Short Telephoto Lenses

[AJ]

The answer is 85 mm. That's why Canon make both an 85/1.8 and 85/1.2, and both Zeiss and Sigma make an 85/1.4. Most other manufacturers have fast 85s as well.

 

[Loswr]

The answer is 85 mm. That's why Canon make both an 85/1.8 and 85/1.2, and both Zeiss and Sigma make an 85/1.4. Most other manufacturers have fast 85s as well.

Canon make both a 100mm f/2 and a 100mm f/2.8. Both Zeiss and Sigma make 100/105mm lenses, as does Tokina. Nikon, Canon, and Sony/Zeiss make 135mm lenses, and if you go back in time there are a whole bunch of manual 135mm lenses.

So your point is... ??

 

[jackb]

I have a 100/2.8 IS for macro and portraits on FF.

When I shot Nikon film I had a 105/2.5 and loved it.

 

[gregorywood]

Got into a bit of an argument, would like some ammunition. ;D.

I don't care about the aperture only the focal length. Note the question isn't what is your favourite focal length, it is which one is most popular, that is which one do most photographers have.

I don't mean to sound unhelpful, but I don't know which lens most photographers have, so how could I possibly vote in the poll and have it be meaningful data?

I can only answer the question, "which one do I prefer", at least with any objectivity.

As a suggestion, you could seek out some sales data. I'd think that would be more objective.

Again, not trying to be unhelpful or a smarta$$...just trying to understand the context and the value of information that I or anyone else could provide.

Good luck.
Greg

 

[sdsr]

Got into a bit of an argument, would like some ammunition. ;D.

I don't care about the aperture only the focal length. Note the question isn't what is your favourite focal length, it is which one is most popular, that is which one do most photographers have.

I don't mean to sound unhelpful, but I don't know which lens most photographers have, so how could I possibly vote in the poll and have it be meaningful data?

I can only answer the question, "which one do I prefer", at least with any objectivity.

As a suggestion, you could seek out some sales data. I'd think that would be more objective.

Hard to disagree with that. The OP seems to be inviting guesses; I suspect he needs better "ammunition" than that....

To the extent what we actually own/use matters, I can't help there, either as I have several 85s, 100/105s and 135s. I suppose I find 85mm more generally useful than the other two, but that can change with what I'm photographing and how I happen to "see" the world that day, so it's hard to have a preference among those focal lengths (I do have a preference among the 135s I own - the image quality of the newish Rokinon/Samyang 135mm f2 is every bit as good as Dustin Abbott's review says it is).

 

[cellomaster27]

I use my 85mm 1.8 but on a crop sensor.. I love the images that I get from it, though I do need to edit some contrast in post. I can only imagine what the 135mm f2 brings to the table. Gotta love primes!

Now I'm wondering if I should go in for the 100mm f2? That could be dumb.. ha ha

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

I use my 85mm 1.8 but on a crop sensor.. I love the images that I get from it, though I do need to edit some contrast in post. I can only imagine what the 135mm f2 brings to the table. Gotta love primes!

Now I'm wondering if I should go in for the 100mm f2? That could be dumb.. ha ha

In my understanding, the image quality of Canon 100mm F2 is halfway between 85mm F1.8 and 135mm F2.

I love my 100mm F2 and do not see how this could be improved without cost double the current price.

 

[Tinky]

I use my 85mm 1.8 but on a crop sensor.. I love the images that I get from it, though I do need to edit some contrast in post. I can only imagine what the 135mm f2 brings to the table. Gotta love primes!

Now I'm wondering if I should go in for the 100mm f2? That could be dumb.. ha ha

In my understanding, the image quality of Canon 100mm F2 is halfway between 85mm F1.8 and 135mm F2.

I love my 100mm F2 and do not see how this could be improved without cost double the current price.

I know DXOmark is kind of a bad word around here... but they have the 100mm f2.0 rated higher than the 135mm f2.0, both tested on a 1Dsmk3...

 

[Loswr]

I know DXOmark is kind of a bad word around here... but they have the 100mm f2.0 rated higher than the 135mm f2.0, both tested on a 1Dsmk3...

On the 1DsIII, they have the same sharpness (14 P-Mpix) and vignetting (1.4 EV), the 135L has less distortion (0.1% vs 0.3%) and less CA (4um vs 5um), but slightly less transmission (2.3 vs. 2.2 T-Stops). The 100/2 scores 4 points higher.

On the 5DIII, all the measurements are the same as above except sharpness, where the 135L tests much sharper (20 vs. 16 P-Mpix). The 100/2 still scores a point higher.

DxO isn't necessarily a bad word, but their Scores are a bad joke.

 

[bholliman]

Also, just in terms of preference, I'd rather have 50mm on one camera and 135mm on another than a 35/85 combo.

+1 I really like this combination of primes as well. I have the excellent 35 f/2 IS, but find myself often pairing my 135L with the 50 STM as those focal lengths seem to go well together for family events and general people photography.

 

[Tinky]

I know DXOmark is kind of a bad word around here... but they have the 100mm f2.0 rated higher than the 135mm f2.0, both tested on a 1Dsmk3...

On the 1DsIII, they have the same sharpness (14 P-Mpix) and vignetting (1.4 EV), the 135L has less distortion (0.1% vs 0.3%) and less CA (4um vs 5um), but slightly less transmission (2.3 vs. 2.2 T-Stops). The 100/2 scores 4 points higher.

On the 5DIII, all the measurements are the same as above except sharpness, where the 135L tests much sharper (20 vs. 16 P-Mpix). The 100/2 still scores a point higher.

DxO isn't necessarily a bad word, but their Scores are a bad joke.

can't help it can you?

 

[Loswr]

I know DXOmark is kind of a bad word around here... but they have the 100mm f2.0 rated higher than the 135mm f2.0, both tested on a 1Dsmk3...

On the 1DsIII, they have the same sharpness (14 P-Mpix) and vignetting (1.4 EV), the 135L has less distortion (0.1% vs 0.3%) and less CA (4um vs 5um), but slightly less transmission (2.3 vs. 2.2 T-Stops). The 100/2 scores 4 points higher.

On the 5DIII, all the measurements are the same as above except sharpness, where the 135L tests much sharper (20 vs. 16 P-Mpix). The 100/2 still scores a point higher.

DxO isn't necessarily a bad word, but their Scores are a bad joke.

can't help it can you?

If you're going to bring a misleading and ridiculous piece of non-information to the discussion, don't be surprised when you get called on it.

 

[Tinky]

Nope. You really can't it seems.

 

[jthomson]

Got into a bit of an argument, would like some ammunition. ;D.

Hard to disagree with that. The OP seems to be inviting guesses; I suspect he needs better "ammunition" than that....

To the extent what we actually own/use matters, I can't help there, either as I have several 85s, 100/105s and 135s. I suppose I find 85mm more generally useful than the other two, but that can change with what I'm photographing and how I happen to "see" the world that day, so it's hard to have a preference among those focal lengths (I do have a preference among the 135s I own - the image quality of the newish Rokinon/Samyang 135mm f2 is every bit as good as Dustin Abbott's review says it is).

I know I need better data, I am looking. This is just for a bit of fun.
Does anybody know of a good source of sales data by lens type? (please don't post until the end of the Poll.)
I've been through the Bestseller lists on Amazon for several countries and I will post some of what I found at the end of the poll period. I think the Amazon data is pretty conclusive, but it doesn't give hard numbers just rankings.
The most interesting thing I have found so far is that the Tamron 70-300 was the number one best seller on Amazon France. (In fact a lot of Tamron lenses are doing very well in France.) Usually 50mm lenses top the lists. I despair that the Yongnuo 50mm copy was the number 5 best seller in Canada. I say was because the lists are dynamic and may change, before the end of the poll.
Did you know that the German for bestseller is bestseller?

 

[fish_shooter]

that is which one do most photographers have.

I can't vote because like others here I have all 3 focal lengths as well as 105, 90, and 75mm in various camera makes (e.g. Leica uses 90 rather than the 85mm focal length). My 100L is currently the most used owing to its macro ability.
Tom

 

[AJ]

The answer is 85 mm. That's why Canon make both an 85/1.8 and 85/1.2, and both Zeiss and Sigma make an 85/1.4. Most other manufacturers have fast 85s as well.

Canon make both a 100mm f/2 and a 100mm f/2.8. Both Zeiss and Sigma make 100/105mm lenses, as does Tokina. Nikon, Canon, and Sony/Zeiss make 135mm lenses, and if you go back in time there are a whole bunch of manual 135mm lenses.

So your point is... ??

... that out of those three, 85 mm is the most popular focal length for portraits, and 100 mm the most popular for macro, I guess? 135 mm is more specialist methinks.

 

[jthomson]

Thank you all for voting or posting to this thread. I posed the question because I got into a heated dispute with Rishi Sanyal over at DPreview about the focus of this article.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/9238303291/lensrentals-applies-copy-variation-test-to-short-telephoto-primes

Rishi claimed in a thread, since deleted, that everyone at the DPR office thought the 85mm results were the most interesting and that the 85mm range was the most popular. That was why they featured it in the introduction to Roger Cicala's Blog. I claimed that they were a bunch of Nikon fanboys , and that I thought that the 100mm was the most popular range. The thread went downhill from there. (Think Neuro vs dilbert).

Rishi was in fact correct, and the poll shows most of you would also have picked the 85mm. I was in favour of the 100mm range. :-[

I haven't been able to find concrete data, but the following table summarizes my search through the Amazon Best Sellers lists. The 85 mm length comes first in all the countries I checked except Canada and France. Since I live in Canada I will continue to claim that I was right based on local preferences . The table is not a snapshot of the Amazon sites as I visited sites at various times and on various days. The Bestsellers lists are also dynamic and can change quickly. They don't include just lenses, as noted a Selfie stick was number two on the German list, most commonly the lists have filters and teleconverters and other things that are close to lenses, the German site is actually better than most and is not the only one to include selfie sticks.

Amazon Best Sellers by Jim Thomson, on Flickr


Thanks again to everyone who commented and Voted.

 

[scyrene]

As someone whose primary interest has mostly been bird photography, I always chuckle when I see these focal lengths described as telephoto. I *know* they are, but my mental 'short telephoto' definition starts at 200mm, with medium somewhere around 400-600. Anyway...

I love working with primes as they really force you to think about perspective in a way that zooms just don't.....

I disagree, when using zooms you (I) go to the position that gets me the perspective I want and then zoom to get the framing, with primes I don't have that level of control and I am forced to make a choice between the optimal perspective or framing, rarely can you get both with a prime.

+1, that's one reason I use my 70-200/2.8 far more often than those three primes.

The flip side of zooms is that the lazy photographer will just zoom to get the composition. Not saying that applies to either of you, maybe it applies to me, and therfore primes make me work harder and thus get better shots. Either way it works for me. I wouldn't be out with just one prime in any case. My style is plan shot, reserach location, research position of the light for the time I'm shooting, arrive early, have a preferred lens in mind and then do some testing, practise practise, practise, by the time my shot comes round I'm ready and usually get it.

I don't really do spontaneity, it's probably my video guy taking over. I'm also chronic for indecision under pressure, so one less choice, or at least, one parameter kind of planned out and eliminated through testing lets me concentrate on say, focus tracking rahter than reframing etc.

It should be said that my favourite photo subjects are things like motorsports or transport where I can anticipate where a subject will be, and I often pivot around this point to find the best backdrop.. it's a technique that works for me, at least..

Fascinating how people differ so much. I've never scouted out a location or anything like that. I take the lenses and any other equipment I think I might need, and then see what happens. And mostly I wander, looking for subjects that seem interesting. Poles apart!

As for zoom vs prime... I've mostly used primes just because that's what the super telephotos and macro lenses are... and ultra wide aperture. If I was limited to one lens and didn't know what to expect (good light), I'd take a zoom though, for versatility.

Nope. You really can't it seems.

But isn't he correct here?


PS I would expect 85mm to be most popular out of these, followed by 100mm, and 135mm a long way behind. But 50mm surely outsells them all.

 

[Tinky]

There are ways of speaking to people. He is at least consistent.