perfect lens kit

[stump4545]

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just when I think i have my ideal lens kit for me, of for ex. 3-4 lenses, a 24mm, 35, 50mm all fast at 1.4, I have an epiphany and decide I dont need that speed and decide I only need f2 lenses.

 

then i decide that a 21mm/24mm is a hassle with the external veiwfinder and all i really need is a 28mm.

 

28mm, 35mm, 50mm. maybe only a 1 lens kit, a 35mm?

 

then i decide that I can get away with smaller f 2.8 lenses..........

 

does lens fiddling ever end?

[01af]

Does lens fiddling ever end?

I have some good news and bad news for you.

 

The good news: No, the lens fiddling never ends.

 

The bad news: No, the lens fiddling never ends.

[jaapv]

It ends when you own all possible lenses....

[Bill W]

The fiddling never ends. Never sell just add. The more you add the more you want.

 

He who dies with the most lens wins....

[Erik Gunst Lund]

It ends when you own all possible lenses....

Then you start shooting IR when that ends you start shooting in UV.... it it has no end...

[ananda]

The problem with too many lenses, unless you derive some perverted pleasure in lugging them around, is that before you travel you have to decide which one or ones to take along. Leaving almost any behind is like, in some respects, leaving one of your children locked in a closet while all the other kids get to go with you somewhere interesting. It's a horrible decision. So the best rule is to have only two or three lenses. I have just two, a 28 2.8 Asph and a 50 Lux ASPH but if some reader wants to GIVE me a 90 Summilux APO, I'll be glad to take it off your hands.

[algrove]

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It ends when you own all possible lenses....

 

No it does not.

[algrove]

Then you start shooting IR when that ends you start shooting in UV.... it it has no end...

 

Or start shooting with R glass.

[algrove]

The problem with too many lenses, unless you derive some perverted pleasure in lugging them around, is that before you travel you have to decide which one or ones to take along. Leaving almost any behind is like, in some respects, leaving one of your children locked in a closet while all the other kids get to go with you somewhere interesting. It's a horrible decision. So the best rule is to have only two or three lenses. I have just two, a 28 2.8 Asph and a 50 Lux ASPH but if some reader wants to GIVE me a 90 Summilux APO, I'll be glad to take it off your hands.

 

So I guess there's one I do not own--a 90 Lux APO. Part number please?

[lct]

A good lens for portrait won't be the best for architecture. A good lens for architecture won't be the best for closeups. A good lens for low light won't be the best for good light. A good lens for crop cams won't be the best for 24x36. A good lens for shooting young people won't be the best for old ones. A good lens for color won't be the best for black and white. A good lens for film won't be the best for digital, and so on. Choose the right lens for the purpose you need. There is no other rule IMHO.

[adan]

It has taken me 12 years to finally end the fiddling (well, 40 years, if you count the fiddling with Nikkors and Canons and Contax/Zeiss before Leica) - but all that fiddling was a learning experience, in one way or another.

 

As it happens, if I had stopped my fiddling after 9 months, I'd have ended up just about where I am now - core set of 21 f/2.8, 35 f/2, 90 f/2.8 (all 1980s era), plus 15 c/v and 135 TE as bookends.

 

But I would not have known for sure that that kit was the "perfect one" until I had tried the 24s and 28s and 50s and 75s and the various models/apertures of 21s, 35s, and 90s.

[Jeff S]

does lens fiddling ever end?

 

Pretty much for me, as my focus has been far more on pics and prints than the gear. I did, however, experiment with most all formats (and various brands) from 35mm to 8x10 in my younger days, but it didn't take long to find my sweet spot within the M system. For film Ms, I started with a 35 and then added a 28 and 50....about 30 years ago. I've had that trio of focal lengths ever since, only a few times switching to a different iteration. If something seemed intriguing along the way, I learned to rent or borrow gear to test, and generally found no practical advantage to switching or adding. And truth be told, if forced, I could get by with even less.

 

The one concession was mistakenly adding a 75 along the way, but selling it when I moved from film Ms to the M8.2. I should have known that the 75 frame lines and I don't mesh, so the lens was infrequently used. But, with the improved focusing capability of the new M, I plan to add the 90 macro-elmar, and use the M for short tele and some tripod work that I would otherwise do with a DSLR. I should have kept the 90 I had for my R6.2, and that would have been sufficient, but I sold my entire R kit when Leica bailed on it.

 

But speaking about never ending, that relates to the PP end of the chain for me. These tweaks often provide me with far greater benefits for my prints than a new camera or lens. But software and peripheral materials are the never ending trap, frequently prompted by manufacturer changes and requirements, not my own. Fortunately, many of the changes and updates are free, for instance the continual upgrades to LR, but all require time and effort learning new features and adjusting workflow.

 

Prints I make now are better than some I made years ago with earlier PP materials and processes. Can't go back in time and switch to another camera or lens. That was a lesson well learned in the darkroom, but far more true in digital realm. More importantly, for me, most Leica lenses these days, and even many not by Leica, present no meaningful limitations. But then I'm not into monstrous prints, bokeh frenzy, mega-ISO, or a need to own the latest and supposedly greatest.

 

Now I wonder if I should get another printer dedicated to Piezography....

 

Jeff

[pgk]

does lens fiddling ever end?

It does so at the point at which you realise that the image is more important than the equipment which takes it. This is when the equipment you own suits your photography and both 'fit' together. Of course this assumes that you reach a level at which everything comes together. I'm still working on it, but for me GAS has now subsided and I'm in the long, slow process of trying to ensure that my existing equipment is used to its full capacity. Yes there are othrre lenses that I would like (the 35 pre-aspheric Summilux for example - though not a current prices!) but these would compliment my existing lenses in terms of nuance (I have as aspheric version) rather than adding more focal lengths and are far from essential.

[billo101]

one lens: 35

two lens: 35 + 75 great combo

 

b

[4X5B&W]

one lens: 35

two lens: 35 + 75 great combo

 

b

 

For Full Frame bodies, a great starting place.

I have always like a 2 lens kit for a M body......it just seems right.

[gberger]

1940-1945 (pre Leica): 50mm

1945-1968 (iiic): 50mm

1968-1986 (M4): 50mm, 35mm

1986-2004 (M6): 35mm, 50mm, 90mm

2004-2011 (M7): 24mm. 35mm, 50mm, began fooling with 28mm as the 24 Elmarit ASPH was too large

2011-2013 (M7-ZI) 28mm, 35mm, 50mm

 

Looking back at 73 years of slides (Kodachrome, Fuji), and trying to figure what I used (approximately): 35mm 80%; 50mm 17%; 28mm, 24mm and 90mm 3%.

 

So, for me, the 35 and 50 have been the ones on my camera, with the others somewhere in the bag.

[Guido]

It ends when you own all possible lenses....

That's when you start feeling bad about the money tied up and sell the rarely used lenses, only to realize later that you've made a mistake. So you decide to buy them yet again, this time at considerably higher prices though. And so the cycle continues...

[Paul J]

I think it's just best to be happy with what you have.

 

NOT!

 

I must have them aaaaallll mwahahahaha

[Einst_Stein]

 

does lens fiddling ever end?

 

Not until you start fiddling camera. Consider this:

 

-- May be you need the tri-elmar

-- or, maybe just get the M240 and add the R 35-70mm zoom and R 70-1880mm zoom.

-- oh, no, it's too expensive, maybe just get a Canon 6D or 5DIII plus the EOS-R adapter so that you can use R 35-70 and R 7-180mm.

-- Hmmm, no, better go for Contax 645. Contax 645 + 45-90mm zoom will beat 5DIII + R 35-70mm. Add a digital back. anything 22MP, 39mp, 50mp, will be fine.

-- Yes, Contax 645 +45-90mm is excellent but te aperture is no large enough.

==> get Contax 645 35mm and 120mm

==> now if you can have Contax 645 350mm f4, it will be perfect.

-- Well, you really need a WLF for the MF like Contax 645.

==> add the 2X, macro extension, battery grip, ....

 

...............

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[LucisPictor]

does lens fiddling ever end?

 

No. Thank God it doesn't!

 

My "perfect" set looks like this:

 

4.5/15, 2.0/28, 2.5/75 (complemented by a 1.7/35 and 2.0/50).

 

But I use an M8 so the crop factor has to be considered.