What lenses do you actually use most?

[helpful]

I ran some statistics on my photo database to see which lenses I actually use the most, and I was rather surprised at the results. I did not expect to see that I used the 135mm f/2L so much, or that I use the 24-70 zooms so little.

The data are from the most recent six-year subset of my 21-year photo database, so the total photos included in the sample is a reasonable number n = 1.6 million. I was amazed that all but 400,000 of my photos in the past six years were taken with just 11 lenses.


1. 347,017 Canon EF 135mm f/2L
2. 175,347 Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II
3. 167,511 Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
4. 155,148 AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D IF-ED
5. 99,971 Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
6. 84,307 AF-S Nikkor 400mm f/2.8D IF-ED II
7. 67,937 Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
8. 54,020 AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
9. 52,225 Canon EF 24 f/1.4L II
10. 49,765 Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM
11. 44,059 Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM

I was wondering--how does this compare to others?

To obtain this data, I ran this command for each camera directory (e.g., 103EOS5D).

% exiftool -fast -T -ext jpg -aperture -cameratemperature -datetimeoriginal -daylightsavings -directory -directorynumber -filename -filenumber -focallength -fov -imagesize -iso -keywords -lensid -lightvalue -model -modifydate -orientation -rating -serialnumber -shuttercount -shutterspeed -subject -timezone -filesize\# . > exiftoolinfo

And then combined all results together:

% find . -name exiftoolinfo | xargs cat > exiftoolinfo.cat

And ran:

% cut -f 14 exiftoolinfo.cat | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head  -11 | perl -pe 's|^|$.. |; s|(\d{3}) |,$1 |'

Based on the results, I may need to reconsider how I invest my money in lenses. For my workflow, it also demonstrates how much Canon really needs to come out with a phenomenal, lightning-quick focusing, ultra-bright f/1.8 135mm prime lens: as sharp as the Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 ZF.2, and as fast-focusing as their best great whites. I would happily sell $20,000 in lenses that I don't use so much and reinvest in two or three of those if such a lens were to be released.

 

[wsmith96]

You sparked an interest here, so I checked out my lightroom statistics. Here's how I stand:


EF50 f/1.4 52
EF50 f/1.8 100
EF-S 18-55 173
EF-S 60 f/2.8 macro 299
EF24-105 f4/L 474
EF85 f/1.8 687
EF-S 10-22 712
EF70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM 940
EF70-200 f/2.8L IS II _1.4x III 1354
EF-S 17-55 2175
EF70-200 f/2.8L IS II 4350


My least used are my 50 and 60 mm lenses. To be fair, I haven't had the 50 1.4 very long, and I didn't like the 50 1.8 when I owned it. The 18-55 and 70-300 are my oldest lenses, followed by the 60mm. It was not surprising that the 17-55 and 70-200 were my most used. I love both of them.

It's interesting to take a look at this every so often. I also found my most used focal length was 200 mm, with 85mm in second and 280mm in third.

 

[expatinasia]

My most used lens (in terms of pictures taken) is the 400 f/2.8 ii, second is 70-200 f/2.8 ii and third is 16-35 f/4 IS.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Up until I bought my 70-200mm L MK II and 24-70L MK II, my 135mmL was well ahead, followed by my 35mm L and then 24-105mm L.

Now, I've sold all but the 100mm L for lack of use, so time changes things. My 135mm L was slipped to 3rd place behind my 24-70 and 70-200. Then comes the 35mm L and 24-105mmL, both sold.

The big winner though is Unknown lens

 

[Loswr]

About 37% of my images have been shot with a standard zoom (18% with the 24-105/4L IS, replaced with the 24-70/2.8L II now at 19%).

~21% have been shot with the 70-200/2.8L IS II.

~10% combined PowerShot S95 and S100.

~5% with the 600/4L IS II.

The remaining 27% is a hodge-podge of 16 other lenses with none over 2%.

 

[TeT]

24 70 4 L IS with 70 300 L & 135 L splitting the leftovers...

 

[Random Orbits]

For the year so far, the top three are 70-200 f/2.8 IS II (32%), 24-70 f/2.8 II (28%), 100-400 II (13%).

 

[m8547]

The data are from the most recent six-year subset of my 21-year photo database, so the total photos included in the sample is a reasonable number n = 1.6 million.

That's incredible. If you work 40 hours a week, you're taking 2.2 photos a minute all the time on average. And then you have to post process them!

Here are stats for all the lenses I currently own:

18-55 IS II	5010
55-250 IS	1196
Tokina 11-16	667
50mm f/1.8 II	624
24-70 II	63
Rokinon 35mm, Rokinon 14mm	Unknown

I was surprised by how much I use the 18-55. I like the 11-16 a lot, but I'm surprised by how relatively little I use it. I'm not that good at wide angle yet. I just got the 24-70, and I've been using it as much as I can, which is not that much as a hobbyist.

 

[Sauropod]

Here is my LR breakdown over the last 5 years, ever since I upgraded my 20D to my old 7D. I was surprised to see each year I have taken more pictures than the previous year. I've already shot more this year than all of last year! (I blame the 7D2/Tammie combo and my discovery of the Lower Salt River area...)

45% - General purpose lenses. I lump the 15-85, 17-55 and 24-70L 2.8 II into this category as each evolved into the other, especially when my 7D became the 5D3. The 24-70 is just so good at so many things for what I shoot it is hard to take it off.

26% - Long lenses. The 400mm 5.6 and Tamron 150-600 account for 26% of my total shots (and the Tamron is
60% of that number). I was surprised to see my Tamron just last weekend become my most used lens on my 7dx/5d3 bodies, crossing the 31,000 mark in just 17 months versus 55 months for the 15-85 (my previous reigning champ). (If I factor in the 36k clicks the 15-85 did on the 20D it is still my most used lens but I left the 20D info off for this analysis)

8% -70-200L 2.8 II. I thought this one would be higher. I always enjoy the images I make with this lens.

8% - 70-300L. My images indicate this lens is only used from the shotgun seat of a car! I always have a camera up front “loaded”, just in case, and this general purpose lens with its great image quality and small size fits the bill for whomever is passenger.

6% - 200L 2.0. I thought this one would be higher as well. Time to go shoot some wide open shots! This was the only lens that my wife said, "buy this lens!" (thankfully she didn't know how much it cost beforehand )

3% - 50 1.4 and 85L 1.2. In the 85’s defense I only recently acquired it. It is a fun lens with a neat learning curve. The 24-70 (and 17-55 before) has covered this range well enough for my shooting style that I almost never used the 50 1.4 after acquiring the 17-55 other than for specific events (which clearly aren’t all that often).

2% - Wide angle lenses (defined herein as anything less than 50mm, thus my 28, 40, 16-35, and 10-22). I don’t shoot much in the way of landscapes and, when I do, in looking at the LR results, I tend to use my general purpose lenses instead of swapping to the wide. In a pinch I’ve made pano shots when I wanted a really wide shot.

2% - Misc lenses like Rokinon fisheyes, my macros (60, 100, 180), and the 800mm I borrowed for a week.

 

[Eldar]

I´m on vacation, so I do not have access to the full data, but I did this comparison a couple of months back.

For number of shots, my most used lenses are the 600 f4L IS II and the 24-70 f2.8L II. The 600 primarily because that is where the 1DX machine gun is activated most of the time.

For number of different compositions, the 24-70 has a clear lead of everything else, being my prime walkaround lens.

Behind these two, there are no clear no.3. I have quite a few lenses to choose from and I was pleased to see that everyone gets a reasonable amount of use. But since I got the 5DSR, I have not used any of my manual focus primes, due to the lack of a precision focusing screen, except the TS-E lenses which are always used with live view.

It irritates me ALOT that Canon has omitted interchangeable focusing screens from the 5DSR. The argument that it is the same design as 5DIII is not correct. Because they have made changes to the standard screen, and could have easily made this possible. I am waiting for www.focusingscreen.com to confirm when they have a custom screen ready.

 

[niels123]

Here's my list for the last 4 years:

Canon 100L Macro: 33 % (15747) (I consider myself a macro photographer ;D)
Canon 50 1.4 + Sigma 50 art: 13 % (6055) (In LR I can't distinguish between these two lenses)
Canon 135L: 11 % (5019)
Canon 85 1.8: 6 % (3033)
Sigma 35 1.4 art: 4 % (2078) but I've only had this lens for a few months now and I use it really a lot ;D

Niels

 

[Sporgon]

1. 347,017 Canon EF 135mm f/2L
2. 175,347 Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II

5. 99,971 Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

I find it interesting that you appear to use the 135L and 200L much more that the 70-200 f2.8II, Is the conclusion being screwed by you not having had the zoom lenses so long ?

 

[Sporgon]

About 37% of my images have been shot with a standard zoom (18% with the 24-105/4L IS, replaced with the 24-70/2.8L II now at 19%).

So does this mean the 24-70 f/2.8II is only 5% better than the 24-105L ?

 

[chauncey]

I only shoot with the intention of photo-merging and/or photo-stacking, that said...
99% of the time, my glass is a 180 macro or a 300 f/2.8.

 

[kaihp]

For number of shots, my most used lenses are the 600 f4L IS II and the 24-70 f2.8L II. The 600 primarily because that is where the 1DX machine gun is activated most of the time.

For number of different compositions, the 24-70 has a clear lead of everything else, being my prime walkaround lens.

I don't use LR, so I don't have statistics available right now. I could install the exiftool on my Linux NAS box and run it later, though.

My most used lens depends heavily on what I'm shooting. For motorcycle track days, it's the 300/2.8L II all the way. But for general walk-around, landscape etc I'm with Eldar: 24-70 II by a far margin.

Just sitting here reflecting on the data, I would question the sense in lumping everything together, because the data would be heavily skewed depending on which lenses I had when, and when I changed from APS-C (10D/50D) to FF (5D3). On the crop, I used the (now sold) 17-40L as walk-around, now it's the 24-70L/II.
Also, I've changed the type of things I shoot over the years, and that impacts the choice of lenses.

 

[GuyF]

For number of shots, my most used lenses are the 600 f4L IS II and the 24-70 f2.8L II. The 600 primarily because that is where the 1DX machine gun is activated most of the time.

I was thinking along the same lines. Possibly the better question is, what lens gives you the most keepers? After all, we take shots to get great results. If you machine gun away with a big white, how many are genuinely top notch images that you would show to others? I probably take most shots with my 500mm II but the keeper rate is far below what I'd get with my Sigma 85mm f1.4 or Canon 16-35 f4.

Makes you wonder.

 

[pwp]

No hard stats, but in order:

70-200 f/2.8isII
24-70 f/2.8II
16-35 f/2.8II
300 f/2.8is
100L macro f/2.8is
24 f/1.4II
90mm TS-E

It's plain....I'm a zooms guy. And zooms have never ever been better.

-pw

 

[notapro]

I never would have imagined this, but my most used lens over the last several months is the 16-35mm f/4L.

After that, it's like this:

100mm f/2.8L
24mm f/1.4L II
50mm f/1.2L
70-200mm f/2.8L IS II

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

As we buy and sell frequently lenses, I can not do a statistical ... But I can say that my Tokina 16-50mm F2.8 has more use than any other lens mine.

Recently Sigma 50 Art is gaining more and more importance, but I still use a lot of Canon 18-55mm STM in high-risk places.

 

[NancyP]

LR users, is there a way inside LR to access this information?
OP, about your %exiftools script - is this run on a Mac OSX in the command line platform?

My comment about usage is that one's interests may change per season or per year or per new lens purchase. I am currently running about 80%+ with a single recently purchased macro lens (the terrific Voigtlander 125mm f/2.5 ApoLanthar 1:1 macro) - I am on a wildflower and fungus kick.