Canon EF 24-105 f4

Brian Moore

Brian Moore

Moderator
I'm going to shoot a dance performance next week at the high school. The venue is a rather small one, and I'm considering renting a Canon EF 24-105 f4 for the occasion. I'll be using it on my 7d, so with the crop factor involved the zoom range appears something like 40-150 or something like that. Anyway, I think that will be good and the constant f4 will be very valuable in my anticipated circumstances.

My question: Does anyone in RPFville have any experience with this lens?

(I'll be checking out reviews on the web too, but thought I'd ask people I know and trust.)

Thanks.
 
have you considered the 24-70mm F2.8 ?? bigger / faster aperture would help if light conditions were not favourable........!
 
Not sure f4 will be fast enough for an indoor dance performance. Assume flashes are out of the question, and the stage lighting probably won't be very bright. Plus, with dancing, you'll need a fast shutter, so that means the only place to go is ISO. And that will get unusable in a hurry. In order to keep that as low as possible, you'll want to shoot at f2.8 if you can. Recommend you go with a 24-70 and 70-200, both at f2.8.

- - - Updated - - -

Looks like Daz had the same thought!
 
Last edited:
Daz and Darren,...thanks for the suggestions. DOF is an issue also for dance. I was actually thinking that with f4 I'd have a little more DOF that would be beneficial. I think at the long end 70 (translates to what,...about 100 with the crop factor?) would be good too, and certainly the wider hole would be nice to have if I need it.

Thanks both!
 
I shoot my daughter's school plays and dances all the time, which are indoors and the lighting is terrible. I tend to stay at f2.8 and the DOF is fine, with enough margin for me. If I want more, I can always stop down to f4, but at least then I have the option to go wider... A quick scan of EXIF data on professional sports and dance photographs on the web (such as the gymnast competitions at the London games this past summer) reveals that the pros are of the same mind - they were all at f2.8... Anyway, up to you.
 
As long as you are planning to rent a lens I'd suggest the 70-200 f2.8 IS.
 
Check out the flickriver lens exploror, here is the f4 and f2.8:

f4:

Flickriver: Photos taken with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens

f2.8

Flickriver: Photos taken with Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens

The f4 lens seems to be the most popular Canon lens on there, but if you check out the photos they are taking it would show that the f2.8 would work out better for what you are wanting. The photos people have taken on the f4 are land scapes or subjects which are being shot probably on tripod and stopped down for a large DoF. The f2.8 shots seem to be of closer shots where its lower light, perhaps check out some of the shots, but it would seem that echoing everyone else on here the faster f2.8 might be better for this application.
 
Lee Webb said:
I shoot a lot of action, for anything like that I'd always look to use a 70-200 f/2.8 if you could rent one, it may well be the best option
Click to expand...
Its a small venue, Lee. I've rented the 24-70 f2.8L. With the crop factor I'm expecting that to be enough reach. I'll check at the rehearsal this evening. Thanks for the comment, Lee.
 
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