Going to buy 5D Mark II - which lens?

[stikywiket]

I'm finally going to take the plunge and get the 5D Mark II - and I need your expertise, experiences, and advice. My question is, if I only buy any *one* lens, which one should I get? (Or any two lenses, maybe.) I'm going to be shooting a couple weddings coming up so that's probably a factor - quick focus, low light, etc. I also do a decent amount of portraiture and family work, both indoor and outdoor.

I haven't done much research yet but I'm in a bit of a hurry - I started looking at some of the L lenses today on the Canon site based on a very detailed review on Amazon where the user ranked them. However I am open to non-L lenses too if I could get a couple - just no kit stuff. In reality, L will probably be out of my price range anyway

Also maybe relevant: my backup is just an OLY E-300. Not too hot, but it's served me well. I thought about keeping the 40-150 lens on it and using it if/when necessary for weddings. But the main concern is, I want a great to excellent lens or two for the 5D Mark II that are the most all purpose... for my purposes Chime in, please! And thank you.

[OsmosisStudios]

The 5DmkII begs for the 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS. Whether your wallet can handle an additional $3-4k hit is up to you, though.

[Murtasma]

I believe they are coming out with a 24-70 F2.8 IS here shortly so you may want to hold out for that.

[lputman]

I would go for the 70-200 f/2.8 first.

[djotaku]

Here's my recommendation. I just used the 24-70mm f2.8L USM for a wedding and it rocks so hard. But there's no need to buy. If you're in the US or Canada (and maybe there's something similar in Europe, Asia, and Australia) just rent it. That's what I did. You don't mention what other lenses you have. Do you not have any at all?

The 50mm f/1.8 is only $100USD and that also served me very well at the same wedding.

(photos here: Leticia's Wedding - a set on Flickr )

Of course I had two bodies - 350D and 400D and one lens on each. You could probably rent another 5D for not too much money - esp if you were already renting the 24-70mm. That way you don't need to be rushed and won't regret the lens you eventually buy.

[stikywiket]

Thanks for all the answers so far - I'm checking them out. And yes, I have no lenses, which is why I want to make the best choices I can for the first one or two I get

Having used this E300 for so long, I'm very anxious to just jump up a lot higher, very quickly. I just bugged another one of my camera buddies for input, and he's telling me not to get the 5D Mark II... pushing instead for either a Nikon (which I know even less about) or the 7D or 50D. He hasn't seen any of my work but thinks that the 5D Mark II would be too much camera for me. He's basically saying, if I'm going to splurge, splurge on glass and not the camera body.

I'm a terrible decision maker when it comes to this kind of thing, lol.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by stikywiket

He hasn't seen any of my work but thinks that the 5D Mark II would be too much camera for me. He's basically saying, if I'm going to splurge, splurge on glass and not the camera body.

Your friend is half-right: glass is more important than the body, but the 5DmkII is not "too much camera" for anyone: that's a terrible misnomer. It also does things that neither the 50D or 7D can do: super high resolution, better high-iso characteristics, shallower DoF. it's also sealed against the elements and is, to a certain degree, watertight when used with the right lenses.

[djotaku]

Don't get the 50D. If you don't want the 5DmkII, get the 7D. But, don't worry about "jumping too high". There's no such thing. Photography is photography is photography. If you are on a dSLR, it's the same. An XXXD, XXD, or XD Canon camera will operate the same way. What changes is the quality of the images, the speed of the motor drive, and size of the body. But on all of the TV is shutter priority, Av is Aperture Priority, and so on. Yeah, I think the 7D, 5D, and up don't have basic modes, but if you put your camera in P, all you need to remember is to pop the flash (or attach an external flash) because on the lower end cameras with basic mode, the flash will pop up if needed.

I'm gunning for the 5D mark 2 or 3 - whatever's out when I save up enough money. I'm saving up for glass first because I started buying EF-S lenses before I realized that the camera I eventually aspired to (5D, 1D, etc) only took EF lenses. So I have to replace those and then I'm jumping to full frame.

[CaptainNH]

If you're looking at doing further weddings, then I'd stick with your original intention of going to the 5D2. You'll appreciate the low light capabilities.

So back to your original lens question. Again with weddings in mind - your ideal pair would be a 24-70 and a 70-200 f/2.8L.

Obviously, a trio of those two lenses plus a 5D2 is going to put a big hole in your bank balance.

If I had to choose a lens to go for first, I'd go for the wider one first. The 24-70 is a great walk-around lens and wide enough for group shots.

[LoveDSLR]

For 5D Mk II, you can consider any one or two lenses from the following partial list.

Personality P: 16-35 f/2.8 L, 24-70 f/2.8 L, 70-200 f/2.8 L IS, 85 f/1.2 L II
Personality A: 17-40 f/4 L, 24-105 f/4 L IS, 70-200 f/4 L IS, 85 f/1.8, 135 f/2 L
Personality B: Sigma/Tamron 24-70 f/2.8, 85 f/1.8, 70-200 f/4 L, 100 macro
Personality C: 28-135 IS, Sigma 70-300, 50 f/1.8
Personality S: 35 f/2, 50 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8, 100 f/2.8 Macro, 135 f/2 L