My best lens ... and why

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photogav

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For a bit of fun on a Friday I thought I'd start this thread.

My best lens is a Sigma 120-300 f2.8. I love it. It's fairly light, powerful enough for a multitude of situations and has a fast aperture.

What is your favourite lens and why?
 
Nikon 35mm F1.8G

Great fun, really clear, great in low light and great blurry backgrounds (I know they have technical name, but that's what I call them)!
 
jhock said:
Nikon 35mm F1.8G

Great fun, really clear, great in low light and great blurry backgrounds (I know they have technical name, but that's what I call them)!
Click to expand...

Snap! New owner of a Nikon D3100 so I have the AF-S 35mm f1.8 and the kit lens so obviously the 35mm is my best too.
 
Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non VC

Use it most of the time altho i have the Nikon 28-70 f2.8 but thats too heavy to lure out to take a quick snap shot etc.
 
Helios 58mm f/2. Had it the longest, fantastic optics, and built to last. Been dropped, sat on, thrown. And still works no worries, the aperture ring doesn't click into place now, but i always shoot wide open anyway.

Serious, Canon guys, get one of these and M42 adaptor, cost less than 15 quid, and a truly amazing lens.
 
The lens currently on your camera (someone was going to say it :) )

Nikon 35 1.8 - cheap, constrasty, sharp, reasonable bokeh, fairly fast aperture.

Dont know if anyone could suggest a better value (non used) for money lens for DX?

Normal zoom, have a feeling some may say the Tamron 17-50 2.8 when talking value for money? I'd say 18-70 'old kit lens' for low light I just put the 35 on.

All depends, some people will say something like 70-200 2.8 as it might earn them a few K a month :)
 
badboy1984 said:
Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non VC
Click to expand...

^this, although I must give a special mention to the Canon 50 f/1.8 "nifty-fifty", a great little lens for the price.
 
Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH. Hand made, well corrected, beautiful rendering, solid feel and in a different league to anything from Canon/Nikon etc. One of the best lenses ever made for 35mm.
 
Canon 50mm f1.4, love it! :love: Why? Because it's so fast, great for taking inside shots, without flash.
 
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Very difficult choice. I have done a fair bit of swappiong lenses around over the last few years and I now have a collection of 7 lenses that I really like so it's tough to pick one favourite.

I'd definitely add another vote for the 35mm f1.8. Although it is a DX lens, I use it on a full frame camera and it still gives outstanding results. There is obviously a little vignetting around the edges but if you expose to the right then the effect is minimal and can easily be cropped out if you don't want it there.

My second choice would be my Nikon 135mm f2 DC. This isn't a lens for everyone because value for money wise it is aweful. This lens is only worth having for shots at f2. At any other aperture it is pretty much useless and does nothing that a 70-200 f2.8 couldn't do but at f2 it is such a beautiful portrait lens. It's a must for portrait photographers that love bokeh.
 
I want to buy new lenses but ... I have the

Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 EX DC OS HSM (99% on my camera)

and backed up by
Canon 60mm f/2.8 macro

and they are damn brilliant for anything. For long shots, I got the

Tamron SP AF 70-300 F/4-5.6 Di VC USD

They cover everything I need (although I am lusting after Canon EF - Macro lens - 100 mm - f/2.8 L Macro IS USM -:)
 
Sigma 10-20mm is great fun, I could shoot all day UWA. Now sold, getting the Sigma 8-16mm for even more fun.
 
On my canon system is was my sigma 150mm F2.8 macro lens as the sharpness and bokeh it produced on full frame where just staggering.

As of today though, I'm a nikonian(!) so can't really comment on my new favourite lens, apart from past experience lol. From my experience, the 35mm F1.8 is really good and tac sharp, but I don't own it and I probably won't buy one as I'll go full frame against at some point!
 
Mine is quickly becoming my 135mm f2 DC. A bit finnicky on my D7000, but on my D700 it is awesome. At f2 it's a cream machine, and stopped down to 2.8 or f4 it is the sharpest lens I have.
 
Lumix 20mm 1.7. I've now gone back to canon and on that it's the tamron 17-50 2.8 vc.
 
35L

It's sharp wide open.
It is versatile.
It is fast focusing.
It is 1.4 hence fast.
It creates lovely bokeh.
 
I was also going to say the 35mm f1.8 DX lens but going to pip it with the Nikon 16-85mm DX VR lens. Find it a great walkabout lens with a nice zoom range and the results always seem nice and sharp. Price new is a bit steep but 2nd hand it's a cracking lens for the money.
 
leica 90 'fat' 2.8. Older than me, tricky to focus but sharper than a very sharp thing with absolutely beautiful images.
 
The one they stuck on the X100. Does that count? :D
 
Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM. Its so small, sharp with nice bokeh.

Until recently it was Nikon 50mm 1.4 D.
 
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the Vario Summicron on my Digilux2 is an amazing lens :thumbs:

but then the 70-200VR2- WOW!:nuts:
 
I love all my lenses other than my 105mm marco, the rest get used and have a job, the macro is there cause I can't be bothered selling it

The latest has always have to be up there, so the 35/85mm 1.4 are both super
 
Wow that's a tough question! From my manual focus lenses the ZE 100mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar is stunnning! Great for Macro, wonderful sharpness and bokeh and the super Zeiss 3D rendering style.

For AF - any one of the holy trinity (35L, 85L, 135L), but if pushed into a corner, the 85L!
 
Got to be my Minolta 85 f/1.4 G, sharp wide open, great FL on FF for portraits, fast focus, lovely smooth bokeh - difficult to figure how it could be better :)
 
My best lens is the 500mm F4 IS II.

Do I really need to say why?:love:
 
My favourite is a lovely Canon 24-105, it just produces some lovely sharp images, I've been thinking about trading it in for a 24-70, just cannot get myself to do it, as it's light, brilliant as a walk about lens.
 
Got to be my 70-400, whack x2 Tele on it and I can see the dark side of the moon.

.... nearly
 
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