[benjikan]

My All Time Favorite Lenses

As I have worked with many of the SLR's and Medium Format camera's out there, I want to share with you some of my favorites. In my career I used Nikon, Canon, Pentax SLR's and all of the Medium Format stuff out there.

My choices are based on my most frequent go for lenses when doing actual projects in the past and present.

Nikon: 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor Al-S
Nikon: 28mm f/2.0 Nikkor Al-S
Nikon: 50mm f/1.2 Nikkor Al-S
Nikon: 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor Al-S

Pentax: smc Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited
Pentax: smc Pentax FA 31mm f/1.8 Limited
Pentax: smc Pentax DA Star 16-50mm f/2.8 ED AL (IF) SDM
Pentax: smc Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4
Pentax: smc Pentax DA 12-24 f/4.0 ED AL (IF)

Canon: EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
Canon: EF 35mm f/2.0
Canon: EF 28mm f/2.8
Canon: TS-E 45mm f/2.8
Canon: TS-E 90mm f/2.8

And of course, not to forget two of my favorite 3rd party lenses,

Tamron: SP AF 28-75 f/2.8 XR Di LD (IF)
Tamron: SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di 1:1 Macro

Well, there you have it.

Ben
http://www.benjaminkanarekblog.com/2009/11/06/my-all-time-favorite-lenses/

Attached Images

 

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Last edited by benjikan; 11-17-2009 at 03:52 PM.

[joeyc]

I haven't made my conclusions yet with Pentax, but the DA15 is remarkable. The IQ, lack of distortion, and it's size are fantastic.

If we are sharing our thoughts here, Olympus has a few fantastic lenses...
-50-200mm f2.8-3.5
-11-22mm f2.8-3.5
-35mm f3.5 Macro

with those three lenses you have 22mm @ f2.8 to 400mm @f3.5 with only a small gap between. And the 35 Macro is the sharpest lens I have ever used.

[Mike Cash]

Do you have a favorite "day-off-just-farting-around" lens? Just curious to know if you might have one which has a special place in your heart but doesn't quite cut the mustard for use in your professional capacity.

[little laker]

If we are sharing our thoughts here, Olympus has a few fantastic lenses...
-50-200mm f2.8-3.5
-11-22mm f2.8-3.5
-35mm f3.5 Macro

with those three lenses you have 22mm @ f2.8 to 400mm @f3.5 with only a small gap between. And the 35 Macro is the sharpest lens I have ever used.

I must be missing something here. To me it looks like they start at 11mm and I don't see anything over 200mm

[Eruditass]

I can't tell if you're joking / purposely pointing it out to criticize their sensor but he's taking into account the "crop factor"

[little laker]

I can't tell if you're joking / purposely pointing it out to criticize their sensor but he's taking into account the "crop factor"

No joking, to me a mm is a mm. Especially is you don't mention crop factor. Besides, unless I know Olympus how am I supposed to know they're a 2.0 crop

[joeyc]

No joking, to me a mm is a mm. Especially is you don't mention crop factor. Besides, unless I know Olympus how am I supposed to know they're a 2.0 crop

Understood. Yes, their cameras do have a 2.0x crop factor.

[little laker]

Understood. Yes, their cameras do have a 2.0x crop factor.

Thanks Joey, I honestly didn't know the crop factor. Which is why I said

I must be missing something here

The only Olympus I own is full frame, being a trip 35.

[Eruditass]

No joking, to me a mm is a mm. Especially is you don't mention crop factor. Besides, unless I know Olympus how am I supposed to know they're a 2.0 crop

It indeed doesn't change the focal length, but the FoV is the same including any perspective changes (except its in 4:3 instead of 3:2). The only difference is the DoF and diffraction (but for DoF purposes you won't be stopping down as much anyway since you already have greater DoF)

[Das Boot]

Do you have a favorite "day-off-just-farting-around" lens? Just curious to know if you might have one which has a special place in your heart but doesn't quite cut the mustard for use in your professional capacity.

I'm sure Ben uses a SMC M50/2.0 or a JCPenney 135mm/2.8 whenever he can.

On a different note, along with umbrella lighting Ben must not like traditional "portrait" lenses. At least in Pentax lenses.

[cupic]

Good to hear again from you Ben impressive list ,BTW I like the retro shot is it back in TFS

cheers

[heatherslightbox]

I don't know that I've been at photography long enough to say that my favorites are my all-time, but here are a few that come to mind:

Pentax:
M28/3.5--one of the sharpest lenses that I've ever used, period. You might want to wear protective eye gear when you're looking at pics taken with this lens.
K55/1.8--the coolest looking bokeh I've ever seen on a lens.
At some point, I'd like to replace these with their m42 counterparts and get an m42 to EOS adapter.
FA43/1.9 (I wish I could get one of these in the Canon mount )

Canon:
EF-L 24-105/4--my most used lens on the 40D. Even on a cropped sensor, I like the FL range a lot, as I don't tend to shoot extra wide that often.
EF-L 70-200/4 IS--not used that often, but I still love it for it's sharpness and color rendition. There's nothing quite like it.

Heather

[k100d]

are the AI-S lenses better than the newer AF ones?

[B Grace]

I'm sure Ben uses a SMC M50/2.0 or a JCPenney 135mm/2.8 whenever he can.

On a different note, along with umbrella lighting Ben must not like traditional "portrait" lenses. At least in Pentax lenses.

For a lens that I've seen listed online for $8 its results are simply amazing. My JCP135/2.8 is an A version having an aperture lever protector tab which prevents it from mounting on my K200D directly. Even when used on my A1.4x TC it's great.

[SLRPhotography]

good tips thanks
Sam