So how many lenses do I actually need?
Derek Smith • 9 June 2021
So, how many lenses do you actually need?
This blog post was prompted by an F-Stoppers article about lenses for interchangeable lens cameras.
For many photographers one lens, the 24-70mm equivalent focal length zoom lens will be sufficient to cover most genres of photography, from nearly macro, close-up photos, to landscape, and portraiture. A possible disadvantage might be the variable aperture of this zoom lens, constant aperture lenses are usually available for most camera systems at extra cost, but are larger, and heavier than the variable aperture versions. Some camera manufacturers offer the choice of a standard “kit” zoom lens, or a constant aperture zoom lens at a higher cost when purchasing a new camera, buy the constant aperture zoom lens, you will not regret it.
What lens should I purchase next?
To answer to this question, a photographer will need to analyse the type of photography of interest.
Prime lens - For portraiture, street photography, or low light situations, such as social gatherings a prime lens (fixed focal length) may well be the perfect answer. How to choose the correct focal length when buying a prime lens? This is where the zoom lens is most helpful, look through a selection of your favourite photos, and ask yourself what is my favourite topic of photography? What focal length do I use most often? Many photographers use a 50mm equivalent focal length prime, the “nifty fifty”, often quite inexpensive, especially in a f/1.8 version. For my personal needs I prefer a 35mm equivalent focal length, very useful indoors at social gatherings, environmental street photography, and portraiture. My 35mm equivalent lens is wedded to an elderly range finder camera, and is always with me on trips, usually tucked in a pocket!! A dedicated portrait photographer might well choose the 85mm equivalent focal length lens, very flattering for portraits, rendering the background suitably blurred, ideal for studio, and outdoor locations.
Macro photography – For close-up photos of the natural world, a macro lens is very useful, before splashing several hundred pounds on a dedicated macro lens though, see how close the zoom lens will get to the subject, also consider an inexpensive set of extension tubes. On an APS-C sensor Sony camera I achieved reasonable results with a 90mm equivalent focal length lens, and extension tubes. Typically, a macro lens will have an equivalent focal length of around 100mm thus giving the required magnification, and 1:1 ratio ensuring that the subject is the same size, or greater in the viewfinder.
Telephoto lens – Usually building on from the standard zoom lens, a 70 – 200mm equivalent focal length zoom, is ideal for travel, and landscape photographers. For dedicated wildlife, and bird photography a longer equivalent focal length of up to 600mm may be more useful.
So, what is in my camera bag?
I have a dedicated camera bag containing my Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii camera, with a 12-40mm Pro lens, constant aperture f/2.8 (equivalent 24 – 80mm), and a 40 – 150mm Pro lens, constant aperture f/2.8 (equivalent 80 – 300mm) as well as a 2 times teleconverter. This camera, and lens set is fully weatherproof, with 5 axis in body stabilisation, and provides an equivalent focal length range of 24 – 600mm, most of my general photography needs are covered with the one camera body, and just two lenses
In another bag I have my dedicated portrait lenses the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 (equivalent 60mm focal length), and the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 (equivalent 112mm focal length) the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 (equivalent 34mm focal length) and lastly the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro lens (equivalent focal length 120mm) and two camera bodies the elderly Olympus PEN E-PL7 rangefinder camera, and an Olympus OM-D E-M10 iii.
So how many lenses do I need?
This blog post was prompted by an F-Stoppers article about lenses for interchangeable lens cameras.
For many photographers one lens, the 24-70mm equivalent focal length zoom lens will be sufficient to cover most genres of photography, from nearly macro, close-up photos, to landscape, and portraiture. A possible disadvantage might be the variable aperture of this zoom lens, constant aperture lenses are usually available for most camera systems at extra cost, but are larger, and heavier than the variable aperture versions. Some camera manufacturers offer the choice of a standard “kit” zoom lens, or a constant aperture zoom lens at a higher cost when purchasing a new camera, buy the constant aperture zoom lens, you will not regret it.
What lens should I purchase next?
To answer to this question, a photographer will need to analyse the type of photography of interest.
Prime lens - For portraiture, street photography, or low light situations, such as social gatherings a prime lens (fixed focal length) may well be the perfect answer. How to choose the correct focal length when buying a prime lens? This is where the zoom lens is most helpful, look through a selection of your favourite photos, and ask yourself what is my favourite topic of photography? What focal length do I use most often? Many photographers use a 50mm equivalent focal length prime, the “nifty fifty”, often quite inexpensive, especially in a f/1.8 version. For my personal needs I prefer a 35mm equivalent focal length, very useful indoors at social gatherings, environmental street photography, and portraiture. My 35mm equivalent lens is wedded to an elderly range finder camera, and is always with me on trips, usually tucked in a pocket!! A dedicated portrait photographer might well choose the 85mm equivalent focal length lens, very flattering for portraits, rendering the background suitably blurred, ideal for studio, and outdoor locations.
Macro photography – For close-up photos of the natural world, a macro lens is very useful, before splashing several hundred pounds on a dedicated macro lens though, see how close the zoom lens will get to the subject, also consider an inexpensive set of extension tubes. On an APS-C sensor Sony camera I achieved reasonable results with a 90mm equivalent focal length lens, and extension tubes. Typically, a macro lens will have an equivalent focal length of around 100mm thus giving the required magnification, and 1:1 ratio ensuring that the subject is the same size, or greater in the viewfinder.
Telephoto lens – Usually building on from the standard zoom lens, a 70 – 200mm equivalent focal length zoom, is ideal for travel, and landscape photographers. For dedicated wildlife, and bird photography a longer equivalent focal length of up to 600mm may be more useful.
So, what is in my camera bag?
I have a dedicated camera bag containing my Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii camera, with a 12-40mm Pro lens, constant aperture f/2.8 (equivalent 24 – 80mm), and a 40 – 150mm Pro lens, constant aperture f/2.8 (equivalent 80 – 300mm) as well as a 2 times teleconverter. This camera, and lens set is fully weatherproof, with 5 axis in body stabilisation, and provides an equivalent focal length range of 24 – 600mm, most of my general photography needs are covered with the one camera body, and just two lenses
In another bag I have my dedicated portrait lenses the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 (equivalent 60mm focal length), and the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 (equivalent 112mm focal length) the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 (equivalent 34mm focal length) and lastly the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro lens (equivalent focal length 120mm) and two camera bodies the elderly Olympus PEN E-PL7 rangefinder camera, and an Olympus OM-D E-M10 iii.
So how many lenses do I need?
Cardinal Beetle
Photo By: Derek Smith
Sony NEX 3, Sigma 60mm with extension tubes.
Alan
Photo By: Derek Smith
Olympus 12-40mm zoom at 25mm, and f/2.8
Egret
Photo By: Derek Smith
Olympus 40-150mm zoom with x2 telconverter, at 300mm f/5.6.
Broadbank
Photo By: Derek Smith
Olympus 17mm lens
Louth Photographic Society
Our AGM was held last night; it was a productive evening with all the Society Officers re-elected for the forthcoming year. A big thank you to Peter Cory who has stood down from the Committee, Paul Twomey has been nominated in his place on the Committee. Following the AGM, the cups, and trophies were awarded to members with the highest points scores in the competitions.
We held a PDI Competition last night with the categories of “Local Events”, (the “Local” designation applies to any photograph taken within a 25-mile radius of St. James Church, Louth) and “Open”. Our own Graham Harrison was the judge for the evening, and he did a sterling job of selecting the top three highest placed images in each category. All the results of the competition can be viewed on our Competition webpage. I want to take a moment to praise the work of our Competition Secretaries, Dave Turner is the Print Secretary, he collects, collates the submitted competition prints, and produces the score sheets, he also submits club entries into the LPA Fosters competition, and the LPA Battles for members. Harry Kerman is our PDI Secretary, he receives submitted digital images usually via WeTransfer, collates the entries, produces the score sheets, and presents the images on the competition evening, as he did last night. Our Society would be much poorer without the hard work and dedication of these two individuals. It would be a real help to both Competition Secretaries if you could pay attention to the titles of your submitted entries, in the topic categories a judge must be guided by the title, as well as the image to evaluate whether the image meets the topic criteria. Our next PDI competition has the topic of “Seasons”, carefully choose both the image and the appropriate title to help the judge. It seems a shame to put a lot of hard work into taking a photograph, editing the image, and submitting the entry, only to lose points because your image did not meet the criteria. I would also encourage you to join our outings in June, it’s where we can socialise, and learn from other members how to use our cameras and gain some composition tips. This photo of an Orb Weaver spider taken at Chambers Farm Wood, from last year, is an example of what can be achieved on our outings.
Good Morning All Last week at the club Derek Smith kindly organised a studio night for us all, it was a very successful evening with Derek providing all the lighting, backdrops, and booking the model. Thank you, Derek, for all your hard work organising the evening. This week, Wednesday 30th April, we are holding a local PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Events" and "Open", you have until midnight tonight to get your entries to Harry. The local is always judged by members and this week you have yours truly judging. The following week it is that time of year already when we hold our AGM and presentation night. If any members have trophies to hand in, this week please. The week after the AGM it is the first monthly PDI competition of our new competition year, Seasons and Open, you can begin sorting out your entries for that one as well now and send them to Harry after this Monday to avoid confusion. Regards Graham
Our “Studio Night” was held last night, this is an annual event, with a model being on hand for members to practice portrait, and fashion photography. This year, I wanted to try something a little different, with two sets positioning a model at one end of the room for the fashion shoot, and another set for portraits at the opposite end of the room. I tried booking a male model, and a female model for the shoot with a casting call on my usual modelling site, initially gaining interest from one male model, but unfortunately, he had to drop out. Re-advertising the shoot, yielded a female model from Rugby, and a male model from London. Where were all the Lincolnshire models? I pulled up a list of Lincolnshire models, and directly messaged several, without any response, until just 3 days before the event a female model under the name of Dahlia_Void (Megan) from Grimsby, responded and the “Studio Night” was on. Our very own talented Paul Rudd agreed to model for us, and both models did a superb job. I believe that the “Studio Night” was a success, with members seemingly able to take some excellent images of both models. Importantly, there didn’t seem to be a lot of waiting around for members to take their shots, and the models appeared relaxed. Megan was a little star, being very patient while we pointed cameras at her.
As a photographer, do you have a “style”? That’s a question that I’ve struggled with over many years. However, now that I think over what it is that makes me a photographer, I realise that being out with my camera brings me a lot of satisfaction, and none more so than working with models. My “style” if you can call it that, is encapsulated in what I call my “walkie / talkie” location shoot, which I’ve embraced for the last six years. I arrange to meet up with a model, male or female in a location, it may be a town, city, nature reserve, or a park. We walk around the location, chatting away until we find a suitable spot for a photo, I take a couple of photos then move on to the next location. The idea of this type of shoot is not to create the “picture perfect” portrait, but rather to capture a moment, some part of the model’s character. Travelling light, one camera, one lens, no reflectors, no lighting, just natural light, and a natural background. This “style” is perhaps more akin to street photography, but with a dedicated model. Here’s a sample of some of my favourite images from my “style” of photography.
Good Morning All We have just come back from a week in Northumberland, staying at Newbiggin by the sea. I took plenty of coastal photographs including many of the area's wildlife. Last week while I was away it was the monthly print competition. There is a blog on the website as well as all the results on the competition page. I really just need to congratulate Dave Turner who won both the subject and Open competition. I am not sure if Wednesday night's studio evening is going ahead yet but will let you know. Entries for the local competition, Local Events and Open need to be sent to Harry by midnight next Sunday. We judge this competition in house; I am happy to judge one subject if anyone else would like to judge the other subject? Regards Graham
We held a print competition at our meeting last night with the categories of "Curves" and "Open". Our judge for the evening was the very competent, and accomplished Diane Seddon. Diane gave excellent critique of the prints, and one of the main themes that Diane highlighted was the presentation of the prints, siting print sizes, mount sizes, mount colours, and more thoughtful cropping of images selected for printing. Definitely food for thought, and addressing those issues will improve members points scoring in future competitions. All the prints submitted into this competition were of a very high standard, however, it was Dave Turner who swept the board with 1st, and 2nd placing in the "Open" category, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd placing in the "Curves" category, it was a well deserved placing with some stunning prints. The Competition page of our website has been updated with the full results. Thanks to Diane Seddon for judging the competition, and Dave Mann for the refreshments.
Dave Turner, and I attended the LPA Fosters Challenge at Nettleham. The judge for the competition was Sue Wilson from Clay Cross. Axholme took first place with 19 points, Grimsby 2nd, and Cleethorpes 3rd. Louth was awarded 13 points, consisting of: Damselflies Mating – Graham Harrison 4pt Saltwick Bay – Tony Gaskins 4pt The Thinker – Keith Rossington 3pt Muted Swan – Harry Kerman 1pt Pier Number 9 – Dave Turner 1pt It was an interesting competition with some amazing images, a big thank you to Dave Turner for selecting the prints and submitting our entry into the competition.
Good Morning All Last week at the club member Chris Birchmore took us back in time with old photographs and a very interesting talk on one of Louth's old shops Platts stores. Platts stayed traditional for many years but as like most of the old shops eventually disappeared along with it's upside down sign. There is a blog on our website as well to look at. This week, Wednesday 16th April, we will hold our Print competition with the categories of "Curves" and "Open" to be judged by Diane Seddon of Cleethorpes. Harry is also now taking entries for the local PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Events" and "Open". Regards Graham
Our member Chris Birchmore gave an illustrated talk last night titled "The Shopkeeper and his Assistant". Chris related details of his family origins, and family history in Louth, in particular his connection with Platts Provision Store in Eastgate. It was a very interesting talk which evoked many memories with those members who had themselves been raised in Louth. Many thanks Chris, the preparation, and talk was excellent.
