What’s in my bag? Part 1

Yesterday I cautioned everyone to not buy new equipment without knowing fully the capabilities of the gear and whether it meshed with your personal photography interests and skills.

I’m now going to present a series of articles that go through the equipment I have in my bag and why I purchased it. Perhaps it will be of some guidance to you.

Part 1 will  review normal lenses and standard zoom lenses. Part 2 will cover special purpose lenses. If you have the lenses outlined in Part 1, you are doing fine and can probably pause your purchases until your interests and skill level becomes more refined. I’m not saying you need to have everything I outline here – this is just a god point to stop at if you have purchased multiple lenses.

The first lens that I recommend anyone to purchase is a 50mm lens. This lens will approximate what you see with your eyes, unless you have crazy peripheral vision capabilities. Sometimes the 50mm is referred to as a “normal” lens for this reason.

If your budget only allows for one lens – this is the one I recommend you have.

Depending on your budget, you will need to decide between the 1.8 and the 1.4 version. I have both. My first purchase was the 1.8, but since I shoot weddings with 3 cameras and one of those is manned by a 2nd shooter, I found the need for an additional copy. I found a used copy of the 1.4 for the unheard of price of $125, so I scooped it up. I also specialize in a specific type of photography done in low-light situations, so the 1.4 works better in those situations.

The next lens you may find valuable is a mid-range zoom. I currently use a Tamron 28-105mm 2.8 lens for this purpose. It is the lens I have on my camera 75% of the time. That lens is no longer being made, so when the day comes that it needs replaced, I would probably go with the 28-75mm 2.8 or the Nikon 17-55mm 2.8 if the account can handle the purchase.

The final lens in this category is a longer range zoom. I have the 80-200mm 2.8. In the beginning, I used this lens for sports photography when I was a newspaper photographer. It helped immensely, especially when shooting football. I then began using the lens when shooting weddings. There’s nothing worse than a wedding photographer acting like TMZ paparazzi, so I shoot discretely from a distance during the ceremony. I also use this lens in the studio, although the size of my studio does not allow me to use it at the full 200mm length.

Check back soon for part 2, when I’ll be covering the “fun” stuff.