The difficulty with offering advice about lens choice goes beyond just knowing the subject matter a person likes to shoot, as the traditional choices may not always suit a person’s style, and may vary with their experiences. For example, I have often heard people advise using a wide angle lens in slot canyons, but I know from my own experience that a longer lens can allow zeroing in on shots high up on the canyon walls. When shooting the barns at Mormon Row in Jackson hole, I used a long lens from a distance in order to take advantage of the “compression effect” to make the Tetons appear closer and more massive.

The point is that such advice can at best, only be a very general, and possibly creatively limiting suggestion.

Ultimately the best strategy is take the lenses one is most comfortable with, and then add in whichever others your travel conditions allow. Just understand that whichever lens you leave at home will, at some point, undoubtedly be the one you wish you had with you! 😛

The most frustrating posts I read here are the ones that say "I am going to ___________. What lenses should I take?" I never like to call someone out, so I waited until I did not see such a posting. If there is one, I did not read it and am therefore not replying to it specifically.

My silent and unposted answer is always the same: "What do you like to photograph? Landscapes? Cityscapes? People? Animals? Flowers? If you will answer that, the choice of lens is fairly easy."

If people want to shoot land- or cityscapes, 50mm or less. If your answer is people, something in the range of 50mm to 85mm, perhaps even a little longer. If you want to cover a couple of those, take a zoom that covers them. If you are just taking snapshots of everything you see, consider your cell phone.

There are some fundamental truths. For example, you do not need a 400mm lens to shoot landscapes or cityscapes. You do not need a wide angle lens to shoot flowers or the moon (photographically, not playing Hearts).

I used to drag around a 24-120. Big and heavy. Now my walk around lens is a 50mm. I love the sharpness and speed (and weight!) and if I need more coverage I shoot multiple overlapping shots and stitch them later. That way I get better sharpness than a zoom without the distortion introduced by a wide angle lens. As I have come to recognize what I most enjoy shooting I have also narrowed in on my lens choice.

One way to figure out what you like to shoot is to go through your photos and see what focal length you used (easy to view in Lightroom). That is an educational experience. When I did that a few years ago, I discovered almost all of my photos were in the range of 35mm to 75mm. Rarely did I shoot anything at 120mm or even at 24mm. That changed how I thought about lenses.

I am saying that 50mm is the right lens for everyone. It is often the right lens for me, because I love landscapes, cityscapes, and interiors of churches. I know in advance if I need to capture a larger area I will stitch in Photoshop. As was said by the philosophers of old, "Know thyself." To that Polonius (in Hamlet) added, "And to thine lens be true" (or something to that effect).

The most frustrating posts I read here are the ones that say "I am going to ___________. What lenses should I take?" I never like to call someone out, so I waited until I did not see such a posting. If there is one, I did not read it and am therefore not replying to it specifically.

My silent and unposted answer is always the same: "What do you like to photograph? Landscapes? Cityscapes? People? Animals? Flowers? If you will answer that, the choice of lens is fairly easy."

If people want to shoot land- or cityscapes, 50mm or less. If your answer is people, something in the range of 50mm to 85mm, perhaps even a little longer. If you want to cover a couple of those, take a zoom that covers them. If you are just taking snapshots of everything you see, consider your cell phone.

There are some fundamental truths. For example, you do not need a 400mm lens to shoot landscapes or cityscapes. You do not need a wide angle lens to shoot flowers or the moon (photographically, not playing Hearts).

I used to drag around a 24-120. Big and heavy. Now my walk around lens is a 50mm. I love the sharpness and speed (and weight!) and if I need more coverage I shoot multiple overlapping shots and stitch them later. That way I get better sharpness than a zoom without the distortion introduced by a wide angle lens. As I have come to recognize what I most enjoy shooting I have also narrowed in on my lens choice.

One way to figure out what you like to shoot is to go through your photos and see what focal length you used (easy to view in Lightroom). That is an educational experience. When I did that a few years ago, I discovered almost all of my photos were in the range of 35mm to 75mm. Rarely did I shoot anything at 120mm or even at 24mm. That changed how I thought about lenses.

I am not saying that 50mm is the right lens for everyone. It is often the right lens for me, because I love landscapes, cityscapes, and interiors of churches. I know in advance if I need to capture a larger area I will stitch in Photoshop. As was said by the philosophers of old, "Know thyself." To that Polonius (in Hamlet) added, "And to thine lens be true" (or something to that effect).

The most frustrating posts I read here are the ones that say "I am going to ___________. What lenses should I take?" I never like to call someone out, so I waited until I did not see such a posting. If there is one, I did not read it and am therefore not replying to it specifically.

My silent and unposted answer is always the same: "What do you like to photograph? Landscapes? Cityscapes? People? Animals? Flowers? If you will answer that, the choice of lens is fairly easy."

If people want to shoot land- or cityscapes, 50mm or less. If your answer is people, something in the range of 50mm to 85mm, perhaps even a little longer. If you want to cover a couple of those, take a zoom that covers them. If you are just taking snapshots of everything you see, consider your cell phone.

There are some fundamental truths. For example, you do not need a 400mm lens to shoot landscapes or cityscapes. You do not need a wide angle lens to shoot flowers or the moon (photographically, not playing Hearts).

I used to drag around a 24-120. Big and heavy. Now my walk around lens is a 50mm. I love the sharpness and speed (and weight!) and if I need more coverage I shoot multiple overlapping shots and stitch them later. That way I get better sharpness than a zoom without the distortion introduced by a wide angle lens. As I have come to recognize what I most enjoy shooting I have also narrowed in on my lens choice.

One way to figure out what you like to shoot is to go through your photos and see what focal length you used (easy to view in Lightroom). That is an educational experience. When I did that a few years ago, I discovered almost all of my photos were in the range of 35mm to 75mm. Rarely did I shoot anything at 120mm or even at 24mm. That changed how I thought about lenses.

I am saying that 50mm is the right lens for everyone. It is often the right lens for me, because I love landscapes, cityscapes, and interiors of churches. I know in advance if I need to capture a larger area I will stitch in Photoshop. As was said by the philosophers of old, "Know thyself." To that Polonius (in Hamlet) added, "And to thine lens be true" (or something to that effect).

I think there is a lot of people, on this site and elsewhere, who simply call themselves a photographer when they are really a "point-and-shooter" and even though they have purchased gear, both cameras and lenses, they have no idea what the gear does. These people want someone to tell them what to do and how to do it. Also, there is no question on this site that cannot be answered online, so if we simply tell people to go online to get an answer we will no longer have a forum and I've noticed that fewer and fewer people seem to be posting anyway. A great majority of the posts, overall, are inane anyway (where to put my lens cap when shooting?), so the "what lens to take" question simply reflects the overall forum. It's a forum I read more for amusement than to learn anything, although on occasion I do learn a tidbit or two.