NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Lens Talk => Topic started by: schwett on January 03, 2017, 05:55:09
-
2016 saw a bunch of lenses go and a bunch of lenses come. old stalwarts like the 200-400 and 80-400 left, and in came new beauties like the 105 f/1.4, 19 f/4 pc-e, and others.
while doing some year end housekeeping (i like to start each year with my memory cards empty, batteries full, drives backed up, keywords culled, etc) i noticed that almost 80% of my images were shot with just six lenses, and 50% with just three! not a single macro lens was used in a "keeper" this year, which is curious. the chart below shows the metadata for the 781 images which achieved "keeper" status in 2016. it was also an unusual year in that the 24mm pc-e didn't get much use. we'll see if the 19mm finds itself in the bag as often as i hope. the 105 f/1.4 showed up quite a lot for a lens which only recently appeared.
the statistics make me question whether having multiple wide/normal zooms is useful for me - perhaps some member of the 16-35, 24-70, and 24-120 should find a new home to make room for something more interesting. i have a strict policy these days of one in, one out....
(http://www.431.org/ng/2016lenses.jpg)
what did you guys shoot with most? any surprises?
-
Interesting pie chart. Way more than 50% (maybe even 70%) of my images were taken with the 200-500 : which is very surprising since I have only had a long lens for the past year. Since acquiring this lens - my photography focus has shifted - and that I didn't expect AT ALL.
I did less studio work in 2016 - not only because I was lazy ;D, or because I didn't want to - but because the work was less, I am too expensive, and money is tight. So all studio lenses has little usage. This year I will make an effort to change that.
btw thanks for this - it got me thinking about things that needed to be thought about.
-
Very interesting statistics! Maybe there is a tendency that newly acquired lenses get more use?
-
Very interesting indeed. It seems very logical that newly acquired lenses see a lot of use.
-
I use no statistics / book keeping kind of software, but I can say from day-to-day experience that in the field I used this year the
1.4/24G
1.4/35 Ai-S
1.8/85G
1.4/105G
4/300PF
All these on the D600 and D500.
My former "most used" optics like the 1.4/50, 1.8/50 and 2.8/60 Micro are next to completely idle as the D3 is.
In the Studio I use the 4/200 micro Ai-S and the Sinar with the 5.6/120 No 48 Schneider Apo Digitar.
For constrution work documentation I will use the D3 again because she can produce signed shots that can be verified and are accepted as valid proof in German courts.
-
For the bulk of 2016 my three lens outfit consisted of 35 f1.4g, 58 f1.4g and 85 f1.4g, the 58 was used for approx 90% of my images, September saw the arrival of the 105 F1.4, at present I am alternating between the 105 and the 58 on the camera and the other in my bag. It has to be mentioned that I am retired and have the luxury of being able to please myself about what I do during the day.
-
Since I had purchased D750 on February 29, my most used lens has been the nimble humble AF-S 50/1.8G. A couple of months ago, I purchased Ai-P 45mm f2.8 pancake, and have been switching between these.
For the (hopefully) artistic closeups, I use Nikkor-O 55mm f1.2 a.k.a. CRT-Nikkor.
-
Ai-P 45mm f2.8 pancake
This little lens grows on one; even though its focus ring is so narrow. The black model of this 45mm AI-P seems to be rare in europe, and overpriced.
-
I agree that new acquisitions tend to overshadow the old and trusted work horses :)
There are two halves of 2016. In the first half I was using a Df and in the second the D750.
Similarly, I used the 8mm fish-eye in the first half which was later replaced by the 10.5. Then it was the 17-35/2.8 that was replaced by the 20/1.8. And finally the 85/1.4 was replaced by the 135DC.
The 45P is one of my all time favorites, probably not used that much, but I thoroughly enjoy it whenever I do :)
Not that I plan on getting rid of my lenses, but there are plenty that are not used at all and I might start getting rid of them like:
28/2.0
28/3.5
200/4.0
105/2.5
-
Out of the little over 10'000 images which were retained (a multiple of this in clicks, but I dont have the stats) in the Lightroom (Lr) catalog, during 2016, about 28% were taken with the 300mm f/2.8 VRII (*), followed by 26% with the 28-300mm f/4.5-5.6, and 15% with the 16-35mm f/4 (all Nikkor lenses). The high percentage of 300mm pictures is attributable to the fact that I've spend most of my summer time on car racing circuits. About 78% of he pictures have been taken with the Nikon D5, the remainder with he D4s (sold in february 2016), the D610, but also 8% with smartphones (iPhone 6, and 6sPlus).
(*) out of the 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/3 of these pictures (10% in absolute) were taken at 600mm, with the TC-20E III, or a mere 10% in absolute.
Statistics like these, are only a few click away by applying the provided filters on the Lr Catalog
-
Hard-learned experiences over the years have shown me that one's lenses come and go in vogue. A particular lens for some period may rise to favourite position then to be eclipsed by others. If one is to sell a lens once it is perceived to be little used, the need to buy it again later never fails to manifest itself. Trust me, been there too many times !!
My best advice is to keep any lens (unless one is in dire financial straits and think in short-term improvement), but to be careful not to buy more lenses on a whim. I try my utmost to follow that advice myself, but am only human ...
-
Hard-learned experiences over the years have shown me that one's lenses come and go in vogue. A particular lens for some period may rise to favourite position then to be eclipsed by others. If one is to sell a lens once it is perceived to be little used, the need to buy it again later never fails to manifest itself. Trust me, been there too many times !!
My best advice is to keep any lens (unless one is in dire financial straits and think in short-term improvement), but to be careful not to buy more lenses on a whim. I try my utmost to follow that advice myself, but am only human ...
I bought and sold many lenses in my life and the only lens I regret to have sold is the 2.0/24 Ai which was small light and a rare very good sample of the lens I got from the original buyer who rarely used it. It has some very crazy bokeh wide open in the league of the older 1.4/35 or 1.2/55 and is perfectly sharp and clear at f/4
-
Interesting exercise, my highest rated images since 2014
I printed 12 ... to make an agenda that I gave as a gift
-
@Schwett, which software / exif reader did you use for the pie chart? Thanks.
-
interesting replies from all. it seems many of us would be satisfied by a couple primes and a zoom. as hard as it was to part with, i'm glad I sold the 200-400. better someone use it than it sit in my drawer, and the 200-500 seems destined, at least for now, for more clicks. new gear definitely gets used more, for better or worse! I think one of my goals this year will be to reacquaint myself with some of my old favorites.
the heavy use of the 20 1.8 is in part because it's the lens I use for aerial/drone work. I still haven't quite mastered that lens on the ground.
re: the data, just looked at the statistics in bridge under "lens" with my 2016 smart collection selected. the chart came from excel. nothing fancy!
-
8)
Interesting....
Here's my top 6 (from memory, no statistics) on the bag for 2016:
Descending order
24-70 f2.8
400 f2.8
70-200 f2.8
84 f1.4
105 f2.8 micro
-
Used a lot of lenses in the year but my top of 2016 would be something like this:
Angenieux 35-70/2.5
Nikkor 85/1.4
Nikkor 200/2
Nikkor 105/1.8
Nikkor 17-35/2.8
Voigtlander 58/1.4
Nikkor 80/2.8
-
I'll do the primary classification by FL, because I mostly use primes and FL is the first thing I choose. Then the choice e.g. between the many 50 or 105 variants is indeed a secondary one.
Most used FLs : out of about 12000 shots,
25 mm : 1020 shots, all Zeiss 25/2
45 mm : 1500 shots, all Tamron 45/1.8
50 mm : 2700 shots, Summicron R leading with 900, then Zeiss 50/2 (either version) 835, then 50/2 AI with 460...
58 mm : 650 shots, essentially Voigtländer, then a few from the Noct I did not purchase.
105 mm : 1600 shots, with more than half coming from 105/2.5 AIS and AI ; the rest from 70-200, or 105/1.8, or 105/2.8 VR, or a Sigma 24-105 test
Stats are approximate, because LR sometimes fails to identify the lens properly, or because I did not tag the shots with exact lens characteristics .
In terms of lenses, the three leaders are therefore Tamron 45/1.8, Zeiss 25/2, and third being Summicron R and 105/2.5 ex aequo.
-
Another interesting distribution (# of images vs. focal length) - not specific to any lenses due to multiple versions. All FX Nikkor though! The 16mm is a MF Fisheye, 500mm is a Reflex lens, 14mm represents the 14-24mm/2.8
-
Top 10 Before culling -- I didn't have any significant portraiture projects last year; instead I had a number of unexpected expenses which limited my shooting in the 2nd half of the year:
- 24-120mm f/4
- 105mm f/2.8 Micro
- 70-200mm f/2.8
- 17-35mm f/2.8
- 60mm f/2.8 Micro
- 150-500mm f/5~6.3
- 50mm f/1.8 AF-S
- 70-300mm f/4.5~5.6
- 10-30mm f/3.5~5.6
- Sigma 28mm f/1.8
-
"what lenses did you use most in 2016?"
My most used lens in 2016 was an AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED. Does that prove I have no self respect?
Dave Hartman
-
? it's a fine lens, except for size and weight
-
Most of these statistics are very personal, and depend largely from (1) what you are shooting; and (2) what lenses you have available. These sort of personal statistics taught me that I should buy a 300mm, out of the usage data "by focus length " from my then available 28-300mm. The same statistics teach me that I should may be acquire a 70-200mm. So, if such data are, may be, not meaningfull for general purposes, they have been very helpful in validating the selection of some additional lenses.
-
I only made a chart of my AF lenses. Bodies D810, D500, Df
The Exif of the about 7500 images taken with MF lenses is a mess.
-
Wow. Nice pie charts! Mine will have to be from memory. At least half my photos were strictly work, where all I did was document a site or activities. Not fun, but necessary.
For work, it's easy. I always carry the same two, and I use approximately
70% Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI
30% Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Macro.
For recreational/art photography, I've used many. Used these the most:
Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AIS
Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Macro
Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 AIS
Rodenstock Rodagon D APO 75mm f/4 on Nikon PB-4 bellows
Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 IF AIS
Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G.
-
I'm way too lazy to go through my mess of photographs, and anyway, manual lenses do not register in EXIF for the D3200, which I used most of the year.
But I confess that if I looked, I'm pretty sure that, since I travel a lot and don't carry that much gear when I do, the great majority would be with the plain old normal kit zoom, or the 55-300DX zoom. Late in the year I replaced my wearing-out 18-55 with a 16-85, and since then that's been the most used.
Of course I have all sorts of other lenses, some of which I like to take out for a spin, and my traveling kit almost always also includes either the 35/2.8 PC or the 28/3.5, which make great normal primes. I wish I could say I'd shot a lot with the 200-500/5.6, but I carry it around more than shoot with it. I think it sends out inaudible signals that birds hear. Fly away, fly away, it whispers!
-
When I shot film, I used to take notes (manual EXIF data) in a notebook. I recently started transferring that information to a small database, so I am able to do some interesting analysis. During the period 1994 - 2004, most of my keepers were shot with:
AIS 55/2.8 micro - mostly used for travel as a standard and macro lens
E 75-150/3.5 - very versatile telephoto zoom
AI 20/3.5 - compact wide, often used for travel
AF 105/2.8 micro
AIS 200/4 micro
AIS 135/2.8 - compact tele that I often used when travelling (largely replaced by 75-150 now)
I also used a lot of other lenses such as AIS 28/2.8, 105/4 micro and E 100/2.8 but not as often.
I'm fairly sure the next 10 years would be quite different - I used my AI 50/1.8 much more and much less macro, but I haven't had time to process those notes yet.
-
Duplicate post my apologies
-
..... A particular lens for some period may rise to favourite position then to be eclipsed by others. If one is to sell a lens once it is perceived to be little used, the need to buy it again later never fails to manifest itself. ....
My best advice is to keep any lens (unless one is in dire financial straits and think in short-term improvement), but to be careful not to buy more lenses on a whim. I try my utmost to follow that advice myself, but am only human ...
+1
-
Without in depth analysis just from my memory the AF-S 80-400 was the most used lens in 2016. It formed a good couple with the new D500 perfect for travel and hiking giving some compact long range capability for animals, landscape and some closeups. Made me lazy in lens changing and high fps of the D500 also contributed for the large share of this lens.
-
I have never done this before,
in 2016 used
I´m most likely going to buy tomorrow an used 70-200 vrII.
-
My usage ...
-
I have never done this before,
in 2016 used
I´m most likely going to buy tomorrow an used 70-200 vrII.
After seeing yesterday that i use the 80-200 for almost 40% of my images i thought it was y time for an upgrade. Today I've got a 70-200 vrII in almost new condition for a good price. Just luck. This is 1/30th at 200mm and f2.8 with vr on handheld. I'm a happy man. Processed and cropped in camera.
-
This will sound redundant..... 8)
DX
16-80 VR (~ 70%)
50mm f1.4G
40mm f2.8
70-200 f4 VR
200-500 f5.6 VR
FX
24-120 f4 VR (~ 70%)
70-200 f4 VR
85mm f1.8G
200-500 f5.6 VR
60mm f2.8G
-
A very short list:
PC-E 24mm: 50%
AF-S 50mm 1.8G: 25%
Non-CPU Nikkors: 25%
-
no question: iphone
-
Paco, congratulations on your new 70-200VRII! It is a superb lens and you will enjoy it.
Your chart says 9% taken with telephone. I would follow that trend closely ;)
-
I must say I am surprised about how much I have used the 24-120 f4. I bought it purely because it was a huge bargain as part of a bundle.
It has become my go-to lens for 4x4 events and also for family events, something I seem to have done quite a lot of last year. However, it may be worth noting that about 500 of those are in the focal range it shares with the 15-30mm f2.8, which would arguably have delivered better results.
On the other hand, I find the 15-30 a dangerous lens to use for 4x4 events. On the occasions I have used it for that, I have nearly been run over a couple of times, as I just don't realize how close the cars get.