A lot of us love to geek out over gear; no doubt, the incredible extremes of design and capabilities in modern lenses are mightily impressive. However, it can be easy to get a little too caught up in that hype. So, if you could only choose one lens to take with you forever, what would it be? This neat video discusses the idea.
Coming to you from Adrian aows, this interesting video discusses the lens he would choose if he could only have one. I thought his choice was particularly interesting, as he chose a superzoom, the Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD. Such a lens is certainly versatile in terms of the focal lengths it offers, but you are not going to get the image quality of a professional-level zoom or prime lens or the super-narrow depth of field of a wide aperture lens. And in some sense, that can force you to return to a purer form of photography, as you will not obsess over sharpness and lack of aberrations (not to say that the Tamron isn't a perfectly functional lens), nor will you default to shooting everything at f/1.4, forcing you to focus simply on storytelling, composition, and light. What lens would you choose? Check out the video above for the full rundown.
Funny this article showed up today as we were talking about this over coffee this morning...
For personal shooting it'd be Nikon 24-70 f2.8. This is the lens that's most often on my personal camera and the one that I take on trips.
For work (portraits, fashion, boudoir) likely the 70-200. My 85 is my favorite but the versatility of the zoom would be more important.
In my system the XF16-55, it would capture 90% of the photos I’m after.
I do only use one lens, my trusty Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 E mount.
Not sure why my comment warranted a downvote. Sorry my personal lens choice offends someone.
Trying to figure out human nature is pretty much impossible. Some just wake up in the land of negativity.
Easy....70-200 f2.8 L II.
Fuji GF32-64mm f4 R LM WR
No question: Sony 200-600.
Go back a few years and it'd have been any 70-200 /f2.8, but things change.
GF80mm f1.7
For me it is 100-400 mm - I mostly take wildlife photos and this would be perfect. Eagerly waiting for the new Nikon 100-400 mm Z mount.
Booya! Canon EF Wide-Angle 35mm f/1.4L II
Canon R5 has an APS-C crop sensor mode as well as its native full frame, so essentially every prime lens can become two lenses.
If I had to pick one, I’d probably go with my EF 40mm 2.8, which becomes a 64mm in crop mode.
As a MFT user the Olympus 12-100 f4 pro is the perfect lens to take when you’re taking only 1. VERY sharp and VERY versatile 24-200 effective FF focal range.
Tamron 35mm 2.8 on Sony
It's light
And it doesn't announce it's presence on a a7c
Contax 645 + Planar 80mm f2
I want 24mm to start with - and i'd rather go for a 24-135 than a 28-200.