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Old 31-01-2012, 12:22 PM
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troypiggo (Troy)
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troypiggo is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 4,846
Assuming you're using full frame based on the 5DII comment, to add my humble experiences with lenses I've owned/used:

Excluding my macro lenses (of which I have too many) and EF-S lenses for crop cameras, I have the 17-40L, 35L, 85L, 135L, 100-400L, and the Samyang 14mm. I have also owned, but sold, the 50 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8, 24-70L and 70-200L IS. All have been excellent lenses that I'd have no hesitation in recommending, with perhaps the exception of the 50 f/1.8[1].

Reason I got rid of the zooms was a personal choice to move to fast primes. No regrets in that decision.

If you're considering using these lenses for at least some widefield astro images, I'd add to the list the Tamron 90 macro lens. IMO it's the best bang for buck macro lens around, closely followed by the Sigma 105 and Canon 100 (non-IS). But what I like about it is the apertures leafs are curved, giving a really nice bokeh, but also for astro images the diffraction spikes are well-tamed. I'm sure you've seen some of Nettie's widefields with it, you may see what I mean when comparing them to other lenses.

You may worry the 90mm focal length is close to the 85mm prime. If you're considering the 85L, another consideration is the manual focus on the 85L. You can't manually focus it per se. You have to have the shutter pressed half-way to manually focus. I haven't tried it for astro, but I imaging it'd be a pain in the you-know-what. I'll respond to David's comment about the AF being slow on the 85L. While it is slower than the 85 f/1.8 and other lenses you'll use, it isn't painfully slow. Talking milliseconds difference in reality. Depending on what you shoot, it shouldn't be an issue. Certainly not for portraits, which is what the lens excels at.

While I love all the lenses I mention above, I'm finding I'm not using the 35L as much as I thought. I think it's just a personal thing. I use the 85 and 135 heaps, and 17-40 for landscapes. Must admit that despite the 35/85/135 combo being the so-called "Holy Trinity" of primes, I am wondering about getting rid of the 35 and maybe the 85 and replace them with the 50L. Less weight in the bag, and less overlap if focal lengths for me. But that's just a personal thing that I'm considering. Will be a shame if I did that, because the 85L is a dream for portraits, but the 50L and 135L are too.

I mentioned the Samyang 14mm f/2.8. I've only recently got this. It's a fully manual lens, ie no electronic communication to the camera, you have to manually dial in the aperture and focus. But it's extremely sharp across the field, and very cheap at around $350 IIRC. It's made by Samyang, but often re-badged by distributors and I've seen it badged as Samyang, Rokinon, Vivitar, Bowens, Pro-Optic (that's the one I have). All the same lens. It has a fair bit of distrortion, but nothing that can't be corrected with a Lightroom or Bridge lens profile. Really good flare and CA control, and as I said sharp across. I'm really liking it. And it's w...i...d...e... on a full frame. It isn't a fish-eye. Can't wait to use it for astro.

Bit hard to give much more than that, as the recommendations and choices you should make will depend on full frame vs crop, budget, what you want to shoot, and personal preference of zoom vs prime.

[1] The Nifty Fifty is recommended a lot as a cheap, fast prime. While it is cheap, and perhaps good "bang for buck", personally didn't like the build quality and image quality of mine. Would prefer to spend a little more and get that next level of quality.
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