I guess lots of ozbargainers are into photography and video making.
I have a canon 70d. I wanted to start making YouTube videos for cooking channel. Just add recipes videos and share on YouTube.
Most how to guides recommend 100mm macro.
Just wondering if anyone know good one to buy and at good price. It seems to very between 700-1000. Isnt there anything cheaper?
It's not bad. It depends on how much space you have between your subject and a wall.
Technically, even a telephoto will do but without knowing your space, lighting and your desired look, it's hard to tell.
I use a combination of 90mm and 50mm on my a7iii for demonstration videos where I only have less than two meters from obstructions and I require high level of detail on the subject.
Ps. The 100mm macro is recommended because you can go from half body shot and zoom in to a detail shot without moving the camera. The more you pay for the lens, the better the auto focus, motor noise and zoom smoothness will be.
As tshow has mentioned, there are too many variables, what kind of angle/shots do you want to take? how much room have you got?
A 100mm on a crop censor ends up being 160mm, you will need a lot of space between the subject and camera, but again depends on what shots you want.
Looks like you've done your homework regarding the price, the L lens is going for that price range in the second hand market.
Could be 100mm adjusted to crop lense ratio but yeah, if factor in for sensor crop, 160mm is too much for typical home kitchen.
I was gonna say too. 100 mm macro for food is an overkill. Not to mention it'll be used for video!
How about just a 60 mm macro? EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM is rather cheap.
If you are looking for ‘cheaper’ Canon Macro, Canon have the EF-S f/2.8 IS STM 35mm Macro which I have been very happy with regarding image quality for photos. Quirky features are a odd lens hood, and built-in LED ring light on the lens (which is more than bright enough for Macro, less effective at further distances).
It’s light in weight, STM gives consistent fast focus, and IS is a great bonus as an amateur (it is a slightly more advanced IS for Macro compared to the standard IS Canon offers).
35mm x 1.6 crop on 70d turns out to 56mm which is a good portrait focal length for a ‘natural’ perspective (apparently how the human eye sees things), the crop also helps minimise any distorted edges / dark corners from the image (I tested this myself by photographing a printed grid taped to a wall).
Regarding your requested 100mm (160mm on crop) focal length I may be missing part of the picture here since you are using it for video.
For video 35mm (56mm on crop) will have the camera considerably closer to subject than at 100mm. But as someone already mentioned, at around 56mm you are already limiting your positions for the camera IMO.
The image quality of the Canon 35mm Macro is great for an EF-S lens, Dustin Abbott on YouTube did a image quality comparison and the EF-S 35mm Macro almost matches a Canon L lens in sharpness. For the price it is great value IMO and much sharper than Canon’s other budget lenses (Standard price currently around $499 but I got it for around $3XX).
Thanks. I forgot about 1.5 factor for canon 70d. I actually have a very heavy duty 35mm lens. It might be the same as what you are saying as i paid around $600-$700 back in the day.
I guess i just need to have a go and just it out and see how it goes. Seems i might already have what i need. Hopefully photography translates to video as well in terms of lense requirement
I am thinking ‘Macro’ is recommended so you can take close up shots of food / ingredients, as well as portrait (half of a persons body and up etc) which would be common for ‘cooking’ videos.
Macro lenses also tend to have higher standards at least with sharpness, as detail is more noticeable with macro shots.
A comment above also mentioned:
Ps. The 100mm macro is recommended because you can go from half body shot and zoom in to a detail shot without moving the camera. The more you pay for the lens, the better the auto focus, motor noise and zoom smoothness will be.
I think they have more knowledge about filming video.
Tokina and 7artisans brands with a canon mounting kit will be considerably cheaper