Steve Spencer
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 p.1 #8 · The Perfect Lens Selection | |
Donbioh wrote:
What's your lens setup? Which lenses do you own, and do you have a strategy behind them? Doubling the focal lengths, etc.?
I currently have the following lenses:
Ultra-wide angle:
Sony 16mm 1.8 G
Wide angle:
Sony 24mm 1.4 GM
Ultra-compact:
Sony Zeiss 35mm 2.8
Normal:
Sony 35mm 1.4 GM
Sony 50mm 1.2 GM
Telephoto:
Sony 85mm 1.4 GM II
Sony 135mm 1.8 GM
Each lens has its advantages, but in the end, there are a lot of lenses, and I'm considering optimizing a bit.
I document my family's everyday life 100% of the time, and 35mm and 50mm are my favorite focal lengths.
How do you do it?
I have several different set of lenses. One set I currently use is the Voigtlander 21 f/1.4, the Voigtlander 40 f/1.2, and the Zeiss Loxia 85 f/2.4. Those are close to 2X apart. One way to think about lenses being 2X apart is that you can crop the wider lens and still have about the same sensor size as a micro 4/3rds camera--so still quite capable for most uses. So, my 40 f/1.2 with a 2X crop has the look (same angle of view a depth of field) as an 80 f/2.4 lens. So, in practice I can use that lens for everything that I might use a 40mm to 85mm lens and still have the possibility for less depth of field than an f/2.8 zoom.
In the near future I will probably adjust that set just a bit for a little more wide angle coverage. I will probably go with the Zeiss Batis 18 f/2.8, Voigtlander 35 f/2 APO, and the Voigtlander 75 f/1.5. That should provide excellent coverage of landscapes and architecture below 75mm and good portrait, landscape, and architecture coverage between 75mm and 135mm equivalent with cropping. So in three pretty small lenses I can cover the equivalent of 18 to 135mm.
In the less near but still foreseeable future, I will probably move to a four lens set that would provide even broader coverage, but with less cropping. For that kit I foresee having the Sony 16 f/1.8, the Voigtlander 28 f/2 APO (if they make it in Sony E mount, which I hear they are likely to do), the Voigtlander 50 f/2 APO, and the Voigtlander 90 f/2.8 APO (that I would convert from Leica M mount as I don't think they will make it in Sony E mount). That kit can cover the equivalent of 16 to 150mm with less cropping and still fantastic coverage for landscape and architecture, with still acceptable to me portrait coverage and very good close up coverage. All in a package that weighs about the same as the 3 lens kit, but this kit hardly ever needs more than an APS-C crop and then only just a tiny bit more, so less sacrifice due to cropping. Note these lenses are about 1.7X apart.
Some of the Sony GM lenses are very nice (I particularly like the 24 f/1.4 GM and 85 f/1.4 GM OG), but I don't like the rendering of several of them (35 f/1.4 GM, 50 f/1.4 GM, 85 f/1.4 GM, & 135 f/1.4 GM) but that is just my taste, so I would have a hard time building a kit from just Sony GM lenses. That said, I do find a full set of fast AF lenses available for Sony that I like. Those include the 16 f/1.8 G, 20 f/1.8G, 24 f/1.4 GM, 35 f/1.2 (Viltrox or Sigma), 50 f/1.4 Sony/Zeiss ZA, 85 f/1.4 GM, and 135 f/1.8 Sony/Zeiss A-mount (that adapts quite well with the newest Sony A mount adapter). I just have a hard time imagining them as a kit as all but the wide angle lenses are quite big.
I think if I was going to build an AF kit I would build something like my 3 or 4 lens kits with a 3 lens kit of the Zeiss Batis 18 f/2.8, Sigma 35 f/2 DG DN, and the Sigma 65 f/2 DG DN or a 4 lens kit with the Sony 16 f/1.8 G, Viltrox 28 f/1.8, Sigma 50 f/2 DG DN, and the Sigma 90 f/2.8.
Edited on Jun 19, 2025 at 02:34 PM · View previous versions
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