Good glass makes the difference: zoom lens recommendation for Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Canon’s flagship APS-C DSLR, the EOS 7D Mark II is likely the first APS-C camera playing a serious role for professional photographers: highly advanced 65 points AF system, Dual Pixel AF, 10 fps, anti-flicker technology, one of the best, if not the best, weather sealing in the industry, and much more.

Given Canon’s extensive lens line-up (and third party players), you may wonder which lenses are best suited for the 7D Mark II. DxOMark posted the first part of their lens recommendations for the 7D Mark II, zoom lenses. Five categories of zoom lenses are considered: ultra-wide-angle zooms, standard zooms, super-zooms, fast telephoto zooms, and slow telephoto zooms. DxOMark recommends:

• Best ultra-wide-angle zoom: Tokina AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 PRO DX
• Best standard zoom: Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART
• Best super-zoom: Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
• Best fast telephoto zoom: Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM SPORT
• Best slow telephoto zoom: Canon EF 200-400 f/4L IS USM

A list you can agree with. You may wonder how the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, a kit lens, made it to be the best standard super-zoom lens. Easy: it performs great. Canon’s latest kit lenses all work great. It’s one of the things were Canon excels: making inexpensive lenses with very good performance.

Nothing to wonder about the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art lens, one of Sigma’s recent masterpieces and the world’s first zoom lens for APS-C sensor with continuous f/1.8. Those who own the Sigma know why I call it a masterpiece. According to DxOMark, the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 beats them all, Zeiss and Canon L lenses included, and at a price ($799) that’s hard to beat when it comes to bang for the bucks.

Can’t say anything about the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 PRO DX, I never used it. I also never used the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS Extender 1.4x, but I guess a lens that costs like a small car has to be the best. I had the chance to play around with the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM SPORT. As with all Sigma Global Vision lenses, you get a lot of bang for the bucks.

See DxOMark’s lens recommendations for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. The EOS 7D Mark II regularly ships for $1,499, but is currently on eBay by a top rated seller. To learn more about the Canon EOS 7D Mark II read the overview after the break, or see all our 7D Mark II coverage.

Canon EOS 7D Mark II price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

• 20.2 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor and ISO 100 16000: (expandable to H1: 25600, H2: 51200) for reduced noise at high ISOs and high performance Dual DIGIC 6 Image Processors for outstanding image quality and processing speed.
• High speed continuous shooting: up to 10.0 fps allows you to capture fast action.
• 65-point all cross-type AF system: for high-performance, accurate subject tracking with EV -3 sensitivity (center point) for focusing in extreme low-light conditions.
• Canon’s innovative Dual Pixel CMOS AF: enables you to shoot video like a camcorder with smooth, fast, and accurate autofocus and lets you enjoy instant and preciseautofocus
• Stunning Full HD video: with Custom Movie Servo AF (speed and sensitivity) for continuous focus tracking of moving subjects, multiple frame rates including Full HD recording at 60p in MOV and MP4 formats and uncompressed HDMI out.
• Intelligent Viewfinder II: provides approximately 100% field of view for shootingease.
• Improved custom controls: and built-in intervalometer and bulb timer for expandedcreativity.
• Magnesium alloy body: with shutter durability up to 200,000 cycles and enhanced dust and weather resistance.
• EOS Scene Detection System: features a new 150,000-pixel/RGB+IR metering sensor for improved precision.
• Built-in GPS Receiver: provides a digital compass, records location information(longitude, latitude, elevation and universal coordinated time (UTC)) as EXIF information for geotagging images when shooting.
• 3.0-inch Clear View II LCD monitor: (approximately 1,040,000 dots) for bright andclear viewing.