OK, so I sold most of my film cameras and lenses. I kept the Leica M6. I probably always will. Anyway, that returned me a good 5,000 Euro ($6,400) to spend on lenses. Wow! I already have a 50mm and a 28mm I got for almost nothing in a second hand shop. So I first made a list. I had 10 lenses! Ridiculous, I know. The syndrome of wanting everything, I guess. I posted a question on dpreview.com to read about others experiences with the lenses in that list. Of course, it turned into an advice giving. Most were quite good, some excellent. But in the end still had a ridiculously long list of lenses:
First, the 24mm and 45mm TS-E lenses for landscapes. Coming from a view camera it sounded all logical.
For portraiture, I had selected the 85/1.8, 135/2.8 and 200/2.8.
And for ‘tourism’ I had selected the 24/2.8 and 35/2 as complements of the above.
Then, the budget allowing it, I added the 1.4x converter to complement the TS-E nicely and a 20/2.8 for the odd ultra-wide fun.
Right.
When the thread on dpreview came to its conclusion, I sat and thought a bit.
Of course I don’t need all those lenses.
Then I started the other way around. The right way, I dare say. What do I want to do? Well, 3 things: landscapes, portraits and what I’ll call casual tourist-like picture taking.
For portraiture, I most probably won’t use the 200mm very much. I had selected it thinking it would give a nice reach for different occasions, but in the last 5 years, the longest lens I’ve used is equivalent to a 90mm. So, the 135 will be more than enough. I scraped the 200.
Then the ‘tourism’ complement lenses. With a 28 and a 50, plus the 85 I keep in the list, frankly, I’m all set. There go the 24/2.8 and 35/2. I had selected them because they are so cheap while of quite high quality. Since they are cheap, if I really miss them I’ll buy then.
The left the 24 TS-E, 45 TS-E, 85/1.8 and 135/2.8. Plus the 1.4 converter. Much better.
That left a nice part of cash too.
So I decided to finally do what I wanted to do for some time now: get a nice set of studio lighting. And so I ordered a pair of Elinchrom D-Lite 400 and an nice assortment of umbrellas, boxes, reflectors, diffusers and stands. I can’t wait to explore portraiture.

Stephane :: Nov.11.2006 :: Gear :: No Comments »