How Many Lenses Do You Need?

Most photographers would say that is an easy question to answer. One more.

But then again, there are many reasons to limit the number of lenses you have in your optical arsenal. Purist say stick with as many prime lenses as you can get your hands on because they say the optics are more precise vs the moving optics in zoom lenses. The portrait photographer will swear by a good 85mm or a 70-200 mm zoom. Nature can go both ways... Landscape will go wide while wildlife will go long as will sports photographers.

Ok... So that may not be much help to answer the question. To tell you the truth, I can not answer the question. By the simple fact that Canon has over 60 lenses to choose from, the need is so diverse that the original answer may be the best... One more

Here is a breakdown on the lenses shown in this post.

A - EF 14mm f/2.8 L II USM $2299

This baby has 114° of view so you are almost looking at your feet when shooting. It is the closest lens to a fisheye and still maintaining minimum distortion. This is great for architectural and very wide landscape. It is a prime lens in that to change the focal length would require a different camera body (APS-C sensor based body).

B - EF 16-36mm f/2.8L II USM $1649

While not quite as wide as the 14mm this lens has a zoom capability that makes it very good for a metro walk around lens.

C - EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM $2149

This lens is coveted by portrait photographers for it's wide aperture of f/1.2. This easily generates soft bokeh in images. The price is the most restrictive on this lens. You are either doing a lot of portraiture or you have a nice dose of disposable income.

D - EF 50 f/1.4 USM $520

This lens is really an ideal lens for the APS-C sensored bodies such as the 40D, 50D, and Rebel line. With the 1.6 crop =factor this lens acts like it is an 80mm lens. Very nice for the cost.

E - EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS $199

Ok... This one seems a little out of place in this line-up. First it is Canon's consumer level lens but is a relatively new design. Specifically it is designed for the cropped sensor. The "S" in the EF-S designation stands for Short. That being the back part of the lens is closer to the camera body than a full EF lens. This lens would interfere with a full framed sensor such as the 5D Mk II, or 1DS Mk III. Having said all that. this has turned out to be a fine lens. A nice reach (320mm) and yet goes wide (18mm)when necessary.

G - EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM $1999

This is probably one of the best lenses in the Canon line-up. It encompasses that magical 85mm and can be racked out to compress the field without having to back up into the next county. The stabilizer can give up to four stops of additional light. Just a fantastic lens. On an APS-C (cropped) sensor it runs at 112-320mm. So what does this have over the EF-S 18-200? Bigger and higher quality glass and constant aperture of 2.8. It may not sound like that much but it is really big!

H - EF 1.4 x II Extender $299

This little device mounts between the long lenses such as the 70-200 and turns it into a 98-280mm on a full frame or 156-448 on a cropped body. That is some really nice flexibility. The only down side to strapping this buddy on is that the is a one stop loss in light. There is a 2x extender but that looses two stops. Most people call these teleconverters.

Ok now... We are moving into the twilight zone in lenses.

I - EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM $7999

You will see this lens on many football field, make that professional football sidelines. You have seen many of the products of this lens in Sports Illustrated. The glass is nice and fast at f/2.8 and allows very high shutter speeds to freeze the action. Oh, did I say it was a bit pricy.

J - EF 600mm f/4L IS USM $9199

The monster lens in the Canon line-up. It is the wildlife photographers lens of choice. Speed is not as necessary as reach. This is how they get that tiger looking into the eye of the camera. Somewhat beyond my budget though.

I have eluded to the APS-C sized sensors in this post for a reason. Having a cropped and a full framed sensored bodies doubles the utility of your lenses. That is with the exception of the EF-S lenses. So if I have any recommendation, it is this:

1. Get the best glass your pocket book can afford.
2. If you plan to have both sensor sized bodies, avoid the EF-S lenses.
3. Remember you feet! They are the ultimate manual zoom.
4. Shoot with one lens for a day to find out its limitations.
5. Practice... Practice... Practice... You parents were right after all!

Take care all... Doug

NOTES

I believe some of the Nikon bodies will accept the Nikor lenses that are designed for the full frame or crapped sensor. I am no where near as familiar with the Nikon line as I shoot Canon.