Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: skierd on October 04, 2016, 01:30:38 am
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It seems like most photography forums are as much about the desire and acquisition of new gear, the next piece of a complete kit, the next part of the collection, etc. Many of the discussions here bemoan the lack of certain types of lenses, no matter how esoteric, for whatever their chosen camera system is, or the camera system they're dreaming about. Let's forget about what's next and focus on what's in your bag now...
What is your favorite lens?
Take that question however you want, but let's keep it to lenses you actually own and use. What piece of glass keeps you in this hobby or profession? What lens pays the bills and is indispensable to your kit? What's the lens you go to when it's all on the line? The first lens on your camera on any given outing, the go-to, the cornerstone, the "if I had to sell everything but one", the glass that keeps you in your camera system?
For me it's my Pentax SMC DA*50-135 f2.8. It's on my camera probably 90-95% of the time. Weddings, landscapes, portraits, chasing the dog, sneaking up on wildlife, portraits of my daughter, doesn't matter this is my go-to lens. It's sharp enough, fast enough, the perfect zoom range for so much, it's images are full of Pentax pixie dust, and it's almost so good that it's cheap for what you get. I love it's rendering. It seriously makes me want to just stay in the Pentax aps-c ecosystem.
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Hum.. very very hard to pick one...
Until recently I would probably have said the Leica R 180mm f2.8 APO converted to Nikon mount, although it is a bit of a speciality lens. Today I would probably say the new Nikon 105mm f1.4.
Cheers,
Bernard
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When I shoot macros, I prefer my Canon 180/3.5 lens, mainly due to the focal length and the tripod collar.
When taking my camera out on the streets to capture images down town I prefer the 50/1.4 on my Canon 5D. On my Fujifilm X-Pro 1 and X-T1 I usually mount the (50mm FF equivalent) 35/1.4 or 35/2.
I prefer primes and the 50mm (FF) focal length. Usually I shoot with a wide open aperture.
I wish the lenses I use had built-in lens shades. Seems only Leica knows how to design and manufacture such high-tech Details (in many M lenses).
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Strange question. How on Earth can you have a favourite lens?
Lenses are just horses that you use for specific courses. Sometimes you need a wide and others a long. From a pro point of view it, the question, makes no sense. However, from the amateur point of view it all depends: one day I'll put a 24mm onto an FF body and go face the world (my tiny corner of it) in order to see what visual bacon I might come home with; at other, as of late, I'll put the 180mm onto a crop body and play around with that, hand-held, non-stabilised. and see which way the images take me. Or, I may suddenly feel nostalgia for rings, slap on the 500mm and burden myself with a tripod, wheeled along lashed to a shopping bag rig, and feel like a martyr on his way to execution.
There is no favourite: it all depends on whim and what the intention happens to be.
But I do see that where the choice is limited, desire/wishes can move into play and convince one that what isn't available is the very thing that'll have one eternally written into photographic history.
Photography can be at least two things, probably mutually exclusive: a collection of equipment and esoterica; the making of images. It's like the idea of travel being the only way to make pictures that are different and exciting: if one can't go there, wherever there may be - it changes with the seasons - then of course, it can't possibly be one's own fault that one's pictures are dull, can it?
There's a lot of self-deception going down in photography.
Rob
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Right now I am still amazed on how Zeiss managed to pack so much quality into such a tiny package, in the Loxia 21 f2.8. I mean, the DSLR version has an 82mm diameter, the Loxia has 52mm... Gotta love MILC systems.
Is it my "favourite"? Don't know really. What I know is that last week I took only this lens on the A7 on a business trip to Muscat, went out shooting in the souk with a small tripod to try out people long exposures, or some "ghosting". Got some great shots back.
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Leica Noctilux
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Canon TS-E 24L II.
Every other lens may or may not make it into the kit bag for any particular shooting trip, but this is one lens I'm almost never without.
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Strange question. How on Earth can you have a favourite lens?
Lenses are just horses that you use for specific courses. Sometimes you need a wide and others a long. From a pro point of view it, the question, makes no sense. However, from the amateur point of view it all depends: one day I'll put a 24mm onto an FF body and go face the world (my tiny corner of it) in order to see what visual bacon I might come home with; at other, as of late, I'll put the 180mm onto a crop body and play around with that, hand-held, non-stabilised. and see which way the images take me. Or, I may suddenly feel nostalgia for rings, slap on the 500mm and burden myself with a tripod, wheeled along lashed to a shopping bag rig, and feel like a martyr on his way to execution.
There is no favourite: it all depends on whim and what the intention happens to be.
But I do see that where the choice is limited, desire/wishes can move into play and convince one that what isn't available is the very thing that'll have one eternally written into photographic history.
Photography can be at least two things, probably mutually exclusive: a collection of equipment and esoterica; the making of images. It's like the idea of travel being the only way to make pictures that are different and exciting: if one can't go there, wherever there may be - it changes with the seasons - then of course, it can't possibly be one's own fault that one's pictures are dull, can it?
There's a lot of self-deception going down in photography.
Rob
I don't think it's strange to have a favourite. If the rendering and focal length resonate with you and match your vision, then, why not?
Some of the very best have spent their lives shooting with one or two lenses only. Some, just one. Making some of the best images in history.
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I don't think it's strange to have a favourite. If the rendering and focal length resonate with you and match your vision, then, why not?
On the other hand the danger is that you tailor your vision to suit your focal length. That is one of the reasons that I don't use a prime when shooting Street. If you use a prime then the advice is to move closer to the action.
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I have very few lenses, the one I have been using most of the times for the last three years is the Leica R Elmarit 100 apo macro (with the Elpro), not only for close ups.
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I don't think it's strange to have a favourite. If the rendering and focal length resonate with you and match your vision, then, why not?
On the other hand the danger is that you tailor your vision to suit your focal length. That is one of the reasons that I don't use a prime when shooting Street. If you use a prime then the advice is to move closer to the action.
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Absolutely correct, and that's why now, when it's just for me, I take along one body with whichever lens I feel to be flavour of my day.
It is precisely because of its limiting ability that I like to do that: I find there is nothing worse than the grasshopper mindset that having a zoom would bring into my work. Knowing that what I have with me is all there will be, is translated into freedom of mind and visual thought/recognition. Yes, there will always be the moment when I say, bugger! why didn't I bring whatever along too! But one has to learn that that's how life is: you may as well look at your wife, the love of your life, and say yeah, but Kim has a bigger ass. Which if you suddenly discover that a big ass might be your thing, you may have made the wrong life-decision some time ago, and have just realised it.
I stress, this is the way I work as an amateur; as a pro it was even the kitchen sink that came along, in a manner of speaking. Different situations. If I were going off on a trip somewhere, I'd probably max out at two: a 35mm and the 180mm, not because I prefer one to the other, but because those two focal lengths would cover pretty much all of my current visual interests, the 500mm being too bulky as well as too stylised for an entire body of work that doesn't depend on, or seek that personality.
Rob
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I have a full frame body and a APS-C body. For the APS-C body, almost always it's the 15-85mm as an all-purpose travel lens. For the full frame body, whichever prime suits my goal.
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A friend of mine talked me into getting a 35mm. I had never shot any prime that wide before and did not think I would like it. Boy was I wrong. The 35mm is the lens that stays on my camera most of the time and I have really grown to appreciate that FL.
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Leica 24mm f3.8 on my A7RII. 8)
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Taking a second look at the same topic, and making it slightly different in that I were to be allowed to own but a single lens, then based on current practice where poor sight has forced me into af and a 1.8/50mm for a lot of the time (effectively 75mm on cropped) then I could be tempted to put all the chips onto an 85mm for my FF, which would translate into a short tele for the cropped D200 camera I also own.
Why that length? Possibly because of my past, where models were my subjects, and apart from a period during the 60s/70s where I almost only ever used 35mm and 135mm on the small cameras, the then fashionable shape of women through short lenses isn't what I like today, not that I am fortunate enough to work with any of them now. Hardly that I expect that to change, just that old habits die hard, and I know that hope springs eternal; if it's realised, then longer lenses will rule.
;-)
Rob
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35 Summilux 1.4 ASPH FLE on my MM, M-E or M 262. I tend t see at 35mm FoV on 135 format.
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Hi,
Most used? Canon 24-105/4L.
Most loved? Contax 28-135/3.3-4.5 and Canon 16-35/4L.
Best regards
Erik
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Tough question. I rarely designate a single favorite anything.
I'm pretty happy with the majority of lenses I own and that's more than a few.
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Not sure about favourites, but I tend to use my 50mm f1.8 more than any other lens
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An open ended question for sure but valid on many levels.
Mine is my Zeiss 100mm F2makro. It's fantastically sharp and the bokeh is beautifully smooth. I got more mileage with it handheld on my 5d2 with the nice Ef-s focus screen that made it easy to use with the viewfinder. On the 5Ds it's more difficult to use with the viewfinder so ends up being more of a tripod use lens. Perhaps the thing I love most about it is the way it can slice the depth of a scene with such precision.
Ben
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If I have to pick one I'll pick my Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.2 which I use on my A7.
When I first got this lens I compared it to my Rokkor 50mm f1.4 and thought it was utter rubbish but I've since changed my mind and I now think it's just different. What I like about it is that at the widest apertures it's best described as funky but once stopped down it gives good results so the choice is there to be rather funky if the shot suits or to be much more sober and conventional at smaller apertures.
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Currently, my most-used lens is the 125 mm Voigtlander Apo-Lanthar f/2.5 1:1 macro lens. It's light, incredibly sharp, and has over 600 degrees focus throw. Not a lens that you get from 10 ft focus to 6 inch focus fast, but it does a good job as a manual focus general telephoto as well as a manual focus macro (I don't do AF with macro). I am doing a lot of macro currently.
My second most used lens is the humble Canon 40 mm f/2.8 pancake lens. High quality landscape lens at f/4 to f/8 - there are better lenses out there but (other than tilt shift lenses) the differences are minimal at f/8. It weighs less than 6 oz, and that means a lot on a long hike. It's always in my bag. I like the 35 to 40 mm focal length for full frame landscape and "normal lens" use (urban, environmental portrait-like).
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Currently, my most-used lens is the 125 mm Voigtlander Apo-Lanthar f/2.5 1:1 macro lens. It's light, incredibly sharp, and has over 600 degrees focus throw. Not a lens that you get from 10 ft focus to 6 inch focus fast, but it does a good job as a manual focus general telephoto as well as a manual focus macro (I don't do AF with macro). I am doing a lot of macro currently.
Yes, this is indeed among my favorites also.
Cheers,
Bernard
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Over the years I have moved away from zooms and now almost always use prime lenses - including for my professional work (mostly people pictures)
If the question were "if you could only keep one lens what would it be?" - I would go with 35mm (currently a Sigma Art). I love the 35mm and 50mm fields of view.
And my most useful lens for people pictures, whether family groups or children running around or half length portraits has to be the humble Canon 85mm 1.8. I can shoot whole jobs with just that one lightweight lens.
In fact I could shoot 99% of all my work with two lenses - the 35mm and 85mm.
My favourite lens though, if I have to pick just one - is the 50mm. Again currently a Sigma Art 1.4, but I also have the lovely Zeiss f2 macro. I could be tempted by a beautiful quality slower aperture 50mm if it was smaller than the Sigma - I'm not a fan of heavy lenses anymore.
Jim
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The ancient Canon 80-200/2.8L zoom. My go-to lens for portraits. It's very heavy and might not be as good optically as the current zooms, but I love the images it gives me. And it's black, as a lens ought to be! :-)
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Mine is my Zeiss 100mm F2makro.
Currently, my most-used lens is the 125 mm Voigtlander Apo-Lanthar f/2.5 1:1 macro lens. It's light, incredibly sharp, and has over 600 degrees focus throw. Not a lens that you get from 10 ft focus to 6 inch focus fast, but it does a good job as a manual focus general telephoto as well as a manual focus macro (I don't do AF with macro).
A 100 macro 1:2, 1:1 is the real universal lens. I have just added to my 100 macro the Distagon 25 mm with RR 1:2,3 (480 g), which I hope could be also very useful for landscape as well as close up shots.
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I rather agree with Rob C's early comment but then thinking about it there is a special pleasure both using and viewing results from the CV 125 2.5 and also from the Minolta 58 1.2.
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Voigtlander 40mm f2 Ultron. 64mm equivalent on Canon crop frame.
After years of using zoom this manual focus prime made me really slow down. It also makes me miss shots that I would have got with an AF zoom, but I definitely started taking better pictures after I bought it. It's probably not any better optically than the Canon 40mm* Nancy mentioned but the long throw manual focus ring is great for live view tripod work. Bokeh is quite dodgy but I don't use narrow depth of field much.
My most used lens for work & play.
* I have the Canon 40mm's little brother, the crop frame only EFS 24mm: Provides a similar field of view on crop frame as the 40mm on full frame. For the money I can't recommend it highly enough.
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Yes, the Canon 24mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens is just as good as its FF mate the 40. Amazingly cheap ($150.00).
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I don't have a favorite lens now, but in film days my Leitz 50/2 Rigid Summicron was the One. Besides its fine optical quality it's also so precisely made and so lovely to look at. At one point I had a "dual range" (closer focusing via a clip-on accessory eyepiece) version of the same lens, equal in build & optical quality but not quite as elegant looking.
For the past year I've been using mostly one camera, a Panasonic GX8, with a small set of mostly zoom lenses. None of the lenses call any particular attention to themselves but they all do a fine job.
-Dave-
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While they are not the most used lenses I have a special place for the Voigtlander Nokton 58mm F1.4 on Nikon and Fujifilm 35mm F1.4 on Fuji X.
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Easily the 14-24/2.8. I use it for astroscapes, auroras an such. 2:1 more shots than second lens 70-200/2.8, I use that for kids, pets, birds, sports and so on. Those I like to use. They are with me out in the cold and have worked nicely since I got them.
14-24 took a nose dive into the dirt this week so I may be forced to get it rebuilt. Sticky zoom at 14-16 mm range. Still works tho. Tripod fell over in the dark, user error, should have used the big tripod...
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Tips for Torbjorn: 1. hang weight from the center column (or platform, if no center column) hook. Or, if you have a Manfrotto 055 (no hook) and one of those nylon cloth tripod "aprons" that attach to the three legs below the platform, throw a water bottle or two into the "apron".
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Parts+%26+Accessories_Apron%2fShelves&ci=399&N=4075788753+4289361368+4231055303
2. Reflective tape or tag or (small amount of) luminescent tape or tag on stuff you use for landscape astrophotography with light painting - tripod platform, camera bag, etc - that way you don't trip over the gear when the exposure is done and you return (with headlamp) from your light painting venture or a second tripod-camera setup.
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Easily the 14-24/2.8. I use it for astroscapes, auroras an such. 2:1 more shots than second lens 70-200/2.8, I use that for kids, pets, birds, sports and so on. Those I like to use. They are with me out in the cold and have worked nicely since I got them.
14-24 took a nose dive into the dirt this week so I may be forced to get it rebuilt. Sticky zoom at 14-16 mm range. Still works tho. Tripod fell over in the dark, user error, should have used the big tripod...
Love that lens, and the fact that it's adaptable to any platform. Used it on the 5D2, then on the A7r/A7r2.
I can only hope that, when Nikon eventually replaces it, the replacement (or its adapter) will also allow aperture control, unlike some current Nikon lens/adapter combinations.
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Except for a 70-200 for some projects, I've always used primes. Zeiss, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Leica, the list is very long as I love glass.
Recently or for the last few years, projects have been so pressured I've rented the 24 to 70 II Canon lens, thinking I'd just use it in a Jam.
Then I find I shoot half the project with it and I've rented 4 different of them and all have been beautifully sharp with great smooth roll off.
I just wish it had stablization, for hand held motion, but I think it's a great lens.
But . . . everytime I go to buy it I think, uh, I've got it covered with primes, then rent it again so now I've realized my rentals have equaled the price, so I just ordered one.
With the 24-70 and the latest Canon 70-200, I can shoot 90% of everything we do.
Though my favorite lens is the 55mm Zeiss for my Contax I also use it on the Leica S2. I truly love that lens.
(http://www.russellrutherford.com/55mm_zeiss_contax.jpg)
IMO
BC
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+1 for the Canon 24-70/2.8L II. It is a masterpiece of zoom lens design. It is smaller and lighter than its predecessor (version I). And it is more durable, not needing frequent adjustments. And, best of all, it draws beautifully, sharp and with lovely bokeh. I have used it since 2012 and still marvel at how good it is. After reading the initial reviews, I paid the full introductory price for it, feeling that I needed it immediately. The original (version I) would unexpectedly go out of adjustment. It was so maddening that it drove me to use only primes in that range.
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It seems like most photography forums are as much about the desire and acquisition of new gear, the next piece of a complete kit, the next part of the collection, etc. Many of the discussions here bemoan the lack of certain types of lenses, no matter how esoteric, for whatever their chosen camera system is, or the camera system they're dreaming about. Let's forget about what's next and focus on what's in your bag now...
What is your favorite lens?
Take that question however you want, but let's keep it to lenses you actually own and use. What piece of glass keeps you in this hobby or profession? What lens pays the bills and is indispensable to your kit? What's the lens you go to when it's all on the line? The first lens on your camera on any given outing, the go-to, the cornerstone, the "if I had to sell everything but one", the glass that keeps you in your camera system?
For me it's my Pentax SMC DA*50-135 f2.8. It's on my camera probably 90-95% of the time. Weddings, landscapes, portraits, chasing the dog, sneaking up on wildlife, portraits of my daughter, doesn't matter this is my go-to lens. It's sharp enough, fast enough, the perfect zoom range for so much, it's images are full of Pentax pixie dust, and it's almost so good that it's cheap for what you get. I love it's rendering. It seriously makes me want to just stay in the Pentax aps-c ecosystem.
What a stupid gear head question.
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What a stupid gear head question.
What a rude response to what I regard as a perfectly acceptable, fun, interesting (to read what others think...) and possibly even informative post on an internet forum and more than that in a section of an internet forum dedicated to talking about gear.
I respectfully point out the option of not posting in threads that illicit this kind of reaction from you.
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I think it is an interesting question.
For me i have some lenses i like and that are important for my work.
I do primarily Architecture as well as performances on stage.
I like my 24mm 1.8g nikkor a lot.
It is a cheap lens; mechanically cheap, but optically very good.
I works well in all of my work. At 1.8 it has a nice unsharp rolloff and has a flat field of focus.
The coatings are very good. At f8 it is as good at it gets 36MP-D810
I could only consider the Otus 28mm 1.4 to be its contender, that is optically a lot better, but
the nikkor has a fine working autofocus, it is 24mm, it is about 350 gram and small. It is cheap.
I tested the Sigma 24mm but prefer the rendering and the flat field of the Nikkor.
here a photograph made @ f1.8
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What a rude response to what I regard as a perfectly acceptable, fun, interesting (to read what others think...) and possibly even informative post on an internet forum and more than that in a section of an internet forum dedicated to talking about gear.
I respectfully point out the option of not posting in threads that illicit this kind of reaction from you.
If the OP had posed the question with some context then it might appear to have some relevance to something, the topic might not have been so absurd.
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A lot of the answer lies in the typical subjects and situations of individual photographers. The favorite lens is the one on your camera at the moment, assuming the lens is in working condition and is halfway decent.
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Hi,
As a general response to the thread I have some recent experience. I was shooting a very special tree, for me that is, in great autumn foliage. I knew that the outer parts of the image were critical for that shot. So I shot it with some different stuff. My Hasselblad/P45+ combo with a Sonnar 180/4 and my favourite Contax 35-135/3.3-4.5 zoom on the Sony A7rII. What I found was that the 180/4 was a bit to tight and the Contax 35-135/3.3-4.5 didn't really cut it near the edge.
So next time I picked up my around 30 years old Minolta 80-200/2.8G APO. That gave me the right crop and image quality matching the Sonnar 180/4. So, I guess that the 80-200/2.8 is doing a comeback from retirement.
The enclosed crops show a part close to the vertical edge at actual pixels. On the left the Hasselblad/P45+/Sonnar 180 combo, center the Contax 35-135/3.3-4.5 and right the Minolta 80-200/2.8 APO G.
Would I print this reasonable size, say A0, the differences would be visible at close view. But all would do fine. On the other hand, I realise that the old 80-200/2.8 still deserves a slot in my backpack.
Best regards
Erik
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Regarding favourite lenses, mine are all Nikkors as it's all I now own, but they have always, from the 2/50mm that came on my then new F, had one helluva lousy flaw: their DOF scales are impossible to fathom out. Colours that don't match in place of stop numbers... How I envy the Leica version of doing it properly by using numbers to indicate stops and not daft colours. Small detail, but often a crucial aid denied me.
Rob
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Granted my needs are special, but I recently added the Canon 11-24 to my kit. It's a superb lens and it truly exceeded my expectations.
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I have a feeling that the answers will probably always depend on whether we speak in terms of work or hobby.
What makes sense in a pro situation doesn't have to hold true where the option exists to wander out with a single body and fitted optic and fear no loss. Work, for me, often meant the entire range had to accompany me, but for fun alone, a concept which never came into play until post-retirement, I would never dream of burdening myself with lots of stuff. Indeed, it is the perfect turn-off for me. I like to be able to concentrate with a single point of view; at times, even that becomes too broad and might create doubts. Fortunately, I have learned to go with instinct every time. Come to think of it, that puts me in company with Mr Eggleston, not my greatest influence.
Rob C
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The New Sony/Zeiss 50mm 1.4 FE. Love shooting this lens wide open!
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I have a feeling that the answers will probably always depend on whether we speak in terms of work or hobby.
+1
Work: 90mm TS-E
Play: 45mm TS-E (still holding out hope for an upgrade to this model)