My Favorite Lenses and Why…

Here is a list of my favorite lenses and why I chose them. I am going to list them in order of the most used lens to the least used. Of course, this can vary a little bit depending on the shoot and the scene. Since, I shoot mostly weddings and engagement sessions, and to keep a consistent style, the order of lenses that I use do not change that much.

Note: I shoot with full frame cameras (Canon 5Ds), which will fully realize the focal length of each lens.

1. Canon EF 35mm USM f/1.4L. This is absolutely, hands down, my most favorite and most used lens. The images that comes out of my camera using this lens are simply stunning! Sharp, contrasty, and very rich in colors. I always shoot just about wide open. Beautiful bokeh and excellent low-light performance. It has blazing focus speed. In my opinion, this is Canon’s best prime lens. It is very light and very usable all day.
2. Canon EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM. This should be in every wedding photographer’s gear bag. A bread and butter. I use this lens primary for bride and groom portraits, bridal portraits, and head shots.  I shoot with this lens always at wide-open @ f/2.8.
3. Canon EF 85mm f/1.8. This is the very first prime lens that I have purchased. At first, I couldn’t find it usable on wedding because of its long focal length.  Therefore it sat on my gear bag, rarely used.  As I have improved the way I photograph headshots, I began to use it more often. This is a very sharp lens. I highly recommend shooting headshots between f/2 and f/2.2 for maximum sharpness and background separation. This is a non “L” lens, but in my personal opinion. It might as well be.
4. Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. I heard a few photographer’s call this lens: “the holy grail of wedding photography.” A majority of the time, most churches are quite dark, and this lens has no problem capturing images with virtually no light. I do not use this lens as much as the Canon 35 f/1.4, but it is often within reach of my bag. Shooting wide open requires alot of practice.
5. Sigma 50mm f/2.8 MACRO. I purchased this lens because I love to photograph detail shots. Some of my favorite objects to photograph are wedding rings and shoes. I often have to stop the lens down 3-4 stops for good depth of field and sharpness.
6. Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L MkI: If I need to photograph a very large family group, this is the lens I use. I use this also for dramatic shots if I want to juxtapose a bride and groom against a majestic background. This lens though does have one major technical flaw, it produces quite a bit of  curve distortions on each corner. Its probably the reason why Canon released the  “Mk II” to correct this flaw.
7. Canon EF 24-105 f/4L. At the beginning of my career, I use this lens quite often. It is because it has a wide range of usable focal length. It also has IS for hand held stabilization. Because of my style of shooting, and most California churches are very dark, I am no longer  using lens as much, opting instead for the 70-200 2.8 IS or either the 35 1.4, or the 50 1.2.  The 24-105 is a very good walk-around lens, especially for outdoor use.

I invite you to list your top three lenses and why you chose them. I would appreciate if you leave me some blog love!