You keep hearing that you need a sharper, faster, more expensive lens. This video argues most modern lenses are already beyond what you actually need, and chasing specs can quietly make your photography worse, not better.
Coming to you from James Popsys, this refreshingly blunt video questions the old line “sharp, cheap, fast, pick two” and adds a few realities people ignore: size, weight, and versatility. Popsys suggests the phrase itself is flawed because every lens is a compromise anyway. Instead of maxing out one trait, he pushes the idea of choosing what’s “enough.” He largely dismisses sharpness as a deciding factor for modern glass, arguing most current lenses easily clear the practical bar. If images fall short, it’s rarely because the lens isn’t sharp enough in 2026.
He then turns to fast apertures and admits the appeal of f/1.4 and f/1.2 lenses. Early on, shallow depth of field feels like the mark of serious work. But he explains how that look can become a crutch. For the type of scenes he shoots, throwing 99% of the frame out of focus often works against the image. He also challenges the low-light argument for ultra-fast lenses, pointing out how strong denoise tools in Lightroom make higher ISO far less of a problem. Instead of restructuring a composition just to shoot wide open, he prefers keeping depth where he wants it and cleaning up noise later.
Versatility sounds good until it starts working against you. Popsys uses the Sony FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G to explain his approach. Rather than constantly zooming, he treats it like a 40mm prime and only adjusts when the shot truly demands it. That habit forces more deliberate composition. He argues that unlimited zoom range adds another decision at the exact moment you’re trying to simplify a scene. Creative constraints, even self-imposed ones, tend to produce stronger images. Wider ranges often mean more weight, and weight directly affects how often you carry the lens.
Weight becomes a bigger deal than most people expect. Popsys compares that compact 24-50mm to the much larger Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM. The f/2 zoom is optically impressive, but it mostly stays home. A few hundred grams might not look like much on paper, yet over a long day it changes how willing you are to bring a camera at all. The lens extends away from the body, which makes its weight feel more pronounced than the camera itself. If a lighter lens gets carried more often, that’s the one producing more images.
He also touches on features people overlook. Buttons you rely on. Aperture rings. The way a lens fits how you already shoot. Even a small missing control can interrupt rhythm and slow you down. These details don’t show up in spec charts, but they shape how enjoyable a lens feels in daily use.
Popsys also shares his preferred focal lengths, mostly 35mm, 40mm, and 50mm, and suggests sticking close to standard perspectives when learning. Extreme wide angle or long telephoto can create dramatic effects quickly, yet standard focal lengths force stronger composition without visual tricks. It’s harder. That’s the point.
He builds toward a simple filter for choosing gear. Add the word “enough” to sharpness, speed, price, weight, and range. Evaluate lenses through that perspective instead of chasing perfection. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Popsys.
4 Comments
Yeah, chasing ultimate IQ makes no sense for my event work. OTOH, price, size and weight are major considerations. Lower cost means I can afford more lenses so I have all the focal lengths I need, including bright lenses for low light and smaller lenses for better light. Smaller lenses let me pack more and be less fatigued at the end of a 12-hour day. All of my third-party lenses produce image quality that is way beyond what's needed for event work going on social media, and even for landscape images I want to print (and sometimes sell) up to poster-size.
That's not to say I'll use any old thing: I have rejected some lenses for being too soft. But, I've saved a ton of money by going with Samyang, Tamron and Viltrox, and I have no regrets. In combination with modern high-rez bodies, I'm getting image quality I could only dream of 20 years ago.
Ditto. Samyang, Viltrox and Laowa have replaced many of my OEM lenses whilst offering weight savings & money savings but giving up very very little (if anything) in IQ.
Agree. I just bought a TTArtisan 50mm f1.2 and I’m having a blast using it on an X-Pro 1. Would I want to use this combo shooting a wedding? NO. But for shooting “things” or head shots it’s great.
This info to take onboard for all, think about it and rewatch! There is never ever a cheap lens for the makers of lenses for any make of camera is made painfully cutting the glass and those who make the tube to fit the glass in as well the hardware to make the glass move as you focus and for the telephoto lenses move the elements of all glass to work together to both focus and be sharp and magnify distant subjects and create a narrow field of view. All lenses from film days to current digital days are forever being part of the cost also.
I think the most used setting for aperture is f/8, the saying of old "be there at f/8", BUT for some reason marketing is for what is called "Fast Glass" like f/1.2 just ask yourself how often will you be using a lens at very very wide open glass.
When I went Sony in 2014 the one hook that pulled me at me was that Sony had given info to adapter makers to be able to make adapters for lens by all makers as well as all film lenses by all makers. Sony just starting out had only a few lenes, so I had a lot of Canon film FD lenses as well as Canon EF lenses and adapter at just $20 or just a little more but cost less than waiting and saving for more lenses. Simple fact film lens for 35mm camera are engineered/made the same as todays full frame cameras so basically no lens correction needed. The next find was there was an program (today called an app) on the camera from the Sony Playmemories web site (no longer available, if you find a used mod 1 or mod 2 A7/R/S you will find gold) called Lens correction where you can do a lens correction and store that for the next time you use that lens again, after doing all you Film FD lenses LC you are set to go. The part where the FD lenses are all MF and not chipped for metadata. For MF Sony even today as a pick your color MF function that as you focus the color band moves to and fro highlighting the focus area.
What are the old film lens compared to todays lenses? They are called "Fast Glass" for most are f/2.8 but a 24mm f/1/4, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.2, 85mm 1.2, 100mm f/2, 135mm f/2, 200mm and 300mm f/2.8. Lookup the lenses on the used market for how low the price (makers today say "cheap" bad saying). I used all these lenses while waiting to building my bank up.
In 2014 October I captured my first Lunar Eclipse as the moon was setting in the west from a parking lot full of fellow campers that saw my note in the campground store. I used a FD telephoto using a Canon FD 80-200mm at 135mm with adapter.
New cameras also have IBIS for the prime lenses have no OSS/IS like telephotos do that combined with IBIS gives a Z axis so handholding with high ISO's even will be what "Fast Glass" was used for back in the film days.
The point in this long info is mainly first what drew me to Sony but also to let all know about primes and telephotos.
One last tidbit of info about a Sony 2013 Telephoto APS-C lens E 10-18mm (15-27mm in 35mm) f/4 OSS and that is it can also be used in Full Frame mode from 12mm to 18mm (18mm if the rear light shield is removed) just mark the 12mm and 18mm spots with fluorescent marker and is great for astro capture, the point i used it in 2015 where as the Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G did not come out till 2017, just know your tools. Also the 12-24mm and the smaller 14mm f/1.8 all needed an additional external filter holder $800+ and the filter glass $800+, the 10-18mm has threads for filters up front, happy times for landscape photographers bank accounts being there at f/8 or wherever. See Trey Ratcliff, a day and night landscaper review of the E 10-18mm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysu-WIs-R1k&t=7s
The second image was back in 2015 using the E 10-18mm f/4 OSS on the A7SM1 you will see that the stars are pin point even in the corners. the very sad thing is I fell to all the hoopla about faster glass the new 12-24mm f/4 and f/2.8 super heavy and paid for all the filter holders and filters and carried all out to a places at night, just to let you see what to think about.
The first image I played with the FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM atop the panorama rig and tripod for a while to get all level, yes a great image but the time it took leveling for being heavy and having to tighten and retighten my E 10-18mm would have been way faster. For night or day landscapes get the E10-18mm first and compare with before or after. Ok one thing there are today 10mm f/2.8 lenses that are small also that also have threads for filters but are a prime single MM where as the E 10-18mm f/4 OSS in your bag or pocket goes from 12mm to 27mm so you will a telephoto with OSS on a IBIS camera and also the Sony FE 24-240mm OSS that can be used in APS-C mode you get 36-360mm in camera crop so a range of 12mm-360mm at your finger tips on a walkabout what more to ask for? Remember the Software makes the image!