No, I’m not takin a survey but rather, answering a common question. Deciding what should be your next camera lens purchase can be a real sleep turner, hand wrenching decision. The reason is usually two fold, money and desire. Being photographers, we tend to desire a lens we can’t afford. That’s what makes us … us! Once you move past that near fatal photographer condition comes the reality of, we need to build our camera bag, but what lens to buy next? The first question I recommend folks ask themselves in this quest is, do you find yourself backing up or moving closer when you’re shooting (zooming with your feet)? If you back up, you need a wider lens and if moving closer, you need longer lens. Now narrowing it down from that takes honest soul searching. Ideally, you try out the lens you think you want to buy first. Perhaps you have a friend who owns the lens you want to buy or, you go on a photographic workshop and someone there has the lens you can try. Personally, I get the lens I think I want to add to my bag on loan or renting it prior to purchasing.
The key here is, get the lens for at least ONE week for true, real life testing. I had the 105f1.4 for over two weeks to make sure the purchase would pay for itself. I had the lens when I KNEW I had real world shooting to test it with. In the case of the 105f1.4, I got it to test when I had portraits which is the natural application of this lens. Doing my usual, forcing myself to shoot everything with a new piece of gear, I quickly discover the 105f1.4 worked for lots of applications, not just the stereotypical application as you can see above. And then only after that real world testing did it become mine. Do I buy every lens I try, not hardly! It does take you longer obtaining that new lens using this approach, but it saves you time selling it on eBay later when it doesn’t work out like you though it would from just reading about it. The lens focuses your ideas and storytelling so others can read it sharply. It’s worth your time, make it count!