You can only keep one lens.

[CuriousMike]

Thru some incredible internet technology, you find yourself limited to a single lens.
What will you pick?
As a follow up question, if you could have a second lens for 10% of the time, what would it be?

1. 24-120 f/4. It must be my amateur eye, but I find this lens to be great. I mean, I love it long time. It's sharp, the VR works well, and it has a very good focal range.

2. 85mm f/1.8. So, I could have almost put my 70-200 f/4 in here. But since I've moved to FF, I'm finding 70-200 a less useful focal range - 200 is not as useful as it once was. The 85 is my answer to the "need absolute sharpness and color over all else." It's focusing speed is Yugo-derived, but when I nail focus... whoa-baby.

 

[fralexandr]

for me it'd probably be the lenses in my eyes, or my glasses

but if talking about dedicated photography camera lenses.

1) sigma APO OS HSM 50-500
2) Pentax 18-135 WR

This would be supplemented with the camera on my HTC One M8, which could cover the wide end.

I don't own either of those lenses though :S
I do own a kit DAL 18-55, kit DAL 50-200, "sigma" 70-300, pentax F 100-300 and tamron 10-24 lens

 

[slashbinslashbash]

I think I would agree, my 24-105 f/4L IS is my most used lens.

Second lens, 50mm f/1.4.

 

[Syborg1211]

The Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 with image stabilization is my favorite, edging out the Nikon 24-70 only because of stabilization. When Nikon releases the 24-70 with VR later this year, I may have to pick it up and get rid of at least one of the other two.

Second lens is a tough one. 50 f/1.4 is definitely versatile, but the 85 f/1.8 produces such amazing images because of color and bokeh. If I'm not doing portraits, the 20mm f/1.8 would also be a great companion for hikes, landscapes, and general tourism.

I used to love and use the crap out of the 70-200 f/2.8, and it produces stunning results for sure. I've found recently I like having a closer working distance to my subjects though. So hard to give direction or keep up a conversation from 30 feet away. Images shot with this lens seem less personable to me which can work for certain types of photos. There's also definitely a weird stigma when you point a lens of this size at someone.

 

[zCypher]

That's a really tough question to answer. I love my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8, but mostly cause i love shooting landscapes so much. The focal range of my 18-55 kit lens comes in handy for other situations, but I haven't had a chance to experience a higher quality / higher performance zoom very much yet. Aside from that I guess the 50mm f/1.8 would have to be at the top of the list, it is awesome.

I guess it would be a tossup between the Tokina 11-16 and the 50mm, but my answer could change with time spent playing around with a good zoom. So the 11-16 most of the time since I spend more time shooting landscapes so far, and the 50mm the 10% of the time for those times where I want to get up closer and play with bokeh and such.

 

[tdawg]

Primary: 16-35
10% time: 24-70

 

[shortylickens]

I'd switch to a large-sensor powerzoom.

 

[carlton_fritz]

Sigma Art 24-105/4.

 

[blastingcap]

Panasonic FZ1000

 

[nForce2]

Pinhole. :thumbsup:

 

[ControlD]

(Canon)

(1) 15-85 f/3.5-5.6. This lens pretty much lives on my camera as it is. I love that lens and oftentimes I don't take anything else with me.

(2) So hard to choose a second. I guess I have to go with my Sigma 30mm f/1.4. The 85mm f/1.8 would be almost as good a choice, but the 30mm is my go to indoor / low light lens.

 

[carlton_fritz]

(Canon)

(1) 15-85 f/3.5-5.6. This lens pretty much lives on my camera as it is. I love that lens and oftentimes I don't take anything else with me.

(2) So hard to choose a second. I guess I have to go with my Sigma 30mm f/1.4. The 85mm f/1.8 would be almost as good a choice, but the 30mm is my go to indoor / low light lens.

I've heard good things about that Sigma.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

I've heard good things about that Sigma.

I used to have one. It was my favorite lens on a crop body.

 

[carlton_fritz]

I used to have one. It was my favorite lens on a crop body.

Guess you need to replace it with the Sigma 50 1.4 Art.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Guess you need to replace it with the Sigma 50 1.4 Art.

Yeah, it's on my list. I haven't been able to spend much on camera stuff since I got married and had a kid. My gear acquisition days are mostly over, unless and until I find a way to double my income.

 

[carlton_fritz]

Yeah, it's on my list. I haven't been able to spend much on camera stuff since I got married and had a kid. My gear acquisition days are mostly over, unless and until I find a way to double my income.

My list too, but way down since I can't justify it over some other lenses that I would use more often. Next on my list is a 24-70. Right now I just have a couple. Sigma 18-35/1.8 Art and Tamron 70-200/2.8 VC version along with a nifty fifty.

 

[Indus]

I shoot FX so I'd stick with my Nikon 35mm fx though the Sigma 35mm is close if you get a good one past the quality control.

That one 35mm focal length can replace an entire bag for me.. and although I do have an 85mm and a zoom, both see use about 5% of the time.

I know this because in the past 4 years most of my shots have been 35mm. Some 85mm and like a very few landscapes through my zoom.

 

[foghorn67]

Just went full frame. Probably my 24-105/f4. I'll replace with the 24-70 2.8 fairly soon.
If I wasn't practical, I would vote for my 135 f2 instead.

 

[EOM]

Crop frame Nikon....
Of the lenses I own i'd pick the following based on what I tend to grab when walking out the door :

1) 40mm f/2.8 DX Macro
2) 105mm f/2.8 VR Macro

 

[Paladin3]

I shoot Nikon, but the equivalent in Canon would work just as well:

Full Frame = AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED & AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
Crop Body = AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED & AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

Other things I'd like to have in my dream bag: 300/2.8, 400/2.8, 1.4x tele, fast 85mm, fast 24mm, macro lens, maybe a fast 14mm.

Assuming we have our fantasy budget to work with, that is.

My favorite two lens prime combo back in the day with a Nikon film camera with a 24/2.8 and 135/2.

Right now I do about 95% of my photography with a NIKKOR 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5. It's not my ideal lens, but since I shoot a lot of portraits it's okay for the job with good lighting. I've got a crappy 80-200 that I loathe to even put on the camera.

 

[carlton_fritz]

I shoot Nikon, but the equivalent in Canon would work just as well:

Full Frame = AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED & AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
Crop Body = AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED & AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

Other things I'd like to have in my dream bag: 300/2.8, 400/2.8, 1.4x tele, fast 85mm, fast 24mm, macro lens, maybe a fast 14mm.

Assuming we have our fantasy budget to work with, that is.

My favorite two lens prime combo back in the day with a Nikon film camera with a 24/2.8 and 135/2.

Right now I do about 95% of my photography with a NIKKOR 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5. It's not my ideal lens, but since I shoot a lot of portraits it's okay for the job with good lighting. I've got a crappy 80-200 that I loathe to even put on the camera.

That NIKKOR 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 is an under rated lens.

 

[finbarqs]

I'd go for the Canon 28-300mm L lens.

 

[Syborg1211]

For the people stating superzoom cameras or lenses, what do you shoot that you need that much zoom for?

I remember being disappointed with the zoom when I first got a real camera, but that was only because I was young and wanted to zoom in on topless ladies at the beach. I now find that that much zoom isn't useful to me unless I'm shooting sports or wildlife. Most great photos to me have some depth and environment to them which is hard to capture when so zoomed in. Are there uses to zoom that I'm missing?

 

[Fardringle]

I use the long end of the zoom (300mm equivalent) on my Fuji S6000fd camera far more often than the short end, mostly for wildlife pictures, and a lot of the time I wish it could zoom in more. I use the wide end (28mm) frequently for snapshots and landscapes as well but not nearly as much and wider would be even better especially for indoor shots. And I almost never use anything in the middle, so it would be really hard for me to pick just one SLR lens and that (and the cost) is the main reason I don't have an SLR yet, unfortunately. I'd love to have an SLR for the improved image quality, but I'd have to carry a wide lens and a big zoom lens all of the time to fit my normal usage and that's just not very practical.

 

[CuriousMike]

Fardingle - good thing for you, Canikon both have 28-300 variants (including a Tamron version for both.)

My answer to Syborgs question, which Fardingle sorta did - when I put my zoom lens on, it's almost always racked out and I'm wanting more - wildlife and sports. Which makes up a fair portion of what I shoot.