Canon Cameras

Do I have to have a "L" series lens for a Canon 5d digital camera?

I have a chance to buy a canon 5d camera for a really inexpensive price. I already have several lenses but I don't have any "L" series lenses. I can't really afford those. Some people say the only way a 5d takes a good picture is if you have a really expensive lens. I have a EF 50mm 1:1.4, EF-S 60mm 1:2.8, macro 0.5m/1.6, and a ef 80-200mm 1:4.5-5.6 II lens. Will these work well with a Canon 5d?

Public Comments

1. no, you can use any Canon EF lenses as long as they are not EF-S lenses. However it makes no sense if you have the 5D and using the non-USM EF 70-300 lens, for instance because the image quality will be suck anyway.
2. If I may show you what Canon 5D (with 24-70 mm f 2.8 L zoom) can do. It was shot in RAW and converted to JPG. http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=TUxseFVTTk1kMnZIRGc9PQ Here is a proofsheet of a bunch of photos (in PDF format). You can zoom in and look at each one. First photo was taken with Canon Digital Rebel with its kit lens. http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=TUxseFVTTk1kMnZIRGc9PQ The rest of them were: 16-35 mm f 2.8 L, 17-40 mm f 4 L, 100 mm f 2, 100 mm Macro f 2.8, 100-400 mm f 4.5-5.6 L, 50 mm f 1.8, 70-200 f 4 L and 24-70 mm f 2.8 L And here is a recent one of my nephew. I used Canon f 2.8 Macro. http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=TUxuRkJaMGtJMHZIRGc9PQ It's in Adobe Digital Negative format (converted from RAW). You can use Adobe Photoshop (current version) or Adobe Lightroom (now version 1.3) to open it. So I think you don't absolutely have to use an "L" lens for your camera.. but you need to use a good lens. A cheapo $100 lens will probably not do. Hope this helps a little. Addendum: I mounted my friend's 35-80 mm Canon (it was their least expensive zoom lens) on and took a few photos a year go. I didn't honestly think it was bad. Also, I tried my niece's 24-100 mm Canon zoom--and that too, was okay. It felt differently in my hand, but I did not think the results were so bad. The contrast was lower though with cheap lenses--that I noticed. Part II Your EF-S (I believe I read 60 mm Macro) won't work with 5D as it is for a cropped sensor. You can sell it on ebay (etc), and use the money to get the 50 mm Macro f 2.5. I had that lens (and later upgraded to 100 mm Macro 2.8). A bit noisy (when focusing) but it is extremely sharp (and flat object remined flat), or if you have more budget, you can get the 100 mm Macro. It focuses without a sound and has FTM (full time manual focus) which lets you touch up focus without going to the manual mode.