I need to find out the best Canon 5D MkII lens 1

I'm going to be on tour with the band soon and I need a good lens for my Canon 5D MkII. I want to know, what's the best lens for concert pictures. Also I need another lens that is best band pictures. Some pics will be edited on PhotoShop. Any price any brand.

Thanks!

PS. If you think I should buy a different DSLR let me know. I'm a bigger Canon, but Ill try a Nikon if you think its better.

The lens will depend on your experience…

if you are new to concert photos, then it isn't going to matter what lenses are suggested, if you don't know what you are doing, the shots will still fall below par…

and it is going to depend where you are going to be in the audience… You might get away with a 50mm f/1.4 or a need a 70-300mm f/2.8

I find I use a Sigma 70 - 200mm f2.8 EX a lot when doing concert photography, you often need wide aperture just to get a reasonable hand holding shutter speed. The Sigma has the advantages of rear focusing (fast auto focus) and will focus closer than any other 70 - 200mm lens. Image quality is very good even wide open.

I prefer the Pentax K5 (or Nikon D7000 - same sensor) in any low light situation, their low noise high ISO capabilities alter the situation, even lenses with modest apertures are as fast as wide aperture lenses if you turn the ISO up, with these cameras you can do that without much (if any) noise penalty. In my experience these cameras are a real game changer. For this reason my camera of choice for concert work is the Pentax K5, which surprises a lot of people, It's better than my Nikon D3s in low light which surprised me. 1600 ISO with no noise, even if you pixel peep, 3200 and even 6400 is very usable.

It remains to be seen what the new Pentax K-01, a mirrorless version of the K5 can do. Mirrorless has a lot of advantages for stills cameras and are needed for true, controllable, video. All cameras will be mirrorless in a few years.

Depends on how close in you're going to be. Canon has a fine 17-40 if you can be really close. A good 24-70 for a bit more distance and a good 70-200 f2.8 for the distance shots.

Nikon also has the latter two, for the former you'd be looking at the 16-35.

Urgh…

24-70 f2.8
70-200 f2.8
50 f1.4

I agree with Jeroen. You may need 2 lenses, depending on your distance from the subject.
It's important that any lens you choose is fast (low F number) as it may be dark in there.
Also remember to hide your sensor from laser lighting, they will fry it.

While I agree with some of the recommendations you have been given, I will play the Devil's advocate and say you don't have a lot of experience… Otherwise, you would already know what you need (especially if you suggest changing brands).

The general advice I give to people is… Photography is 70% photographer skill/experience, 20% LENS QUALITY, and 10% camera body. IMO… A $600 camera with a $1, 500 lens is better than an $1, 800 camera with a "kit" lens.

The lenses I tend to use for concert photography (pit area) is the 50mm f/1.4 and a 70-200mm f/2.8L. I have the 50mm on one body and the 70-200 on another. That's right, photography is NOT a cheap hobby or profession.

Whether it is Canon, Nikon, Pentax, or Fred's homemade creation… You will need fast glass (f/2.8 or better… The lower the f/stop number, the "faster" it is).

BTW… Should you decide to play Francesco Schettino and jump ship (to another brand), you need to remember that if you have taken even one shot with your 5D and lenses, it is used and you will not be able to recover the purchase price.