The Greatest Lens Ever. Fight Me.

Back in Amsterdam years ago, you told me when I was two — rough trip. — No, it was a rough running trip. — Indeed. — I was trying to get B-roll of a certain bridge and you were like, Pete, no one cares about your pretty pictures. Let's just move forward. The story matters. No one's not going to change anything. — Say it with that level of — more intensity. I'm toning it down. — Yeah. Okay, that works. Does it look cute here? Leave it to the guy that's been doing this for so long to never bring a tripod. I never I just I forget. I keep forgetting. It's a privilege to say welcome back to the vlog. We're in New York City. Perfect. I will always find the candy drawer. Okay, first things. Check out the room key. It's just solid brass. Look at this. So sick. Very much my style. Also, I know we always do room tours, but I kind of like I bed's not made and I kind of put my stuff every I'm a bit of a slob on this trip. I'm usually very organized, but I'm embarrassed to say I'm very much so not that today. For tradition sake, like maybe a few clips just for old time sake, you know. I didn't bring this, by the way. This was at the hotel. Their whole thing is like this bear. I This is not mine. This Just to clarify, it was in case I was a weird shot. I don't know. Like, it was here. There's also one in here. They're everywhere. But I'm in New York to make a couple videos, shoot lots of rolls of film, and yesterday I blew through three rolls of film and walked 22,000 steps. That's crazy. That was after 2:00 p. m. after we got here. Essentially, it just feels good to get back out and shoot photos and make videos and drink coffee and wander a city that's so close to me that I love, filled with lots of friends that I'm sure you'll see in coming episodes. Lots of sounds. But today is not about any of those things. Today, I want to talk to you about my favorite lens. If I could only have one lens moving forward for my R5, it would be this one. I haven't shown you yet cuz I'm building suspense, but you've probably seen it in the thumbnail. And when I was packing gear for this trip, I was trying to be efficient like we do, you know, trying to bring film cameras. I'm trying to bring my vlog camera, my actual favorite lenses. I'm trying to see how much film I can pack into a few days here making videos with my friends and running around chasing frames. But upon packing, it got me thinking about the gear that you bring with you all the time. the gear that no matter what always finds a place into the bag. No matter what new stuff you get, stuff you get rid of, the kit changes, there's always one thing that finds its way back into your bag over and over. And for me, that's the cannon. What is that? This is driving me insane all night. How do I make it stop? Oh, I hate it. That did nothing. Oh, it's slower. I did it. It stopped. I did it. You have no idea how long I just laid in bed last night listening to that drip. It's the little things. Just starting the day with a win. small dub. I'm not mad about that. Okay, so the plan as always is coffee. That's it. You got to start that way. After that is taking this magic mystery lens that Canon made, taking it onto the streets, snapping photos with it, shooting some B-roll with it to show you all the reasons I think it is the best thing that they've ever made. There are so many sounds in New York City. We got trucks, we got horns, we got sirens, crazy sirens. The dripping in the shower, that was a sound. So, anything that just makes it a little It's always something. Hello. Okay, perfect. Thank you. You, too. There's a package at my door. Yeah, even when I'm

traveling, I'm getting mail. That's fun. You see, this is like the biggest lens diameter I believe that they make. So, I forgot an ND filter, and I'm I've got one on my vlog camera, but I forgot it for the 2870. So, Polar Pro overnighted me ND filters so that I could still shoot in the sun. Thank you guys. This is a draft latte. It is so smooth and creamy and filled with air and deliciousness. This is day two and yeah, there's going to be a day three. day four. I don't know why it's so good. It was Alex's pick. Whatever. Went for it. Just we're just out here chasing. You know, it — doesn't matter. — You're not shooting. You're not living. Yesterday, we walked around Washington Square Park and I haven't been here for years. It is wild. It is like entering a vortex. It's like you walk through a portal into another planet and there are people fixing pianos in the sidewalks. There are people practicing boxing. There's drumming and bands. There's the fountain is empty and it is like a full Tony Hawks Pro Skater Bowl. We finished three rolls in this square in no time. Faster than ever. Do you hate how big it is? — I mean, it's a unit. — It's like an absolute unit. You're not going to get a better image than with this bad boy right here. Like, if I could have one lens, this would be it because Then yeah, — this is all you need really. You could need a bit wider at times, but that's two steps back and you're good. So — y — if I could only have one, this is it. Yeah, look at that. — It's like the size of my face. — Yeah, it's 6 to9 today or 2 to 5. — 2 to 5 in here, but 6 to nine probably for the next few hours. — All right, there's that. — So I feel like in 2026, this is quite possibly one of the best runand gun cinema rigs. You got a C50, a 28 to 70 on a cage, fully customizable and mountable. You throw your NDS on it, and you can absolutely cook in a place like New York City. The best part about lenses like this is it's a zoom lens. So, you've got 28 at your wide, 70 at the most zoomed in. It's f2 all the way through. A lot of these lenses in the past and the cheaper lenses for sure will start at a nice f2 aperture, but as you zoom, it's going to stop down. You're going to end up around 56 or something. You're going to lose a lot of light. This one being f2 all the way through is part of the reason it's so big cuz it's just a huge piece of glass. That's what gives you that nice tasty depth at 70 mil. It gives you that at 50, at 35. 28 is still wide. That's what we're shooting on our film cameras right now. So, it is just a perfect focal range, a perfect aperture. Maybe the only thing that could be better is if it was image stabilized, but then that might make it actually even bigger, which we don't need to go that way whatsoever. This is also like I think the favorite lens of every wedding photographer ever. And if I had this when I was shooting weddings, that would have made my kit so much lighter because you really would probably only need to bring two lenses, a 28 to 70 and a 7200. And you've got the full range covered with two pieces of glass. If you are an event photographer or covering something that's versatile where you got to be doing portraits and landscapes and products and wide and tight and moving all over, not having to switch that lens every 8 seconds is so good. We came back to the room. Quick outfit change. It's 30° and sunny. It is hot. I'm sweaty. Like it is the weather is so different from back home that I literally needed to come back and get dry clothing. I was not prepared for summer. I thought spring was here. I didn't realize summer in New York was here. — That is ridiculous. It's a beast. — But it's insane. It's everything. — It's wide. It's zoomed. I just got this C502. — Oh my god. You got some ND on there. — Yeah. — Here's how Max works. Like once every 6 weeks or something, he comes downstairs. He's like, "Check out all this new gear I bought. " And I'm like, "Do you have a job? " And he's like, "Yeah, I just got paid for. " And then like some big client he just did a job for. So anytime he gets paid, he shows up with like all the fanciest new gear. Max. — Wow. — I That is nice. I do like that. Oh my god. It's kind of a one and done lens. I It's so like It's such a small little window though.

You got to really know what you're going to use it for. It's really hefty. I mean, it does have a good like feel to it. But no, — no stabilization. But you have stabilization in that one. This one has it. Yeah. Not this one. — So, does that Do you feel that? — If you were at 70 on this, probably with no stabilization, you would feel it a bit more, especially if you were just running and gun. But I kind of like that look. — You like that? I feel like sometimes the stabilization when you're running gun gives it a bit of like a jitteriness that um I would just prefer the natural shake and motion. — It's got an energy to it that I actually noticed like when I'm doing things that are not with DSLRs like I — the cutting becomes different because the image is like quieter. It like it's not moving so much and so it doesn't have the same energy. I don't know. It's like I prefer the no stabilization which is your go-to — more. No. Body. Uh, R5. Is — this a gift? — What is the minimum viable amount of gear that will leave me with no limitations on what I want to capture? I have to have this. Like, I can't survive without this 12 to 24. Nice glasses. It's so wide angle and a little warpy. I don't know. I just like this is my main lens, but it's really limiting — cuz 24 is too wide. But what's funny is your like hero lens is maybe the finest piece of glass under the sun and mine hang tight. Don't move. — It is quite beautiful. What happened to your microphone? Did you like bite it? — No. Turns out the cop. — Super flammable. The whole microphone caught on fire and then after it catches fire, it gets really crispy which was messing with the sound. So I had to shave off the crisp. Um, got to be here somewhere. But what it is it's a really low quality lens that I got at Best Buy in like 2010. I want to say it's 24 to 220. Absolute trash. — Yeah. — Um like it's really the exposure is a mess. There's no way to focus it. Like it barely autofocuses and it doesn't have manual f. It's trash. — Yeah. But if used properly, like 220 is a real telephoto shot — and 24 or whatever it goes down to is like a pretty wide shot. So it enables me to do like pretty aggressive kung fu zooms or like if I have a tripod, I can set it up, get the perfect like telephoto shot and like it it's not good. It's good enough, — but it's so small and easy to use despite it's like really terrible quality — that that's like the only other lens that I bring in addition to this cuz I have to have something telephoto. — It's why I know you use a iPhone air. — Yeah. — But I have to have a zoom lens on my iPhone. — You can still zoom on an Air. It's just not as good. — It's just digital zoom. — Yeah. — And like it's why the whatever the last iPhone was had a 5x zoom. — The newest one is a 4x zoom. It's not as good. — Yeah. Because like long flat shots, I mean, I don't need to tell you. They like they definitely add they add a level. — Yeah. — A layer. — I would just rather use this than an iPhone zoom. — I know. Cuz look at the size. It doesn't fit in my pocket. — Yeah. — So, me too. I will always carry a big lens. — Yeah. — But like in the absence of having my big fat telephoto lens — Yeah. in a pinch, whether it's that crappy lens that I was just talking about or it's my phone, like having that opportunity, like having access to something that's really dynamic is really cool. — But there's no world where you're carrying like four or five lenses. — Never ever Heat. and then send me Everywhere I go, there's trains everywhere. Found a cool hole in the fence and holes in the fence. I feel like every major

city has a big hole in the fence and they are great to shoot through because framing through anything always looks great and intentional. So, the only thing that I think is a detriment to this lens to using this piece of equipment is honestly the physical size. When it comes to packing it, it takes up like an entire section of the backpack. But the benefit of that is of course everything we've discussed. You can be so diverse in your shots and your B-roll where it looks like you brought multiple lenses when you're rocking only the one and you're getting so much variety. I should really bring a tripod next time. Noted. Now, you could pair the 2870 with the 7200 and get an incredible range. But those are two of the biggest Canon lenses that you could probably carry around daily. And to me, it's hot. It's been 30° outside. I don't love walking around with a backpack for long extended periods of time. My back gets super sweaty and it just becomes a burden. and you're putting it down to shoot, you know, your awareness alert cuz your bag is on the ground, not on your back. And I don't love that. So, I don't love carrying a ton of lenses around in a backpack. I like to stick to one or two. So, I'm usually rocking either the 15 to 35, which is this. And I've gotten real good at shooting B-roll at 15 at 35, but accepting 35 is the most depth I'm going to get out of a shot. And but using the 28 to 70 the last few days has been such a nice change cuz I've been able to get B-roll at 70 at f2 with that shallow background. And the combination of the wide and the zoom together has just given me a more diverse set of tools to work with and tell the story where I'm usually stuck to the same thing. It was also just kind of nice to change it up for a little bit. I mean, if you also look at the photo I took of Casey on Broadway, I had 20 seconds to take that photo. There was no time. Traffic was coming. wanted to shot in the middle of the street. You just you got to be able to just get out there and do it. I can't switch lenses. One second. Let me grab my 50. This would look better if I was still able to shoot him at 28, shoot him at 70. Enough compression that it separates him off the background, but it doesn't delete the background from the scene because New York is the background I want to see him in. So, I think considering those things, the 28 to 70 might be the best lens you can have in your kit if you shoot Canon. I forgot to mention it. It's kind of important. 15 to35 2870 might be the most goatated perfect alltime two lens setup that you could possibly run on a Canon system. I stand behind it. It's my most precious possession. I will say at age 45 I only receive presents from two friends in the whole world.