Focal Lengths I most often use...

[rpcrowe]

Since I am still laid up with some heart problems (full recovery is the prognosis), I decided to spend some time to see which focal lengths that I most often use.

The group of images that I surveyed are from my two days in Istanbul several years ago. During that trip, I was shooting with a pair of Canon 7D cameras mounting 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses which have been my go-to lenses on a pair of Canon APSC DSLR cameras during many trips to various parts of the world. These two lenses gave me an equivalent focal range of from 27.2mm to 320mm, with a gap of 88mm to 112mm. I never felt constricted by the 27.2 wide end since I primarily use longer focal lengths and I never seemed to miss the gap. These are the images that I surveyed:

https://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Travel/Istanbul/

I saved 154-images from that trip. Of these 111 were shot with the 17-55mm lens and the remaining 43 were shot using the 70-200mm.

I arbitrarily divided the focal range of the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens into three groupings these groupings are the actual, not the equivalent focal lengths:

Images with 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens...
Wide angle of 27mm and below: 45 images or 29.2% of the total saved
Normal angle of 28-40mm: 36 images or 23.3% of the total saved
Slight telephoto of 41-55mm: 30 images or 19.4% of the total saved
Images with the 70-200mm f/4L IS lens...
70mm to 135mm: 36 images or 23.3% of total saved
136mm to 200mm: 7 images or 4.5% of total saved

What does this tell me?

Well, I knew that I was not a wide angle shooter - so the fact that over 70% of my images were shot with longer focal lengths was not surprising.

I also realized that in a two camera system, I really like the 17-55mm range on a crop camera because about 73% of my imagery was shot in this focal range. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no native e-mount lens of that focal range available for my Sony crop cameras. I also realized that carrying the 70-200mm lens was worth it because almost 28% of my imagery was shot in this range.

If I were shooting full frame Sony mirrorless cameras, I would probably be quite happy with the 28-75mm Tamron and a longer lens of about 105-135mm...

Looking at the uses to which I put the 70-200mm lens, I have decided to test out the Sony 55-210mm lens which I received as part of a used package with another lens... This lens is fairly weak at the longer focal lengths but, I shot only 4.5% of my images at over 135mm.

Too bad that the Sony 16-55mm kit lens is so slow with mediocre image quality because that is just the focal range that I would like.

The Sony 18-135mm lens would provide the focal lengths that I needed for about 95% of my images. Too bad that the aperture is variable and slow. Perhaps using an 18-135mm lens plus throwing a couple of fast primes into my bag might serve the purpose at a relatively light weight for the total kit. In fact, I could carry just a single body while out shooting...

[Shadowman]

Interesting tabulation of your past focal length preference but don't you think future usage will change given your new system and chosen workaround?

[rpcrowe]

Focal lengths that I will use, will, of curse be predicated on the lenses that I will own. I am going to do a more in-depth study to see if I will be comfortable shooting with several prime lenses. Especially the e-mount primes that I presently own.

I purchased several lenses with the idea of shooting primes... Both Sony and Sigma have e-mount primes that are great such as the: Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and the Sony 50mm f/1.8 OSS and 85mm f/1.8. I am lacking a good wide angle lens which is a position that might be filled by the 16mm f/1.4 Sigma.

What really shocked me is the apertures at which this selection of images were shot. Only 19 of the 154 image were shot at apertures wider than f/4.0 AND I could easily have increased the ISO for those images. Thus, I could have shot the entire selection of Istanbul images with lenses not wider than f/4.0

I will admit that I did no night shooting during my time in Istanbul because my wife was scared to go out at night. However, I did do a lot of shooting in rather dim indoor conditions in the various markets and the Istanbul mosaic museum. If you had told me that I could have shot this entire trip with a lens having an aperture no wider than f/4.0; I would not have believed you...

I just did another survey which indicated that 91% of the imagery that I kept from that trip could have been shot using the Sony 18-105 f/4 Lens alone...

[Jim A]

Interesting idea, Richard. I was doing something a bit similar a short while ago. My wife suggested I choose a new lens for my 75th birthday, which is later this month. In the event I instead bought (for better or worse) a new 4K monitor. This will help my post-production (hopefully) - I run a dual monitor system, so that the image is on the larger and the program on the smaller monitor.

Anyway, I divert from the question you pose, Richard. What I did before this decision, was to pull out my "winning" images, mostly local, quite a few national, and only one international. What I tend to do best (and enjoy - crucial) is event photography, which can be anything from shearing sheep, highland games to Santa parades. Also, some success, in architecture and composites. My aim was to find a lens that would give me sharper pics and had the right focal lengths for the pics I take most often. What did I decide? - that is still to be discovered. However, a useful exercise - I wish I knew what I should do next?

[DanK]

What really shocked me is the apertures at which this selection of images were shot. Only 19 of the 154 image were shot at apertures wider than f/4.0 AND I could easily have increased the ISO for those images. Thus, I could have shot the entire selection of Istanbul images with lenses not wider than f/4.0

Indeed. Same for me. Other than my macro lenses, none of my lenses are faster than f/4.0. It's only on very rare occasions that I want something faster, so it isn't worth the expense and weight of lugging around faster lenses most of the time. I suspect I will eventually buy a nifty 50, but I don't have any other fast lenses on the horizon.