I have a lot of lenses, stretching back to the early 1990's. The quality of the images they take vary, as one might expect, somewhat by prices and technological development. That said, I have a couple of lenses that I love the images from:
Canon EF 28-300L, a monster lens: and until the RF 24-240, Canon's only super-zoom lens. It has a wonderful tonal quality to it and it behaves amazingly well on both FF and APS-C bodies.
EF 70-200L f/2.8 (and 4.0) MkII IS USM: both with really nice tonal qualities that are especially effective for portraits - which I rarely do, but since I don't shoot people very often (in the nicest way), I do, on occasion get to photograph an animal.
So, what are your favourite optics and why?
Thanks! Here are three of my photos.
Of course, as you say, it totally depends on what you're doing.
I've been shooting landscapes, in video, on the C70, which is a Super 35 camera. The absolute workhorse for me has been the RF 15-35mm f/2.8. I have other lenses, including the excellent 50mm f/1.2, but the 15-35 just seems to work for almost everything I do.
Of course sometimes a longer lens comes in handy; I have the RF 70-200 f/4.0 for that. I have to say I use it a lot less than I thought I would. Still, sometimes definitely good to have.
Lately I have got the RF 24-70mm f/2.8, and it's turning out to be super useful too. I guess I avoided the 24-70 because it's such a cliché, but of course that's for good reasons... 😉
Still, on the Super35 sensor particularly, the 15-35 is really great for getting the wide angles. Still I rarely use it wider than 20mm, even then. The overwhelming majority of my Highland Beauty project, which I've been doing for the last year plus, was shot on that lens.
https://moonblink.info/MudLake/beauty
And then sometimes the phone is the only option. I was up in the mountains getting my nice camera and lenses out of the bag, when a group of reindeer just casually walked by, and the phone was in my hand...
Happy shooting, whatever you shoot.
The lens I use most often by far is EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM often with 1.4x III or 2x III extender. So this might be my favorite. But I also have other favorites.
My lens I have the most emotional attachment to is a 45 year old Minolta MC ROKKOR-X PG 1:1.4 f=50mm from a film camera.
Another favorite lens is EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM which I use on an EOS R5 or an EOS 80D. I like it on the R5 even though I have been told it is not appropriate for a full frame sensor. I already own it and full frame wide angle zooms seem expensive to me. I also often use an EF-S 24mm.
