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 speaker last night was the highly talented Mike Bennett, he presented the club with some amazing photographs. For the first half of the presentation he showed many portraits, with the backgrounds skilfully changed, and several composited images. Included in this first half were many travel photos from Serbia, many of the buildings showing the scars of the civil war, photos from Budapest, and Austria. His wildlife photos of pelicans taken at Lake Kerkini in northern Greece were amazing, even though the weather wasn’t all that favourable, and that completed the first half of the evening. After the break, Mike showed us his wildlife photos from the game reserve in Eswatini, (bordering South Africa). The bird photos were very sharp, many of the species such as the Rollers, Vultures, and Ibis are only to be seen in Africa, Mike explained the four “F’s” of bird photography, Flying, Fighting, Feeding, and … yes you’ve guessed it being Friendly. Various other animals were shown, lions, crocodiles, rhino, elephants impala, and warthogs. It was interesting to see the extreme close-up photographs of the rhino, and elephants, as Mike explained those animals are big grey lumps, and sometimes a more interesting photo can be an extreme close-up detailing the skin texture. Mike related how their safari vehicle became held up by a herd of elephants on the track ahead, then a big bull elephant passed behind the vehicle close enough to touch, but of course the group of photographers had to sit absolutely still, until the herd of elephants passed. I was most struck by the photos of the cheetahs, with the photographers walking amongst them!! my favourite from this set was of the cheetah walking up the track pictured on a rise against the sky. The editing, sharpness, and colours from Mike’s photographs was very impressive, it was an extremely good presentation, many thanks Mike.
Good Morning All We have just got back from a week staying at Sedbergh, Cumbria. We had varied weather but not too much rain and some really good light for taking photographs. There is no shortage of water up there the rivers and waterfalls are flowing well. Last week at the club Harry Kerman gave a talk on one of his favourite subjects, flowers. I was not there but going by the blog Harry demonstrated how he goes about taking his photographs with some stunning photographs to show what can be done. This week, Wednesday 5th November, Mike Bennett from Cleethorpes will be our speaker, Mike likes to tell a story with his photographs and seeing some of his talks before it will be an excellent evening. Today, (Sunday) it is the LPA PDI club competition at Nettleham village hall near Lincoln. 1.30 pm for 2pm start. If you have nothing on this afternoon why not go along and see how we get on. The week after (12th November) we hold a series of mini lectures, with this year's club outings as the topic. If you would like to take part, email me please and I will see how many members want to take part. Harry is also taking entries for this year's PDI of the year, all the rules are on our website but any image that has not been in a PDI of the year before and there are six subjects with a maximum of six photographs in all. Closing date is 12th November. Regards Graham
At our meeting last night one of our members, Harry Kerman gave a talk on one of his favourite genres, flower photography. Harry's talk was accompanied by a slick, professional standard power point presentation, he also had his camera a Canon R6 II, a Sigma 105mm macro lens, a Lens Baby 56mm manual focus lens, and the standard 24-70mm zoom. Harry demonstrated his use of the equipment, which included backgrounds, a plamp to hold flowers in place, and a light box. After the break Harry presented some of his images, projected onto the screen, not all the images were "perfect" he wanted to show some of his mistakes so that we could learn from them, he also welcomed feedback from members, all of the flower images he showed were stunning, and you can see some of them on this post. It was an inspiring evening, providing many techniques, and creative ideas for members to emulate. Harry's passion for flower photography shone through during the whole talk, his clear narration, power point presentation, demonstrations, and images completed a very successful night. Thank you Harry for a fascinating evening, and to Richard Hildred for the refreshments during the break.
Good morning, All Last week at the club we held a retro night, with four members showing pre year 2000 transparencies. It turned out to be a really interesting evening, I didn't know Richard Hildred had started out at an early age photographing trains, it turned out himself and member Chris Birchmore were travelling on the Flying Scotsman in 1967 at the same time. There is a full report on the evening on our blog. This week, Wednesday 29th October, Harry Kerman, one of our members will be showing some of his projected images, and talking about his interest in flower photography. Don't forget Harry is now taking entries for our PDIOTY (Projected Digital Image Of The Year) competition. (closing date 12th November) Regards Graham
Last night was a nostalgic trip down memory lane, with four of our members presenting a slide show taken before year 2000. Now we all remember sitting in a darkened living room showing your latest holiday slides to friends, and neighbours, that click and whir as the slides changed, the stuck slide, the one that was upside down, or back to front, and uncle Jim dozing on the settee! It wasn't quite like that for last night's presentation, Richard Hildred began the evening with some amazing images of railways from British Rail days, we might ride one of the preserved heritage lines, and see the gleaming clean steam engines pulling a line of carriages, Richard's images returned us to the reality of steam powered passenger and freight operations, with the dirt, the grit, and grime of daily steam running, this image captures the essence of steam hauled mixed goods traffic, Richard's slide was in colour, but renders better here in monochrome. Next up was Tony Gaskins, many of his slides featured his first trip to the Maasai Mara game reserve, and the Ngorongoro Crater, Tony also showed slides from his trip to Canada, his slides and narration made for a great presentation. This image of a mother elephant, and calf was taken in the Ngorongoro Crater. After the break, Chris Birchmore presented many images from the Lincolnshire area, some of the disused, and crumbling buildings in the images made interesting subjects for photography, I have used this image of Bolingbroke castle, and from this viewpoint the church is clearly visible in this image, compared with today where only the church tower is visible. Graham Harrison was our last presenter, last but not least, the variety of images shown was remarkable, several from Wales, and quite a few that had been entered into club competitions previously, and were of high quality, as this image of a Flamingo shows. It was a fascinating, and interesting evening, thanks to each of our presenters, and to Dave Mann for the refreshments.
Good Afternoon, All, Last week at the club we held our monthly print competition, with the categories of "Mono" and "Open", judged by Diane Seddon. It was a very good evening with Diane critiquing our prints with helpful comments on how we could improve our images as well as praise. The results are on our website but well done to David Whitehouse for best print in the mono and Dave Turner for best print in the open. This week, Wednesday 22nd October, we go back in time to before the millennium with transparency slides to be shown by Tony Gaskins, Chris Birchmore, Richard Hildred and myself. You can start sending Harry your entries for the PDI of the year, all the rules etc are on our website, but the important thing is you can enter any PDI's as long as they have never been in a PDI of the year before. There are six subjects and an overall max of six PDI's, no more than three per subject. Regards Graham
A print competition was held last night with the categories of; "Monochrome" and "Open". Diane Seddon from Cleethorpes Camera Club was the judge for the evening, Diane is very skilled, and thorough in her judging, providing useful insight, and critique of the prints. Many of her comments centered around the best cropping of an image to optimise the subject within the frame, and giving the subject "room to breathe" in the framing. Congratulations to David Whitehouse placed first in the "Monochrome" category, with his superb rendering of a face sculpture, and Dave Turner placed first in the "Open" category with his stunning print of the sunrise over Whitby Harbour. Thanks to Diane Seddon for a great evening, and as she remarked at the end of the competition all the prints were of an extremely high standard. The Competition Page has been updated with the highest placed images, but currently the score sheets for the competition are unavailable.
Good Morning All Last week Dave Bennett came to the club again, it has been a while since we have seen his photography but well worth the wait. Dave's photographs were excellent and his story telling along with AV's made it a very good night. This week, Wednesday 15th October, we are holding a print competition, with the categories of "Mono" and "Open", our judge for the evening will be Diane Seddon AFIAP CPAGB BPE3* she is well qualified to judge our prints. The following week we are going to try a retro night again, with Transparencies taken prior to the year 2000, please let me know if you want to take part and have a time slot allotted, time will depend on the numbers wanting to take part. Regards Graham
Last night Dave Bennett came to the club to show us AV's and narrate other sets of photographs on a theme. Dave started with photos along the Humber and then carried on the evening with AV's on nature, flowers and transport as well as talks and photographs showing us Grimsby docks including detailed photographs of fish smoking and engineering. Dave's photography is of a very high standard with strong colours, lot's of use of depth of field and they tell a story. A great night, thank you Dave.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a local PDI competition with a category of "5 Minutes From Your Home", we had some very good entries in each category with myself, and Dave Turner judging on the night. All the results are on our website, but well done to Derek for his mobile phone picture of a remembrance seat in Horncastle and Harry for his hellebores in the "Open" category. This week, Wednesday 8th October, Dave Bennett is coming to the club to show us what he has been taking lately, Dave does quite a bit of AV so as usual it will be a very good night. A reminder, send your print titles for the next print competition to Dave Turner by midnight Wednesday and bring your prints in this Wednesday night as well please. If you have any more N&EMPF Exhibition PDI entries send them to me by midnight tomorrow (Monday) please. Regards Graham
