Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Please feel free to comment further

I put down "inexpensive prime," which is the type I use on the most occasions. But I might have taken the most shots with an "inexpensive zoom." (I'd have to count to be sure.)

I'm still a relative noob, who only bought his first dSLR (Nikon D90) a year and a half ago. It came with the kit 18-105 (the "inexpensive zoom") and I immediately bought the 35mm f/1.8g (the "inexpensive prime.") Just a couple of months ago I bought my third lens: The 50mm 1.8D (an even more "inexpensive prime").

I'm going to be renting a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 for a week at the beginning of August. After that, I'll either be lusting desperately for one of my own, or else will find a new sense of contentment with my current set of three lenses, depending on whether or not my skills are good enough for that "expensive zoom" to make a difference.

Nikon 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 VRII, 85mm 1.8
Sigma (Nikon mount) 120-300 2.8, 12-24

I'm a Canon shooter and stick with mostly Canon L zooms plus a cheap nifty-fifty and some moderately priced primes. I had some Sigma glass but wasn't happy with it. Over the years I've decided that I'd rather have high-performing glass even if that means having fewer lenses.

I'm covered from 14-400mm with Nikon zooms (14-24mm f/2.8G, 24-70mm f/2.8G, 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, 200-400mm f/4G VR) but lately have been using the 35mm f/1.4G and 85mm f/18G primes most often. I also have a manual focus 58mm f/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton that I very much like and use frequently.

Since I have only have Olympus E-30 and E-510(backup) cameras, I use this 'inexpensive', but very high-quality set of zoom lenses.

Zuiko Digital 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6, 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6, 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6, & 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6.
[italics: about $550 each, bold: kit lens came with E-510]

They cover a 35mm equivalent range of 18-600mm divided as:
18-36mm, 28-84mm, 80-300mm, & 140-600mm

I have been thinking of buying some of Olympus' faster 4/3rds glass, but until I see more activity with their 4/3rds cameras which is doubtful-- I'll wait for the µ4/3rds cameras to mature.

By mature I mean having a Semi-professional or even a Professional camera and a few more weather-sealed, fast lenses than are available now.
In the interim, some of us hope that Olympus might perform some firmware 'magic' that would allow reasonably fast focusing with our legacy 4/3rds lenses mounted (with an adatper) on one of the newer µ4/3rds cameras such as the OM-D E-M5.

Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS MII is the workhorse outside of a small studio, but a Canon L 14mm f/2.8 is ALWAYS with me now ALWAYS. There have been too many times in life when I've spent time, effort and money returning to a place with that lens. In the studio it's a 100 mm f/2 Hassie exclusively.

Ken R.

I'm a Canon shooter, I like the 24-105 f/4.0L as a walk around if I don't need the extra stop of my 24-70 f/2.8L. I also love my 70-200 f/2.8L when I need the reach. My 100 f/2.8L is awesome for macro and portraits.

As a Canon shooter I always have a body with a 24-70 attached. Outside of the studio much of what I do is sports so the 70-200 2.8 IS II and the 300 or 400 2.8 IS get alot of play.

Sony CZ 24-70 f2.8
Sony 70-200 f2.8