Your Realistic 3-5 Lens Collection

Canon 5D Mk4

16-35mm f/4 L
24-70mm f/4 L
70-200mm f/4 L II
100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L II
35 F2 IS

With the advent of mirrorless, I am seriously considering selling my 100-400 mark ll for a 100-500 RF. Hope I won’t regret it.

I have a small camera bag that can conveniently hold two lenses along with my 80D. Those lenses usually are:

85-85EFS,
135/1.8 Sigma,

and I can squeeze in one of the two other lenses I frequently use:

8mm Rokinon fisheye, or
60mm EFS Macro.

I have other lenses but don't consider them part of my "essential" collection.

Fraserphoto wrote in post #19119549
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Has anyone thought of donating the money they're spending on these fantasy lenses to some kind of good cause instead? Genuine, non-snarky question.
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I think that my photography is the best cause that exists!

Almost all of my money will be going toward my own wildlife photography, because it means far more to me than any other cause.

But I will add that I will not spend much of my money on lenses, as I get more bang for my buck spending my money on travel, which puts me in position to get more and better wildlife photos than I can get around home. . So the good cause that I will spend most of my money on will be photo road trips to wildlife destinations.


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Great question. This applies to a lot of things in life beyond lenses. Many people do what they can do charity.

Canon 700d

10-18 STM
18-135 STM
70-200 f4 IS

Making the move over to native glass now, so still in transition:

R5
RF 35 1.8
RF 28-70 f2
RF 70-200 2.8
Tamron G1 15-30
EF 100-400 mk2 w/ EF 1.4x TC mk3

If I am shooting with a crop camera,
EF-S 18-135mm

If I am shooting full frame:
EF 24-105mm f4L IS

EF 100-400mm L (Push-Pull)

I love the EF 100mm f2.8 Macro (non-L) for close-up shooting.

I need to get an ultra-wide 16-35mm f4 lens.

Fraserphoto wrote in post #19119549
Has anyone thought of donating the money they're spending on these fantasy lenses to some kind of good cause instead? Genuine, non-snarky question.

Non-snarky reply. With an attitude like that why did you even join a forum such as this.

this thread started on the 20th anniversary of me starting my Air Force career, otherwise i would NOT have added on to it...

my current lens situation

24-70 f2.8L mkII
70-200 f2.L mkII
300 f2.8L mkI
100 f2.8L
50 f1.4

i think id like to add an 85 f1.4 and there seems to be ONE TIME a year or so that i could benefit from something wider than 24mm but that doesnt justify buying the 16-35 f2.8L. or the 16-35 f4 either. which i probably wouldnt buy. i know the 5D3 and 5D4 i shoot with are more than capable of handling the light from an f4, ive been so ingrained with faster lenses going back to my first AE-1, that i want the fastest i can afford. granted my film lenses were never the fastest (24, 35 are both f2.0 my 85 is an f1.8, my 50 is an f1.4 and 200 is f2.8) but they were far from being the slowest...

I like buying and selling used gear. I consider it part of the hobby. Let's me experiment with different bodies and lenses while keeping the hobby squarely in a 4-figure budget.

I just looked it up. In the past 2 years I've churned through 31 lenses. I currently own 9 lenses, 3 of which are actively for sale and another where the jury is still out.

While playing with new gear is fun, I do have a standard, semi-permanent, shoot-to-kill kit.

EF 24-105 f/4L - Jury out on this one. Just had a Tamron 24-70 2.8 delivered yesterday
EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L
EF 400mm f/5.6L - which lives almost exclusively on a 90D

When I bought my first Canon SLR, I had these lenses with it:

Canon FD 35 mm f/2 S.S.C.
Canon FD 50 mm f/1.4 S.S.C.
Canon FD 135 mm f/2.5 S.C.
Canon FD 300 mm f/5.6 S.C.

A few years later, I realized that a 3-5 lens collection is not realistic.

Now that I've moved to mirrorless camera and mostly RF lenses, these are my lenses based on my need:

For birding/wildlife: RF 100-500mm, RF 1.4x, and RF 800mm
For traveling and walk around: RF 24-105mm f/4L
For macro: RF 100mm Macro f/2.8L (waitlisted)
For ultrawide: EF 16-35 f/4L with RF adapter
For home basement studio: EF 24-70 f/2.8L (original) on 5D Mark IV.

Pretty much there now. I might get a 300/2.8 IS in the future, and *maybe* a fisheye, but I don't really have the urge for anything I'm not covering right now.

drsilver wrote in post #19277549
I like buying and selling used gear. I consider it part of the hobby. Let's me experiment with different bodies and lenses while keeping the hobby squarely in a 4-figure budget.

I just looked it up. In the past 2 years I've churned through 31 lenses. I currently own 9 lenses, 3 of which are actively for sale and another where the jury is still out.

While playing with new gear is fun, I do have a standard, semi-permanent, shoot-to-kill kit.

EF 24-105 f/4L - Jury out on this one. Just had a Tamron 24-70 2.8 delivered yesterday
EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L
EF 400mm f/5.6L - which lives almost exclusively on a 90D

I went through a "I only want to shoot primes" phase, which led to me owning a 100L macro, 135/2, etc - all fine lenses, but once I got the 70-200 II I realized just how far zooms had come along, and even peeping with 24x36 prints I couldn't tell any downsides to it.

The 135/2 was probably my most "I really want to like this lens, but can't justify it".