One Lens

[LePetomane]

I have four lenses (2 zooms, 2 primes) for my Fujifilm XT-1 but I find myself gravitating to one lens, my 32 mm f1.8 prime. I hate dragging around a bunch of gear. It makes me move more to get the shot I want and in moving around I see things from another angle and perspective. Now I am to the point where I just take the camera with this lens and a spare battery and go. What do the rest of you do?

[Mike Buckley]

I have four primes (35mm, 85mm, 180mm and 300mm) and one 12-24mm zoom. I almost always take all lenses with me except I take the longest prime on a walk-around venture only when I think I may have a use for it. As an example, it is a rare vacation when I don't use all five lenses. If for whatever reason I would be limited to only one lens, I would choose the 35mm lens.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I used to use my D80, then my D7000 with just an 18-200 zoom lens (ordered when I bought the D80). Now days I'm shooting a Sony A7ii a lot with manual focus lenses I've inherited with film cameras or bought very cheaply. I haven't found that 'one' lens yet that does it all for me on the A7ii though. Most times I'm finding an old Canon 35mm f2.8 mounted on it though as it makes for a very compact kit (though not necessarily light) and the 35 renders amazingly well for as old as it is. For lightness I usually opt for my Nikon Series E 50mm. It adds almost nothing to the weight of the camera but is a tad bulkier due to the adapter needed.
About the only time I'm frustrated with the above kits is when shooting cars in tight quarters as the 18-200 can out do them all in that situation (ie, get a whole car in frame, closeup).

[rpcrowe]

I personally like zoom lenses because they give me the freedom of being able to crop my images almost EXACTLY as I want them. I cannot always "crop with my feet". I replaced my 300mm f/4L IS and my 400mm f/5.6L primes with the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II zoom lens and have not missed the two primes one bit.

In the "Dark Ages" zoom lenses for still cameras left a lot to be desired. However, today's zooms like the 100-400L II, the 70-200mm f/4L IS and the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS, provide excellent results...

My standard travel kit is the 17-55mm f/2.8L and the 70-200mm f/4L IS supplemented with other lenses if I know that I am going to need them; like if I know I will be shooting wildlife...

[rtbaum]

I have a tendency to gravitate to a lens and stick with it for extended periods of time. I have been using 300mm with 1.4 TC for everything from flowers to birds to street. I like to really get to know a lens/body interaction. This weekend, I "forced" myself to stow the lens away and use the others at the state fair. I really must start using the 70-200 f/4 more often, as it is clearly the lens that I use the least. I hate to admit it but I think that I have become a 'prime' snob

[xpatUSA]

With my DSLRs I use appropriate zooms except for macro work for which I only have one lens - a 50mm.

If I had to choose only one zoom it would be the 17-70mm. (My DSLRs are 1.7 and 1.5 crop).

For my fixed-lens 1.7 crop compact I chose the 24.2mm model equivalent to 27.4mm in APS-C, just a bit wider than "normal" in photographic terminology.

[DanK]

That's why I use zooms rather than primes, except for macro. I still often want to take more than one, but even one gives me at least a 3x range of focal lengths.

[ajohnw]

I did have a Nikon 7000 bought as the twin lens kit. The 18-55mm went almost immediately as I found I fitted the 55-300mm to often so replaced it with the 18-105mm - a range some people call a good body cap. I think it's a better lens too.

Odd really because on Olympus m 4/3 I had found the 12-40mm fine. With that though I usually have the excellent 9-18mm with me for when there isn't much space and it's not much of a problem carrying a longer lens as well. Can't say I like the Pro 40-150mm as it's a pretty heavy lens compared with the rest and falls short of the 75-300mm on reach even with the converter on. I wish they had done something along the lines of the Panasonic 100-400mm but with none of the problems.

Not sure what will finish up on the 80D which wont get used much for general photography. What I have should be ok with lens changes for general stuff. All I really want to do is compare macro with it against what I can use on m 4/3.

John
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[Shadowman]

I'm never happy with just one lens but I'd probably settle on the 70-300mm or just the 85mm f/1.8 but then lately I've been having fun with just the 18-55mm.

[LePetomane]

The other lenses I own are a 12 mm f2.8, 18-55mm f2.8 - 4 and 55-200mm f3.5 - 4.8. I'm going on a western trip next week with stops at the house in Wyoming then off to my daughter's in Bozeman, then to a friend's place in Livingston and then back to our place in Wyoming. When I do travel I take all lenses but leave a lot of them in the car. I usually carry my compact Panasonic camera while fishing because I'm carrying so much other gear (rain gear, various forms of bear protection, food, water) but I may take the XT-1 with the prime lens if we don't venture too far off the beaten path.

[Sunray]

It depends what I am going to shoot. I have a full frame camera. If I have no special idea and do not want to carry all my stuff l usually mount my 24-105mm /f4 on camera and carry a 70-200mm /f4 with me. If a have a special interest on the trip (e.g. macro photography) I load additional "special" lenses in my photo-backpack. Normally I try to put everything in a small backpack together with some food and drink (different compartments!) so one smaller lens less or more does not change much weight here.
Robert

[NorthernFocus]

... What do the rest of you do?

Most often I try to pack gear appropriate for the shoot. Unfortunately when one shoots subjects from EDBD birdies to vast landscapes, multiple different lenses are needed. Though in truth many of us would get by nicely with less kit. I suspect most of us have a couple of "go to" lenses and the rest spend most of the time in the closet.

[DEAN01]

Paul,
Like you I have gravitated to one lens, the Fuji 35mm/1.4. Not the lens for everyone, but very useful for me. I switched from zooms to three primes for the X Pro-1 as a type of nostalgia thing. Not for all, but works very well for me.

[ajohnw]

I could add that when I had my first digital SLR, the original Rebel the lens on it most of the time was the 24-85mm. I can only think of one occasion when the 24 end wasn't wide enough - a smaller commercial fishing boat that had wellington boots hanging about on it all over the place. I just couldn't get it all in. The longer lens was just used when I needed it. Not very often at the time but interests change.

John
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[William W]

I bought a Fuji x100s. I don't think too much about what lens to use with it.

WW

[LePetomane]

I bought a Fuji x100s. I don't think too much about what lens to use with it.

WW

That's what my wife uses. Great camera.

[Black Pearl]

I'm exactly the same with my X-T1. I have two zooms and four primes which I do take out in a largish bag if I'm going on a specific photo shoot/wander but day-to-day you will almost always find my 35mm f1.4 on the front. I think I've talked about this before as its common for me to go out with just one lens (not always a prime but typically) to force me to look harder for images. I'm not a prime lens nazi by the way, I don't think the are better than zooms and I don't think you can 'zoom with your feet' as I much prefer to use the best (read that as most appropriate) lens for the situation.

[davidedric]

Focal lengths are all m4/3

If I'm just wandering around, I'll take the 14-140

If it's street or landscape, I'll probably have the f2.8 12-35 on the camera, and the 14-140 in the bag.

If wildlife the 100-300, but if it's something like safari I'll have a second body with another lens

One of these days I may splash out on a macro lens

Dave

[ajohnw]

Primes should offer better resolution etc than zooms but I remember my film days - no thanks. Decent zooms are mostly well up to the task. Sad that long ones are usually balanced so that they get much weaker at the long end.

What I should do more often is take shots like these

https://www.flickr.com/photos/489946...57631145195858

The processing wont be to all peoples tastes. All done with an E-P3 and the 14-42mm lens. One, street scene with people is rather gritty for a B&W conversion. Others. I like them to be a near to what I saw as possible.

However sometimes I can't walk further away so something wider needs to be in my bag. Might be some widlife around so a long zoom needs to be in there too. Currently I can't match a crop with the sigma 150-600mm in that area. However a lot of the lenses can match crop's resolution levels.

Footnote - Whoops looks like those were on the E-PL1. The E-P3 is a much better camera in several respects.

John
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[Tronhard]

For me it is really unlikely that I shall limit myself to ONE lens.

I think the answer to this massively depends on what you are intending to photograph (my main disciplines are landscape and wildlife photography) and what you want to produce - for example, digital output is likely to be a lot less demanding than producing large high-resolution prints. I don't produce prints of any size, my output is usually on digital displays. WHY I am taking the image is also a critical player - am I looking for a work or art or to just casually document a social occasion?

It is also dependent on how long I am going out for - there is a big difference between an one-hour, a one-day or a six-month photo trip. Since I started photography back in the 1980's, when zoom lenses were less sophisticated than today's, I have always used zooms. Perhaps because I used transparencies rather than negatives, I prefer to compose and crop as I take the image if possible and there are many times when you can't just move yourself to a position to do so with a prime. They also provide a flexibility to deal with a wider range of subjects, a characteristic that suits my extended trips that may last between several days to weeks. I might also add that my carrying capacity has a lot to do with it: when I have a car with lots of space it's a different situation from having my whole world carried on my back!

If I had to be limited to one body and one lens for general purpose photographic session I would probably go with a Canon 5DIII with a 28-300mm L series lens. Yes, it's big bulky but the combination takes great photos.

I carry a camera almost everywhere I go, but there are times when I have no specific intention of taking a photo, so I want one small camera that covers a wide range. I am waiting for Canon to come out with mirrorless camera with APS-C sensor and interchangeable lenses that also has a good electronic viewfinder. In the meantime I take a bridge camera super-zoom: currently the Canon Powershot SX60HS.


The SX60HS at 21mm equivalent


The SX60HS at 1365mm equivalent

Yes, the sensor is much smaller and will produce more noise, but it works for the situation.