Really depends on what you shoot.

For me I use 3 prime lenses and that's all I need.

I'm on full frame sensor and uses :

1. 20mm f2.8 for landscape and sometimes for portraits too.

2. 85mm f2.8 for portraits

3. 50mm f1.4 for everything in between the 20mm and 85mm


On a crop sensor I would suggest checking out the 35mm primes.

TS, I dunno but I never really felt that I need anything longer than 85mm but that's just me. On a full frame the 85mm feels just right for me.

You could try and see if it can work for you on a crop sensor. No harm trying.

That's the only 3 lenses that I use nowadays. They are all that I need. Been using them for the past 2 -3 years I guess. No zooms at the moment and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

I would not sell the 18-105mm kit lens. It goes with your current crop factor body.

If you asked me about what primes to get then I think the decision rests more on what you actually shoot.

If you already have the 35mm then shoot with it until you know what else you need. Since you have the 18-105mm kit lens then you can quite easily find out which focal length you need. Tape your kit lens' zoom ring to the 18mm position and shoot with that for a week or two without changing the focal length. Then you will know more or less if 18mm is enough for you or you need wider.

Then tape your kit lens' zoom ring to the 85mm position and shoot with that for a week or two. Then you will know more or less if 85mm can work for you.

You really should not use too wide angle to shoot portraits. Wide angle lenses tend to introduce distortions. Things that are close to the lens will get magnified and things further away tend to look smaller and far away.

You need to be careful to keep the lens level and not pointing upwards or downwards at subject to minimize the distortions. Sometimes distortions can work but most times it just screws up the picture, especially if it's portraits.

Looking at Calvin Seak's picture the distortion is obvious. Notice how her chest area is magnified and her legs are small and looked far away?

Well, some may like the distortion but it's a bit uncomfortable for me.

For full body or half body shots, I like to use my 50mm but I'm on a full frame sensor.

I use a Sony 50mm f1.4

50mm does not distort much unless you are very close to your subject.

35mm will distort more compared to 50mm.

Generally, the longer the focal length, the less it will distort.

If you use the distortion to make girls look thin then they will look very weird.

I'm not saying it's good or bad. Just pointing out the distortion. Sometimes distortion can work but most times it doesn't.

For myself I would like to portray things as close to the original state as possible. To bring out the subject's natural appeal rather than to distort the image and present a 'not-true-to-life' view.

Having said that, I am not saying that one cannot take portraits with a wide angle lens. You can do that. Maybe as part of a series with other shots that are not distorted. Also please take note that the 35mm lens is great to use for street shots. If you and the subject is separated by a distance then there will be little distortion. It's more pronounced when you get close - like when you shoot portraits you will usually be only a few feet away from the subject.

The reason why a 50mm or an 85mm lens is preferable when shooting portraits (apart from having little to no distortions) is that those focal lengths will minimize the view-able background area around your subject. This helps to eliminate unwanted background distractions and puts more attention to the subject of your shots.

In the old days of film SLRs, the saying that primes are sharper than zooms is true because back then zoom lenses are still in their infancy and not all that sharp.

Nowadays, that is no longer true. Premium zoom lenses are as sharp as primes. Some are even sharper.

Anyway, sharpness should never be the measuring stick for choosing lenses. As long as a lens is decently sharp, it's a good lens. You can always sharpen your image during post processing. The important thing is to get a lens with a focal length that you can really use. Not because it's sharp or a lot of people are using it.

I choose primes mostly because they are more compact than premium zooms. So it's easier to carry multiple primes rather than multiple zooms. Before anyone say that one zoom can be used to replace multiple prime focal lengths, I want to stress that this is not true if you want premium zooms. Premium zooms are rarely more than 4x zoom factor. So to cover wide angle and portraits you would need at least 2 zooms : the 16-35mm f2.8 and a 24-70mm f2.8 and both these lenses are big, bulky and heavy. Another drawback is that the zooms will usually have a slower aperture rating than most primes. Primes can go to f1.8 or even f1.4 while zooms have yet to break the f2.8 aperture rating.

Prime lenses also force you to take note of the composition of your photos. If one angle does not work, you have to move and find another angle. You do not have the luxury of zooming in or out.

For group shots it depends on how the people in the group is located. If they are all line up in one straight line from left to right and you are directly in front of them then f2.8 should get them all in focus.

In reality, this rarely happens as some will be in front, some will be standing one or two steps back or stand in a semi circular fashion. Then f2.8 will not get them all in focus. You need to stop down to at least f4 and sometimes f4 is also does not provide enough DOF to get a group all in sharp focus.

For landscape any lens within the 16mm to 24mm range can be used if you are on full frame sensor.

Crop frame sensor should look to something around the 12mm to 18mm range.

The above all all considered ultra wide angle to wide angle focal lengths.

The smaller the focal length, the more distortion the lens will display so it's up to the individual tolerance for distortions in selecting the lenses.

One thing to note is that UWA lenses tend to take in a lot of the scenery. This means it may take in a lot of unwanted elements into your frame thus UWA lenses are not that easy to use.

Who will use a 200mm lens to take group shots?

mumeichan: I'm not sure what you are looking for but I do know that a 16mm lens on a crop sensor the FOV is akin to using a 24mm lens on a full frame sensor and the 18mm on crop is closer to 28mm FOV on a full frame.

If you've ever looked through a full frame camera, you will know that the 24mm is quite different from the 28mm. I think that 24mm is just nice and 28mm is just not wide enough for me.