60, 80 or 150?

[maarten m]

i have these lenses for the moment,
all in good working condition:

C 60f3.5 T*
C 80f2.8 T*
C 150f4 T*

if i would let go of one lens, which should it be?

thanks for your thoughts!
maarten.

[elekm]

I'm not sure this is a question that anyone can answer, because we have no way of knowing how you shoot, which lens you use the most or which lens gives you the best photos.

[Dan Henderson]

I have those 3 lenses and I use the 80 the least. But that's just me.

[guitstik]

What type of photography do you do most often? Portrait the 80 will work best followed by the 60. If you do landscape then the 150 would be the best. So depending on the type of photography you do will determine the lenses you will want to keep.

[maarten m]

thanks for your replies so far.
i only got the 60mm last week to start a project for indoor "portraits" of artists (painters, sculpturers, designers) in their habitat.
i found no use for the 150 but was afraid the 60 would give me too much distortions if i portrait them too close.

why do you find the 150 most suitable for landscapes? and the 60 for portraits?
i was convinced it would have been the opposite:
slight telephoto for portraits; slight wide-angle for landscapes.

about image quality: which of the three gets best (theoretical) results?

maarten.

[Q.G.]

The best technical results would come from the 80 mm.
But don't decide on such a metric. It should be about what you want to do, and what lens, what focal length will help you do that.
Only you can decide.

[ChrisJarisch]

I've found the best lens for portraits is my 150... And I would think the 60 wouldnt be all that well suited to portraiture, a opposed to landscapes. But... to each his own, I guess. I'd toss the 80, myself... fwiw...

[lns]

I somehow acquired all three lenses myself. I loved the 60mm so much that I considered selling the 80mm. But to make sure, I shot a few rolls with the 80mm, and realized all over again how great the 80mm is. The resale value of my 80mm is pretty low. So I decided to keep them all.

I don't regret it. I usually take the 150mm and one of the shorter lenses with me on every shoot. I use the 60mm and the 80mm about equally as normal lenses. Like you, I do use the 60mm for environmental portraits. But the 150mm is my primary portrait lens, because I find it very flattering (sometimes with tubes) for head and shoulder portraits. I find it useful for landscapes too, because of it's narrower field of view. With tubes, it's also my substitute for a macro lens.

It's interesting to see how others use the focal lengths differently. I think if I were you I'd use them for a while and see what works best for you.

-Laura

[MattKing]

If you sell one, that will end up being the one you want to use most for the foreseeable future .

Do you do much close focus work? If so, I would check the respective close-focus capabilities of each before deciding.

Are the filter sizes the same for all three? That would influence my decision.

For me, I think a 60mm and 150mm pair makes for a versatile two lens kit.

[guitstik]

I use an 80 on bothe the 67 and 645 cameras that I own for just about everything that I shoot. I have a tendency to do things contrary to what others do so to that end I will use a 150 or so lens (depending on the camer) to shoot landscapes. You have to determine what lenses work best for the type of photography that you do.