The Lenses I use!
In my honest and humble opinion, the lenses are the most important part of your entire system. I can not emphasize the fact that it is more important to upgrade to better lenses than it is cameras. With great lenses a lower quality camera becomes a good camera and with bad lenses a great camera becomes a bad camera! There are two main types of lenses, zooms and primes.
A zoom is a lens you can change the focal length on, you can basically zoom in and out. A prime is a static focal length. If you buy a 50mm prime, it stays at 50mm! The prime lenses are not as economically feasible, and many times they are much less convenient than a zoom lens but boy do I LOVE PRIMES! I am a huge cheerleader for primes and honestly believe that using only primes makes you a better photorapher. Many times with zooms we become lazy, all we do is zoom in and out. With primes we are forced to move around. This forcing us to move around allows us for more interesting compositions and ultimately photographs.
Is this to say I don't have any zooms....NO! I do have zooms because as stated they are more convenient. But my favorites are still the primes. Below you'll find the list of all the lenses that I use and the main reason I still have them and have not been put up on eBay!
WARNING: I shoot both Nikon and Canon and that's what I'm going to be describing here!
Wide Angle Lenses
TOKINA 11-16MM F/2.8
We'll start off with my favorite wide angle lens. The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8! This lens is amazing! Well built, extremely sharp (for a wide angle), lightweight and relatively affordable. I'm a huge fan of wide angle lenses and my first purchase was a Sigma 10-20mm lens. I really like shooting wide and the images looked great. The only problem with the Sigma was that it wasn't as sharp as I hoped and it was very slow (it's an f/4-5.6) and when I originally purchased I was like...I don't need fast, it's a wide angle.
I quickly learned differently, although it was really wide, sometimes I wanted a handheld lower light shot and the Sigma wasn't getting me what I wanted. A quick tip: As soon as gear gets in the way GET RID OF IT!. So when Tokina announced the 11-16mm f/2.8 I bought it immediately. I bought mine for $450 new back in the day, now it's a little more expensive! I love this thing! The only downside is if you are a fullframe shooter, this lens will only work from 15mm on. It's meant for the crop frame sensor, so it vignettes big time on full frame at anything below 15mm.
NOTE: THIS LENS IS AVAILABLE FOR NIKON, CANON or SONY CAMERAS!
Buy THE TOKINA AT BHPHOTO.COM , ADORAMA.COM or AMAZON.COM
NIKON 14-24MM F/2.8
My second favorite wide angle lens is the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8. This lens unlike the Tokina works on both Full Frame and Crop Sensors. I'm just going to start by saying this is THE SHARPEST AND BEST WIDE ANGLE LENS I'VE EVER USED!
So why is it my second favorite, two reasons...it's expensive (although in my opinion worth every last dime of it) and I can't use regular filters. The glass on the front extends and you have to buy a completely different filter system to use it. Not very cost effective, but wide angle shooting is your main style, then it's a small price to pay to have THE BEST wide angle zoom lens ever created!
I'll put it this way, this lens is sooo good that people that don't shoot Nikon, buy adapters just so they can use it! So if you want the best of the best wide angle zooms and aren't scared of the price! THIS IS YOUR LENS! For everyone else, buy the TOKINA!
BUY THE NIKON AT BHPHOTO.COM, ADORAMA.COM OR AMAZON.COM
PRIME LENSES
CANON 50MM F/1.2
HOLY CRAPOLA! THIS IS MY FAVORITE LENS EVER! My favorite focal length has almost always been the 50mm range! I'm not sure what it is, it just looks more real to me and someone makes my images more believable! I've always been a Nikon shooter until we started filming for the Unknown Photographer TV Show. The entire season was shot on Canon DSLR's and so I was around them all the time. I never truly got to experience the real world use of a Canon until then, I had always just played with it for a few minutes and returned it to their owner. So when I lost my D7000 on the sidewalks of Seattle, I was "forced" to use the Canon 7D for all of my still photography. I can honestly say I'm still not used to the camera, but what I did love was the 50MM F/1.2.
This lens is everything that a 50mm lens should be! I know what you're thinking, at $1500.00 it better be! Well I'm here to tell you...IT IS...AND MORE! If you love the 50mm focal length and want the best...BUY THIS LENS NOW! It's simply amazing. From the focusing ability, the sharpness all the way to color rendition and Bokeh...it's PERFECT!
I honestly considered switching over to Canon just for this lens. Remember what I told you up in the introduction, the lens is the most important part of your gear! Sadly, the biggest downfall of this lens is the price! Although it's completely worth it to me, you might be thinking otherwise. Well don't worry, Canon makes two alternatives that are less expensive. They have a Canon 50mm f/1.4 and a Canon 50mm f/1.8. I have never played with the Canon f/1.4 but I have with the f/1.8. Although the f/1.8 is the least expensive, ridiculously cheap actually (about $130.00US), I can honestly tell you to save up a few more bucks and buy the Canon f/1.4. The f/1.8 feels really cheap! And it's a cheap lens, but I mean it just feels cheap. It weighs nothing, the autofocus is really slow...but it's sharp! So if you don't care about the way it feels or how long it could last...the 50mm f/1.8 is for you. For everyone else that can't afford or won't spend the money on the F/1.2 go get yourself the Canon F/1.4!
BUY THE CANON 50MM F/1.2 AT BHPHOTO.COM , ADORAMA.COM or AMAZON.COM
NIKON 50MM F/1.4 AF-S
Before I played with the Canon 50mm f/1.2 this was my favorite 50mm ever! And since I'm still a Nikon Shooter, this is my favorite Nikon Prime Lens! I'm trying to have as many favorites as possible!!! I started buyin the Nikon 50mm F/1.8D which is only about $120.00. I do have to say the quality of that lens is amazing! Much and I mean much better than the Canon 50mm f/1.8. The only quirk I have with it was that it didn't have an internal motor so the autofocus was REALLY SLOW! So I upgraded to the Nikon 50mm F/1.4D ( I got a great deal on Craigslist.org)! I loved that Nikon 50mm F/1.4D so when I found an even better deal on the New Nikon 50mm F/1.4 AF-S it was a bitter sweet goodbye! I have to admit that at the beginning it could have been nostalgia kicking in but I hated the new AF-S lens. But the more I used it the more I loved it. It's fast, sharp and simply rad! I love it!
Although it's plasticy compared to the Nikon 50mm F/1.4 AF-D version, it feels solid. I've had it out in the rain, sleet, snow and this baby keeps going! The only downside is the lack of flare! I'm a flare lover and this lens is much and I mean much more resistant to flare than the older AF-D version! But, I wouldn't go back to the old version just for the flare! It's totally worth the price, especially if you need the low light capability!
If the price tag of the F/1.4 AF-S is a little too steep, Nikon just refreshed the 1.8 line to include an internal motor...MUCH COOLER! I'm still a huge fan of the older AF-D lenses which have no motor, but the older I get the faster I expect my gear to work and those AF-D's are just a tad to slow for me...although they are excellent! It's just a dumb quirk I have right now! So if you have the money, buy the Nikon 50mm f/1.4, if you're saving your pennies or don't see yourself using this lens enough to justify the expense...get the less expensive Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-S instead!
