Carry The Lenses You Want

I've read too many posts and/or articles lately about the lenses every photographer should carry. Oh, really? Somehow the person writing the article knows just what I'm hoping to shoot and can tell me what I should have in my bag? Will you tell me what to have for lunch, too?

I know what kind of images I want to grab and so I have chosen two lenses that I pretty much have in the bag at all times. If you recognize the Canon 70-200mm f 2.8 L IS above you've already assumed that one of those lenses is this beauty. WRONG.

It is the best lens that I own but it's also the heaviest, heavier even than my 200-400mm zoomer.
I use it often but it isn't in the bag unless I decide it's one of those days that I know I'll want it around.

The two lenses I carry in the bag without thinking about it are both Tamron lenses. They're not as sharp as Canon glass but very few people will ever notice that in my fine art pictures which are highly processed.

The two lenses I carry include an overlapping set of focal lengths so that I'm covered for everything from 17mm to 300mm. They aren't very fast. The wide angle 17-35mm lens has a maximum aperture of 2.8 but it closes to 4 at 35mm. The 28-300mm lens has a maximum aperture of 3.5 but closes to 6.1 at 300mm. The Canon 70-200mm lens has a constant aperture and a maximum of f 2.8. That means that it will maintain whatever aperture I set through the focal lengths. It includes two kinds of stabilization and zooms without changing its geometry. It also has 2 types of autofocus settings. All that technology makes for a very heavy lens. That's one reason I don't carry it always. The other is the neatly overlapping focal lengths of the two Tamrons in the bag.

I'm basically an outdoor photographer. I have little interest in documentary photography. I'll take any good shot that presents itself but I may shoot an interesting scene with my pocket point-and-shooter. If I pass a dramatic scene and don't manage to get a photograph of it I really don't care that much. In my mind the world is full of good photographers and great photographs. I want to take and promote the photography that I enjoy most. I don't carry a macro lens as some writers seem to think I should. It doesn't interest me.

Others may carry lenses or other accessories that are required to do their jobs. If you're on a tight budget you'll want to invest in a lens that covers a wide range of focal lengths like my 28-300mm lens. Just let the articles and posts you read be guidelines rather than rules. What you shoot and how you shoot it is your business. The experiences of others should inform but not control your decisions.