Sometimes it's hard to know where to start with which lenses to get. And it's good to remember they're all best at their own game - or else there would only be one lens in the world which is great in every shooting situation (we can only dream). We thought we'd share our most used and favourite lenses so maybe it could help if you're wondering which lenses are best for you (or which to prioritise and buy first).
So, our top 3 favourite lenses and why:
1) Sony FE 50mm f/1.8
Our 50mm is our all-time favourite.
It’s great for intricate close-ups with a minimum focus distance of 0.45m and with it’s f/1.8 aperture, it gives depth to our shots with ease.
We find it super useful for our music video closeups on our Ronin S (and you can read why we love that too here.)
Despite it’s nifty performance, it’s the cheapest of our lens collection. Which goes to show it’s not all about price tag.
2) Sigma FE 24mm f/1.4
The Sigma is chunky beast to say the least, weighing in at 0.66kg.
We find it brilliant for low light shooting with it’s f/1.4 aperture. At 24mm on our full frame camera body, it’s impressive. We also use it in APS-C mode which crops it roughly to a 35mm equivalent.
It’s definitely a great option if you’re looking to achieve those wide to medium shots on your storyboard.
And it’s worth noting the build quality of the lens. The focus ring is super smooth and weighted just right. Super sharp, must have.
3) Sony FE 85mm f/1.8
Last but not least, our 85mm. Depth of field is its middle name - really handy for events where we want to capture those intimate and emotional moments without sticking a lens in someone’s face and ruining it.
It’s not a huge lens at 82mm long, shorter than the Sigma. And its the perfect zoom for most of our shooting situations - you can crop it in on APS-C at a 130mm equivalent. So it’s pretty versatile if you don’t want to shed out a grand on that 70mm-200mm quite just yet.
So that’s our three favourite and most used lenses of our ever-growing lens family. Overall we prefer primes for their sharpness, but we do occasionally use zoom lenses given the right circumstances.
We we hope this helped and feel free to get in touch if you want to know anything else, we’d be happy to chat.
Cheers!
Prickly Peach Films