tough.. while 24LmkII & 70-200LmkII are what i feel are my most "trusted" lenses (& prob most used), my favourite would probably still be the 300LmkI. perhaps this is
also due to the fact that most times i pick up the 300LmkI, i'm shooting for personal pleasure & not pay?
then you have the 50L that's perfectly imperfect - visual crack when you get it right in natural light, surprisingly unreliable in other circumstances until you know what to avoid.. either way, i'm often astonished at the results haha..
other notable/favourites that I don't own would be the 200f2 & the 400mkI (scares me to think about how the 400mkII might be even better)
had the 200f2 on my 1Ds3 for 4 days (thanks CPS!) to shoot runway shows & looking through each gallery was an euphoric experience. those photos were all pretty much perfect straight out of camera & probably could fool most viewers into thinking I was a far more gifted photographer than I actually am. if i could afford to own one, I bet the 200f2 would be my favourite. most definitely a "magical" lens if you're into that sorta thing
probably the 200 f/2, but my copy of the 35L is pretty damn impressive too, so very sharp wide open and only getting sharper when stopped down. only thing is the CA's arent so nice
I'll vote for my 70-200/2.8-II IS....also own several other L series primes, including the new 400/2.8...but the 70-200/2.8 is almost magical in it's ability to get great captures of about anything I point it at.
Every 24-70L I've owned over the years has been great. The range is particularly useful for me and the color/contrast/sharpness OOtC wide open are lovely!
I would have to say my 24-105. Not becuase it produces the sharpest and cleanest images of my lenses, although it does procude wonderful iamges. Not beacuse it is one of the most versitle zooms in the Canon range (esp on a FF body), although there is no denying that it is the perfect walk around lens.
Nope, the simple reason is that it refuses to die. I ahve dropped this bad boy 4 times. And I mean dropped!! Once it actually went over a waterfall (about 5ft, bounced on teh rock and into the moss laden pool - a day in teh airing cupboard and it worked as good as new. the red band has gone; there is a sizable dent in the zoom ring and it would be pointless detailing teh marks and scratches on the barrel.
Despite all of this abuse, the optics remain clean, the images sharp and the pleasure huge.
I have namedit Lazarus - it just refuses to die!!
My favourite lens.....for slightly different reasons :-)
I still get the shivers every time I mount my 85L.... not sure if it is the joy of owning it, or the adrenaline rush I get from trying to mount it without hitting the rear element
Seriously, I rented the lens three years before owning it, and now that I have it, it is my "go to" lens for most things.
A close second is my 24L, but the 85 has always produced emotional pictures.
Mark
