Ok readers, I’m looking for some participation on your part today with a simple two-part question: What lens do you use the most in your photography, and which lens do you use the least?
Even if you think you know for sure, open up Lightroom or Aperture, or whatever software you use to manage your images, and dig into the metadata. With a quick search, you can quickly see the exact breakdown of your lens use for whatever time frame you specify.
Plug in the past month. The past six months. The past year. Plug in your entire catalog and see what comes up. The results might surprise you. Then again, they might not.
The purpose of this question is not just for me to find out what type of gear you use. It’s actually to get you to see what lenses you use most often, and also see which lenses you don’t use very often. You’ll probably find that a large percentage of your imagery is shot with just one or two lenses, and you’ll also see which lenses sit unused in your bag each week and month.
Since one of the best ways to spark your creativity is to break out a lens that you don’t normally use, this exercise might help your photography by providing you with some valuable insight into your own style.
After you vote, leave a comment below and share why you typically use or don’t use a certain type of lens. Love to hear your thoughts on this!
My results- Most used: Zoom telephoto (Nikon 80-200mm f2.8ED), least used: Normal (Nikon 50mm f1.8D)
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I didn’t answer the poll because my most commonly used lens is my Schneider Symmar-S 135mm lens. This is a wide angle lens, not a telephoto lens. However, my favorite lens is my Scheider SuperSymmar XL 80mm lens, which is also a wide angle lens.
Hi Dan, I use my 35mm f1.8 the most and my 18-200mm kit lens the least. I recently acquired a 17-50mm f2.8 lens that has quickly become my new favorite. And since you use your 50mm f1.8 lens the least, I’ll gladly take it off your hands.
No way! I love my 50mm f/1.8! Just because it gets used the least, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get used. I actually shoot a lot of photos with that lens, just not as many as I do with the other lenses that I own. I can see a 17-50mm f/2.8 being a pretty useful lens.
Most used is Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 non VC and Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 AF-S Micro. Least used is 50mm f/1.8 AF-D
Hmmm, I’m not sure how to answer these questions, Dan. My three main lenses are a 17-40mm f/4 L, 50mm f/1.4, and a 70-200mm f/4 L. I use them all interchangeably, for whatever the situation calls for, and not really one more than the other. I guess lately I’ve been using the 17-40 more, and the 50 a little less, although that could change at any time.
Interesting thought provoking post. I did a bit more research with the filters in Lightroom, and determined that my most frequently used focal length has been 50mm – probably due to my heavy use of my 50 1.8 in addition to my normal lens, and my least used focal length within a “normal” range was 85mm. I only went through my personal Lightroom catalog though – I expect my results would skew toward slightly longer focal lengths if I went through my portraits catalog, especially with my recent acquisition of a used 70-200 2.8L. But in the interst of sparking creativity, I should probably haul out my 17-40 a bit more.
Not surprised, but my 50mm takes the win. I just love how sharp it is!