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 Home vs. travel needs - expand or restructure my lens kit? | |
Hi,
I mainly shoot subjects where AF isn't needed - like landscapes/nature, architecture/lost places or similar.
I do have AF lenses that I use for occasional potrait work, whenever I want maximum subject separation or am too lazy for MF.
These are my current lenses:
Laowa Zero-D 15mm F2 (recently replaced the Voigtländer 15mm F4.5 III)
Zeiss Loxia 25mm F2.4 (replaced the 7Artisans 28mm F1.4 because I've given up on Voigtländer releasing a 24 or 28mm)
(Syoptic 50mm F1.1)
Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 50mm F2 (wish it was 40mm!)
Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 110mm F2.5
Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG DN
Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN
Nikon 300mm F4 PF ED VR + Commlite ENF-E1 (replaced the Canon EF 300mm F4 L IS + Sigma MC-11)
I feel like these lenses cover most of my needs. With the exception of the Nikon. It doesn't quite fit either kit and was bought both for portraits and landscape use in mind. Priorities were a fast aperture for subject isolation and a strong magnification value to fill the void the Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art left when I sold it (135mm is just too long for general use).
While the Nikon is a fine lens optically, it doesn't adapt well. AF barely works and MF is the worst I ever used. VR works sometimes and the lens' bokeh is only ok. As a bonus, the Commlite adapter sometimes freezes my camera.
Before that, I had the Canon EF 300mm F4 L IS, which also didn't work that great. I'd obviously prefer a native option.
To my last 4 vacations, I brought my MF kit + Canon/Nikon 300mm F4.
While I really like my lenses, I realized my travel needs are different than my "home" needs and was annoyed by the result of using prime lenses.
1. Dust on the sensor due to constant lens changing in sub-optimal conditions
2. Complete lack of weather sealing (rain, water splashes, especially salt water)
3. Time needed to change lenses and filters
More than once, I've missed a shot because I was either too lazy to change lenses or the conditions didn't allow it. Lack of AF also made me miss some shots but this generally wasn't an issue.
I then evaluated my metadata to see how I use my lenses.
Lens statistics:
Home Travel
FL photos FL photos
15mm 395 7% 15mm 592 16%
25mm 864 16% 25/28mm 1152 32%
50mm 1133 21% 50mm 1068 30%
110mm 912 17% 110mm 571 16%
300mm 532 10% 300mm 216 6%
35mm 1133 21% 3599
85mm 539 10%
5508
Aperture statistics for each lens rounded to full stops:
No point in including the 15/4.5, so I'll skip it.
25mm 25mm (no EXIF for 7Artisans 28/1.4 but should look similar)
f/2,4 109 13% f/2,4 40 4%
f/2,8 51 6% f/2,8 30 3%
f/4 130 15% f/4 104 12%
f/5,6 254 29% f/5,6 341 38%
f/8 298 34% f/8 358 40%
f/11 22 3% f/11 24 3%
864 897
50mm 50mm
f/2 271 24% f/2 155 15%
f/2,8 114 10% f/2,8 55 5%
f/4 218 19% f/4 157 15%
f/5,6 270 24% f/5,6 336 32%
f/8 248 22% f/8 317 30%
f/11 12 1% f/11 23 2%
1133 1043
110mm 110mm
f/2,5 173 19% f/2,5 38 7%
f/2,8 16 2% f/2,8 2 0%
f/4 144 16% f/4 57 10%
f/5,6 330 36% f/5,6 249 44%
f/8 225 25% f/8 203 36%
f/11 24 3% f/11 22 4%
912 571
300mm 300mm
f/4 207 39% f/4 8 4%
f/5,6 173 33% f/5,6 87 40%
f/8 149 28% f/8 119 55%
f/11 3 1% f/11 2 1%
532 216
35mm
f/1,2 690 61%
f/1,4 74 7%
f/2 245 22%
f/2,8 60 5%
f/4 29 3%
f/5,6 24 2%
f/8 11 1%
1133
85mm
f/1,4 438 81%
f/2 68 13%
f/2,8 18 3%
f/4 10 2%
f/5,6 3 1%
f/8 2 0%
539
Looking at my travel statistics, 25/28 and 50mm were clearly my most-used FLs.
The logical answer to my issues would be to get a 24-70mm zoom. I've owned the Tamron 24-70mm F2.8 and 70-200mm F2.8 in the past but sold them because I only used them when traveling, which back then was very seldom.
Getting somewhat lost in GAS, I researched the Sony 24-70mm F2.8 II until I realized buying a >$2000 lens that I'd rarely use at "home" would be stupid.
I've been lusting after the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 since its release but just couldn't find a scenario where it would make sense for me.
Under most circumstances I'd reach for my primes because they're faster and optically superior. Selling my beloved Voigtländers is obviously out of question.
Besides, if I'd go for the Tamron 35-150, I'd still have to change lenses for anything below 35mm.
Moreover, I'm pretty certain I'd seldomy use something like a 16-35mm at home.
A lens like the Sony 24-105mm would be perfects but it's only f/4 and can't compete with my current lenses.
While this doesn't solve my main issue, I'm seriously considering the Sony 100-400/4.5-5.6, even though it's only f/5.6. However, I've gone through all 81 pages of the the image thread and several reviews and have seen several cases where the bokeh is way too rough.
What would you do given my lenses and use cases?
I am aware this thread is way too complex and will probably completely derail but I still want to try.
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