How many lenses do you really need?

[pab]

25, 50 and 90 will cover everything unless you're into wildlife, sports or macro.

I could probably live with a 50 alone if I really had to. I often go out with only a 50- it is very liberating knowing you can't change lenses.

 

[fefe]

I use a 35mm (x1.3 so a 50) almost all the time, but I found that having a 15 and a 90 along with it was quite convenient even though 9/10 of the pictures still come from the 35...
The good side is that the 90 and the 15 fit with a rangefinder in a very compact bag.

 

[Windscale]

I can easily get by with one lens. I have done so many times even travelling in Europe. Although I had other gear with me, it was the 75f3.5 standard lens (120 camera) that got used over 90% of the time. 35mm P&S would be used only for pleasing the travel pals.

 

[David Goldfarb]

After some years of buying and selling, I'm pretty settled with about 56 lenses and ten cameras, so my answer is: 56--no more, no less.

 

[gns]

I am in Andrew's camp.

I've answered this question here before. With just one lens, the possibilities are infinite. I don't need more than that.

In these threads, you always hear people bring up the "Right tool for the right job" argument. I don't disagree with that at all. But I think maybe my approach to (or philosophy of) photography differs from their's. When I'm out taking pictures, I'm just exploring. Hopefully with my mind open and receptive. I don't have any particular picture in mind that I need to make (no job to do). So I'm happy just to see what I can do with the camera & lens I have.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Vics]

I've been having my own FL angst lately as I'm going on a trip in September and really want to go with one lens. The nature of the place seems to me to dictate 35mm. I've been "practicing" a lot lately with 50 and 35, and although I'm a long time 50 shooter, I think that if I'm just taking one lens, it had better be 35. It's long been the desert island lens of choice among journalists, so I figure...
Good luck. If you get all this figured out before you die, you win the kewpie doll!
Vic

 

[mfunnell]

I think my answer is "as many as I can get" (and afford 🙁 ). That's not a need, though, its a want. I like having different lenses with different characteristics at the same focal length. I like exploring their different characteristics. I like selecting a lens for a particular set of characteristics then seeing how it works out. Sometimes well, sometimes not and sometimes not as I thought it would - for good or for ill. Film M-mount rangefinder cameras work best, for me, for that. But I also like using other kinds of cameras, just for the fun of using those.

And I also like digital for some, perhaps many, things. But mostly for wildlife and some sports shooting. Though also because a digital SLR kit can be a jack-of-all-trades outfit when that seems appropriate. Its all good.

Generally, though, when shooting with an RF camera I take one body and two lenses (either a 28 & 50 or a 35 &75). Most often when shooting digital I take a 100-400mm zoom (because I'm usually shooting wildlife) and something wider (and a macro lens) for the dSLR but also an RF kit or film P&S. The long lens mostly stays on the digital and the film camera is used for wider work, "scene-setting shots" etc.

...Mike

 

[FallisPhoto]

I don't know. I consider shooting style to entail the subject matter as well. If you like to shoot documentary stuff, you can probably do quite well without macro lenses, extreme wides and massive telephotos.
Find what you like to shoot and then figure out what equipment is needed to shoot it. It might be as simple as one camera and a 50mm lens. Or it might be far more complicated (and expensive), requiring multiple bodies and a host of wide angles and telephotos.
The great thing about photography is that every individual gets to choose their approach.

Shooting butterflies, and shooting nudes will require very different focal lengths, no matter what your style, and rangefinders can't use zoom lenses.

 

[blazeicehockey]

I suffered from GAS like most through the years. You come to a conclusion about what you want after experimenting. For example I have an Oly and bought a 14-54, 35, 100, 11-22 and 50-200, but 99% of the time the 14-54 was on the camera. The 50-200 does not get used as it doesnt suit my style of photography. It went, as did the 35mm, whilst the 11-22 and the 100/f2 MF await their special project outings.

Now I've moved into RF's I choose my focal lengths for my trip out. In London its normally a 28mm and a 50mm. At a recent wedding it was a 40mm (low light, bokeh and wideish) and a 75mm (closer action and portrait). So my answer is probably two would do at any one time. Twice as many options, but not over complicated.

Darrin

 

[FallisPhoto]

I honestly couldn't care less if photographers use one focal length their entire life or dozens every day. What I care about are interesting, skillful, emotionally engaging photographs. In my opinion, photographers who work at refining their craft (which usually, but not always, involves really getting to know a field of view) are more likely to produce such pictures.

Refining your craft means, among other things, getting to know the limitations of your equipment. Once you have recognized that your equipment has limitations (and we are talking about lenses here), then if you ever want to exceed those limitations, you need the appropriate equipment (lenses) that will enable you to do so. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and so on, even way back then, didn't use just one lens -- or even one camera for that matter.

 

[alexz]

Joining the other opinions, I feel accmplished with three of what I have right now: 35mm, 50mm, 90mm, but then, I very rarely switch lenses - two bodies have 35mm and 50mm "welded". Would I be forced to use only one, single lens - 50mm would be way to go most certainly on M3, about 70% of my photography utilizes 50mm lens.
In most cases, actualy almost always I take single camera which means single lens. If I plan intensive shooting and think I'll need more then one lens - I take two bodies with me to avoid switching the lenses.
90mm - for special occasions when appropriate application is clearly planned ahead (portraiture for instance), otherwise it rests home.

 

[ruben]

...........Can I, or you, get by with one lens?

Welcome to the Forum, frisket. This is The website to save money and abstain from unnecessary expenses. The trick is to visit us 5 minutes each year.

Many years before RFF appeared there were great photographers that managed to do it with one lens, or almost one lens (i.e. the standard most of the times, and occasionally another one.)

Even today, right here at RFF, there are Great photographers (kindly allow me to skip the term "amateur") that use a single lens for their kind of photography.

Nevertheless most of the neighbourhood use more than one lens, not to speak about more a dozen cameras.

Now, what the hell does it matter what X does and does not, or what Y does or does not ? Photography, at every level, is creation. YOUR creation. YOUR vision. YOUR decisions YOUR personality. YOUR mistakes. YOUR success. YOUR joy.

Of course that several times each of us passes through periods of self questioning, confusion, curiousity about what the other is doing, etc. Here the place of your legitimate question.

So my "two dollarettas" it that you behave like each Prime Minister, or President, over the globe. Hear every one, but follow your instincts.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[Letien]

The 50mm should be sufficient. That's my opinion.

It's true. I only need 50mm. I will stop when I get 30 versions of it.

 

[besk]

28mm & 50mm (or equivalent focal lengths for the 120mm format.) These are the only two fields of view that I have needed for several years.

I have had several camera systems and a variety of lenses but in each have found the 50 and the 28 serve my needs the best.

For traveling away from home the 28mm is used mostly to capture the scenics and the atmosphere of the places visited and is kept on the camera with the 50mm used only when a more narrow field of view is needed - such as to show more detail.

Close to home it is the 50mm that stays on the camera and is used for its descriptive power with the 28mm used only when I can't back up enough.