What's Your Favorite Lens And Why?

[pse]

I have several favorites.. but the one that almost always produce good pictures is the Nikon f2.8 80-200ED pull-push.. love that lens!!

Also my new 17-35 f2.8 is great.. but still the 80-200 is a fav!

[camera0bug]

I don't play favorites.

I'll bet you say that to all the lenses.

[noearlybird]

I also belong to the favorite "Lens of the week" club. I do find myself going back to the Canon 85mm f 1.8 prime often though.
Kathie

[annayu]

Lens of the weak, heh? I honestly can't say which one of my lenses is my favorite, but the most interesting one is certainly the Canon EF 14/2.8L on a ff camera. Can't use it all the time, though.

[halesr]

I actually have 3 favorites and vary how I use them. They are:

1. Canon EF 100 mm macro 1:2.8 for macros and lots of other stuff
2. Canon EF 35-135mm 1: 3.5-4.5 - use this for lots of family gatherings
3. Canon EF 20-35mm 1:3.5-4.5 - this is a really nice piece of glass and I have to think harder when I am using this one. Really need to pull it out more.

Rene

[type]

Did I miss the bit in the original thread about having to be Canon lenses? Lord, Canon really is dominant! Well, time to speak up for plucky Olympus. My two main lenses are the excellent kit lens to the E-1, the 14-54 f2.8-3.5 (equivalent to 28-108 in 35mm terms) because of the versatile range and sharpness, and the 50-200.

The more distinctive is the Oly 50-200 f2.8-3.5 (100 to 400 in 35mm terms) which produces the most fantastic portraits in good light with gorgeous colour and bokeh. Neither of these have any post-processing and were hand-held at the equivalent of 400mm:

http://www.pbase.com/type/image/43611896
http://www.pbase.com/type/image/48419877

Also, you'd have to spend nearly double to get comparable quality/spec/range in Canon or Nikon (maybe not Sigma). The Olys, being designed for digital and a smaller sensor are also less bulky and lighter than the nearest equivalents for C & N.

I agree the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens cannot be beaten for great quality images at a silly price.


Niall

[vid64]

Pentax-M 100mm f2.8 on the MX or EF-100 f2 on the EOS 50E. (film cameras in case you're wondering!) Perfect focal length for portraits - long enough to be flattering, short enough to be intimate. Keeps the working distance sensible while eliminating background clutter.

I don't have an equivalent for the 1.6 crop Canon. The 50s are a tad short, while the EF-S 60 is close but lacks the shallow DoF of the 100f2. Thinking of trying an old Takumar (Pentax) 55f1.8 with an adaptor.

[adalberto_tiburzi]

I have only 3 lenses for my 5D.
Wide, 16-35
Standard, 24-105 (can be substituted by the classical 50)
Tele 70-300.

I use only one lens per day.
In the morning I ask myself "Which is your mood today Adal?"
"Are you in a wide mood? Or tele mood? Or in neutral?".

So the personality of the focal becomes an extension of my mood of the day.

I obtain better results this way.
Clearly I miss many photos, but the ones I do are more intense than average.

Hope it doesn't help, because I am jealous of my secrets...

[clickaway]

DM talking of his film cameras reminds me of my very early days using telephoto lenses on my Practika LTL. As an 18 year old all I could afford was a 200m lens made by Kiron that fell out of focus every time it felt the wind of a passing pigeon.

[kaipu]

Hi,

Mine gotta be the "Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro USM"........

Reason Being This Shot :



http://www.pbase.com/kaipu/image/54287560/original

and My this Gallery :

http://www.pbase.com/kaipu/macro_world

This lens has such good saturation and contrast that sometimes I have to
decrease the saturation quite a bit when converting my "RAW" files.......
and above all its very sharp........

Kaipu......

[alexhoggarth]

JUst one lens as a favorite!

I like to shoot lots of different things which some my call a lack of focus. I like primes and high quality zooms. Wide angles , macros and telephoto.

If I had to pick just 100 lens it would have to be my 24-70 2.8L not because it is my favorite but the range , speed and quality.

[ronnik_d70]

I like my Canon EF-S 17-85 mm IS and my Canon EF 70-200 mm IS USM combo. However, if only for a short walk, I will stick to my 17-85

[cbpersel]

My favorite lens is unquestionably the Nikkor 55-200mm. I work very fast and on the move in an urban environment, so I need a lens that covers a broad focal length. Not much time (or patience) for lens changing. The quality is not as high as other lenses (fixed or shorter zooms), but considering I do a lot of post-processing treatment anyway it allows to me to collect a lot of images in a very short amount of time.

Craig Persel

[yannp]

Two years using the same ol' Canon EF-S 18-55mm.

You know what ?
I'm happy

[vid64]

Hey - good for you yannp. Too many people here boasting about expensive lenses.