the glass on your lens and you were happy with the results? Thanks again for your help.

Yep. I think I used it with about 25mm of extension - Aquatica can tell you. I was very happy with the results - I used the 8" dome with the fisheye dome hood.

Cheers

James