Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 The Nikon 24-70mm is the lens that I shoot stills with most of the time. The lens has a pretty standard zoom range and a wide 2.8 aperture for beautiful shallow depth of field and great low light performance. If you want the best lens for images, this is it. For video I would highly suggest the much cheaper Tamron 17-50mm down below.
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Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC This is Lee's newest favorite lens. Way less expensive than Canon or Nikon, the Tamron 24-70mm may not be as sharp as its competitors, but it's got something no one else has: wicked vibration reduction. Tamron excels with their VC, and there is no better choice for video. It's amazing how well this lens works when it comes to reducing shake. It's uncanny.
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Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 The 70-200mm is my favorite lens. Whenever I get the chance to take a few steps back and shoot my subject with this telephoto lens I do. It has a 2.8 aperture just like the 24-70mm but it also has "vibration reduction version II" built into the lens which does an amazing job of stopping camera shake. If I could shoot with this every day I would.
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Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Sometimes I like shooting in very dim light and I need to shoot lower than 2.8. When this is the case I reach for my 50mm. The lens is fairly expensive at about $400 but it's the smallest lens I own, and it's probably the sharpest lens I own as well. This lens also works great for video because unlike the older version, this one has AFS focusing which allows auto and manual focus at the same time. If you need something cheaper, check out the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 or the Nikkor 35mm 1.8.
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Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 I'm not a big fan of ultra wide angle photography but I do occasionally need to have a wide lens. I don't shoot enough at this mm to make the Nikon 14-24mm worth the price so the Tokina works fine. I used to own the Nikon 12-24mm F4 and it was a piece of junk compared to the cheaper Tokina.
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Nikon 60mm f/2.8 Macro I don't shoot much macro photography but as a wedding photographer I do need to shoot the rings at each gig. I didn't want to carry around a huge 200m Macro, so I got the much cheaper and smaller 60mm version. For quick, up close shots, you can't beat it. If shooting headshots is your thing, you may want to go with the 200mm or the 105mm version.
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Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC 90% of our Fstoppers videos have been shot with this lens. Why? Because the Tamron 17-50mm has the best "vibration compensation" we have ever seen in a lens. Much of the time we have to film our videos hand held and we don't want to invest in extra gear like shoulder mounts. Although I believe that this lens is the best "video" lens that we own, I can't recommend it for still images. The lens is simply too soft for cameras with over 6mp. Until Nikon reintroduces their 17-55 2.8 with VR, this is the video lens to beat.
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Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 OS Once we realized that the Tamron 17-50mm was too soft to shoot stills with, we decided to try Sigma's version. Although the "optical stabilization" isn't as good as Tamron's "VC" we have found that the lens is sharper for photography. If you want a lens that works well for both stills and video, this is it.
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