Of these Canon 7D starter kits, what would you recommend?

[PairofCellos33]

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Digital-...959946&sr=8-16

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Digital-...960110&sr=8-33

Are there any other kits and/or item combinations you would recommend for a Canon 7D Starter kit? Are there any better deals out there?
Thanks for the help in advance :awe:

 

[ElFenix]

neither, as i would suggest that anyone who actually needed the stuff that came in the kit is not in the 7D's target market. further, as to the 2nd, the 75-300 is a rather shoddy lens and money would be much better spent getting a less expensive body and a better telezoom lens.

 

[PairofCellos33]

Well I am primarily going to use the camera for smaller film projects, likely most of which will be filmed indoors, although I intend to shoot outdoors as well. The 7D is the body I am getting, so what would you recommend accessory wise? I intend to Purchase an XLR adapter in the future

 

[ElFenix]

what lenses do you have already?

 

[PairofCellos33]

I don't have anything as of yet, hence the "Starter Kit," so I'm lookin' for advice on start up lenses, accessories, etc...
Also I was just at my local camera store and was told the Nikon D7000 is comparable to the 7D, would I be better off with a Nikon?
Any and all advice is welcome

 

[ElFenix]

the nikon body is less dear. i'm not sure about video on it.


the canon t2i has the exact same filming capabilities as the 7D for half the price. the canon 60D is actually better than the 7D because it has manual audio control. it's also considerably less expensive than the 7D ($1000 rather than $1600). and it has a flip LCD which could be handy.

if you want to film things, and be serious about it, you'll probably want a selection of prime lenses. and those are $300 to $500 each. you want prime lenses because cheap prime lenses offer greater DoF control than even very expensive zoom lenses. this is one reason you should consider putting less money into the body and more into the other stuff.

another good reason for putting more money into lenses and comparatively less into the body is that if you decided this isn't for you, lenses depreciate much more slowly than bodies. after a couple years you can easily get 80%+ of the $$ back for lenses, but the body will drop by half or more.

 

[PairofCellos33]

Well I certainly don't intend on dropping the hobby. I'm currently enrolled at Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy studying film and plan to make it my career. I know I said I don't own anything relating to the camera, but my school has top of the line equipment, so I'm not unfamiliar. Thank you for the advice on the bodies, that was very helpful. Are the filming capabilities on the 60D comparable to the 7D? If so that certainly sounds like a better choice. Are there any specific lenses you recommend?

 

[Sp12]

I would say the 60D would be my choice for filming; however the sony pellicle mirror cameras (A55 especially) are very strong contenders for primarily video production (Continuous phase autofocus+articulated screen+integrated sensor-shift IS at 700$? Yes please). Sony does have a weaker glass market however.

I think the 85 1.8 and 50 1.8 are pretty obvious primes for Canon.

 

[PairofCellos33]

Would you recommend the A55 over the 60D?
And how about the T2i? Does the price difference between the T2i warrant the manual audio controls?

 

[Sp12]

This is one of my favorite sites for comparing cameras. I'm not going to list out the differences (the site does a good job of that), but I think it would come down to if I lived somewhere with a Sony ecosystem (lens rentals, shops, other people with Sony SLRs). I'd also have to be able to deal with an EVF.

Ultimately, the Sony is almost definitely a nicer video camera than the T2i or 60D. The big deal is getting Sony glass.

 

[speedy2]

My gosh every kit there sucks. Start with a body. Get a couple primes. a 50mm f/1.8 and a nice zoom. 17-50mm tamron is a nice lens.

 

[ElFenix]

Well I certainly don't intend on dropping the hobby. I'm currently enrolled at Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy studying film and plan to make it my career. I know I said I don't own anything relating to the camera, but my school has top of the line equipment, so I'm not unfamiliar. Thank you for the advice on the bodies, that was very helpful. Are the filming capabilities on the 60D comparable to the 7D? If so that certainly sounds like a better choice. Are there any specific lenses you recommend?

the t2i and 60D basically share the sensor with the 7D. they all have the same capabilities as far as codecs, resolution, fps, etc.

there are probably some handling differences, and i would expect the 60d to have the best handling as canon could put what it learned in the 5D2, 7D, and t2i into the 60D.

for lenses, it depends on the FoV of what you want to shoot. the tamron zoom mentioned would be fairly decent to start with as you can change your FoV to suit your mood and the DoF control is better than the lenses in the kits, but you don't get quite the DoF control as you would with a faster lens.

i'm not sure what FoV is usually used for films. you can use a calculator to figure out how to convert from what you're used to. your school may also allow you to borrow lenses as well, so you may want to find out if they have any before committing to a system.

 

[JulesMaximus]

My gosh every kit there sucks. Start with a body. Get a couple primes. a 50mm f/1.8 and a nice zoom. 17-50mm tamron is a nice lens.

Yeah, most kits just pack a bunch of useless junk. Buy the camera body only and one nice prime lens and go from there. You'll have everything you need to start shooting included with these two items. Pick up other items you may need as you go along.

I like B&H Photo.com personally for photography gear. Been buying from them for over a decade now.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Yeah, most kits just pack a bunch of useless junk. Buy the camera body only and one nice prime lens and go from there. You'll have everything you need to start shooting included with these two items. Pick up other items you may need as you go along.

I like B&H Photo.com personally for photography gear. Been buying from them for over a decade now.

Not really. The 28-135mm zoom is a pretty nice walkaround. It's also an EF lens so it's full frame compatible.

For me I'd stick the 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom onto the 7D if possible. Kit lenses work fine though. I used my 18-55mm kit for a while, as my 17-55mm was at repair, and it shoots fine.

Start small and work your way up. You need to figure out what you want. That 28-135 can easily sell off or $200+

 

[ElFenix]

Not really. The 28-135mm zoom is a pretty nice walkaround. It's also an EF lens so it's full frame compatible.

For me I'd stick the 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom onto the 7D if possible. Kit lenses work fine though. I used my 18-55mm kit for a while, as my 17-55mm was at repair, and it shoots fine.

Start small and work your way up. You need to figure out what you want. That 28-135 can easily sell off or $200+

there's no wide angle to speak of so i wouldn't count it as a 'pretty nice walkaround' ever.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

there's no wide angle to speak of so i wouldn't count it as a 'pretty nice walkaround' ever.

well everyone has different needs. if you're doing group shots, yeah 28mm will be tight... that's why to me the 17-55mm is a better walkaround. Perhaps the 15-85mm might work even better since I tend to lean towards flash when I can now.