What are your Essensial Lenses?

[mkoller]

70-200 2.8 II - sadly do not think I could live without it.

 

[Solarflare]

Well, I currently own four lenses:

1. AF-S 50mm f1.8
2. AF-S 28mm f1.8
3. AF-S 70-200mm f4 VR
4. AF-S 16-35mm f4 VR

I use them all:

- 16-35mm & 70-200mm as long as I have enough light.

- 28mm & 50mm if I enter real lowlight areas.

- 28mm & 70-200mm for those cases when I want to carry a minimal setup.

- 16-35mm & 50mm & 70-200mm for a more heavy setup but still able to do "anything".

In the back of my mind, I am kind of planning to get 2 bodies at some point, that would allow me to have a minimal number of lens changes.

What do I miss ? Obviously a macro lens. And anything below 16mm or above 200mm is unavailable too. In fact, with the 16-35mm, I rather avoid 16 or 17 mm since theres quite a bit distortion at that end. Makro is a special field though that requires a lot of extra stuff, and I dont really urgently need anything outside the central 18-200mm range either.

 

[sonicbuffalo]

my lenses are all 'go to' lenses....with the exception of my Sigma Macro 105. I have the 14-24mm f/2.8, the 24-70 mm f/2.8, and the 70-200 mm II f/2.8 ....all Nikkor's. Great lenses all.

 

[480sparky42 41]

............What do I miss ? Obviously a macro lens. ......Makro is a special field though that requires a lot of extra stuff,..........

Look at macro coupler rings. They basically are a filter-size ring with male threads on both sides. This allows you to reverse one lens in front of another and act as a close-up filter.

Light, small and cheap.

 

[greybeard36 8]

16-85, 35 f/1.8 and 105 macro

 

[chuasam]

I like my 85mm 1.8.

I second that. I also have a 70-200/2.8 but I find it too heavy for a 4 hour photo session


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[hamlet]

For me as a non-specific amateur photographer, i have 3 lenses that i cannot go without.

1. 11-16DXII
2. 50mm 1.4G
2. 70-200VRII


These are different tools for different shots.

 

[Tailgunner]

These kinda threads typically break down along the same lines over and over. The landscapers like the shorties..."Oh, I really love my 10-22!" and "My 14-24 rocks it!" and so on. The bird guys are like, "Well, I like my 500/4 with the TC 1.4x and TC1.7x" and so on. And the people shooters are like, "Lovee me mah 24-70/2.8! and mah sevendeetotwohunnerdtwopointeight!"

This was my thoughts as well.

Anyhow, I picked up a new lens, a Nikon 18-35mm. It's not a pro lens like the 14-24 but it's doing a pretty decent job.

 

[D-B-J]

My Tokina 11-16 for all things landscape, and my 85mm 1.8G for almost all else. But if I had to choose one? Probably the 85.


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[mikeyidaho]

For my Sony A6000 I have everything I need with three primes.
Rokinon 12mm f2.0 - landscape, cityscapes, architecture
Sony 35mm f1.8 - all around lens, I could honestly just use this and be happy if I had to. Stabilized for low light use
Sigma 60mm f2.8 - portrait or other mild telephoto use

 

[sm4him]

These kinda threads typically break down along the same lines over and over. The landscapers like the shorties..."Oh, I really love my 10-22!" and "My 14-24 rocks it!" and so on. The bird guys are like, "Well, I like my 500/4 with the TC 1.4x and TC1.7x" and so on. And the people shooters are like, "Lovee me mah 24-70/2.8! and mah sevendeetotwohunnerdtwopointeight!"

^Truth right there. Your "go to" lenses are going to really depend on what you're going to them FOR.

If I had to pick my single "go to" lens, it would be the Sigma 150-500, but that's only because on average, I do more bird and nature photography than anything else, and for birds especially, there is NO other lens in my bag that comes close to doing the job well.

But I also do a good bit of shooting for work (transit related), I'm doing more and more portraiture work, and I also spend a good bit of time doing macro/abstract/fine art work.

At work and for portrait work, I had been using my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 almost exclusively, until I got a Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 a few months back. Now I'd say I use the Tamron for 70% of this work, and the 50 for most of the other 30%. Once in a great while, I use my Nikon 28mm f/1.8D or my kit 18-55mm lens, when I need a wider angle. One of these days, I'll buy a better wide angle lens.

For macro, my go-to lens is my Tokina 100mm f/2.8. That lens just rocks. Still one of my favorite lenses in my bag.

For general shooting (including abstracts/fine art stuff), it can really vary and I don't know that I can pick a "go to" lens. If I think I'm going to just be shooting a variety of stuff that day, I usually start with my Sigma 50mm, but I have no qualms about changing lens often to suit the subject.

 

[Tom47]

70 - 300 is my go to lens it is always on my D7100. I prefer and use various prims 28, 50 and 100 on my Df

 

[snerd]

In order of use, since I went FF....................

70-200L 2.8 IS II
24-70L 2.8 II
100L 2.8 IS Macro
50 1.4

Not so much anymore, on the EFS mount...............................

150-500
17-55
10-22

 

[davedyer]

All Nikkors:
180 2.8 ED Ais. I also have an 80-200 ED AF-D which sees maybe 1/2 the use the 180 does.
105 1.8 Ais. Best portrait lens ever for Nikon imho.
50 1.4 Ai. I have 3, but one is superior to the other 2. And I like all 3 better than my 1.4 AF-D
24 2.8 Ais. One of the first lenses I bought in the late '80s, and still always in my main bag.

 

[gsgary]

28mmF2 Ultron, 35mmF2.5 color skopar, 50mmF1.5 Nokton