Help with my lens setup

[aeon3]

Allan - the question may be down to what you are planning to do with the image that you capture. I'm starting to feel that you are overthinking this.

If you are planning to display them on a computer; I would not get too hung up on specific lenses, as the degree of enlargement will really not be an issue. If you are planning to make large prints, then you might start considering some higher end lenses; but smaller prints (anything up to say A3), you will be hard pressed to see significant difference in image quality between pro glass and amateur lenses if you are hand-holding your shots (which you have said you do). I do shoot a lot with a heavy-duty tripod and use pro glass, and yes, I can see a difference when I do large prints. In fact, I would suggest shooting with a tripod is going to do more for your image quality than anything else, but fully understand that this is not always a practical solution when on the road.

Software like Adobe Camera RAW or DxO Optics Pro do a wonderful job in correcting for lens "defects" (just make sure that the lens / camera combination you are looking at using are in their database). In normal lighting conditions, stop down a couple of stops and even the lower end lenses will give sparkling results. In poor lighting, often just getting the shot is going to be good.

Thanks man. You are probably right.

I've decided that I'll keep my setup with 5 lenses, at least until I realize whether the 17-50 and the 18-140 are filling the same gap. But I'll worry about that later.

This is pretty solid:

sigma 10-20
sigma 17-50 2.8
nikon 18-140
nikon 28 1.8

and I finally have to pick among these 3 now (thinking about portraits and macros, I ditched the 50mm as both 60mm and 85mm can do it all better, right?)

nikon 60mm 2.8 macro
nikon 85mm 1.8
sigma 105mm 2.8 macro

Which one makes more sense?

[Manfred M]

Thanks man. You are probably right.

I've decided that I'll keep my setup with 5 lenses, at least until I realize whether the 17-50 and the 18-140 are filling the same gap. But I'll worry about that later.

This is pretty solid:

sigma 10-20
sigma 17-50 2.8
nikon 18-140
nikon 28 1.8

and I finally have to pick among these 3 now (thinking about portraits and macros, I ditched the 50mm as both 60mm and 85mm can do it all better, right?)

nikon 60mm 2.8 macro
nikon 85mm 1.8
sigma 105mm 2.8 macro

Which one makes more sense?

A new danger lurks, Allan. Taking too much (remember you will be dragging all this gear along.


I have a simple rule; "if in doubt, leave it out".

The rule has a simple way of application. If I have to think about whether or not I will take a particular piece of equipment for more than 30 seconds, it stays at home.