Your most "fun" lens?

[Keith B]

16-35 2.8L II


I like wide angles. I really like shooting at 35mm but then being able to get that ultra wide perspective at 16mm with flick of the wrist. The sharpness is very good and 2.8 is fast enough most of the time with the sensitivity of the 5DmkII.


My 24-70 is running a close 2nd. I love the versatility of this lens.

What body are you using?

5D mkII

[George Slusher]

5D mkII

Despite what the Commandments say, I covet that camera! [:P] Some day, I might be able to get at least the Mk I, used. Right now, my first priority would be a 40D or 50D.

[George Slusher]

More shots from my "fun" lenses, starting with the Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm:














Next, the 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro:























Sigma 180mm f/3.5 Macro:























and on and on.

[Dan Fleming]

Despite what the Commandments say, I covet that camera! [img]/emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img] Some day, I might be able to get at least the Mk I, used. Right now, my first priority would be a 40D or 50D.
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yeah, me too. And L series lenses, and a nice tripod....if I weren't protestant I would be in confession 4 times a day!

[Keith B]

Despite what the Commandments say, I covet that camera! [img]/emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img] Some day, I might be able to get at least the Mk I, used. Right now, my first priority would be a 40D or 50D.

I'd actually prefer the file size of the 5DmkI. 21MP will fill up HDs pretty fast. Love the 5DmkII for products, landscape and portraiture shots.


I still shoot with my 40D all the time, for my bad weather, sports and telephoto stuff. I love that camera. If focuses faster and the frames/sec are sooooo much faster the the 5DmkII. The only lenses the 40D see are the 100+400 and occasionally the 70-200.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

The EF 400mm f/5.6L USM is my most fun lens []. Image quality is excellent, it's small and light. I can handhold it all day long with no problem.

[Colin]

For me, probably 35 f1.4


Kind of wide, good for playing with perspective, but still 'normal' enough for a wide array of situations. Great in low light, so I don't have to worry much about flash.


Macro work with any lens is really fun, but usually more tedious to really get what I want, and so requires a greater investment in setup time.


With the 35, I just fling my camera around, and see what I get.

[Colin]

The EF 400mm f/5.6L USM is my most fun lens [img]/emoticons/emotion-2.gif[/img]. Image quality is excellent, it's small and light. I can handhold it all day long with no problem.
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Yeah, that's a fun lens too... And the image quality you get, all things considered, is thoroughly ridiculously good...


I really love that one, and the macro, and the 70-200, and the 'normal' zooms, and the less than super telephoto primes, and the wide angle zoom...


I tend to enjoy the lens that's on my camera when I'm holding it the most...


Tough question, I guess..


For me, I think the answer probably changes from week to week.


What would really be the most fun lens is the one that gives me for free time to take pictures...

[Tony Printezis]

George,


Great thread!


For me, it has to be my Lensbaby Composer. I don't always get great results with it, but using it is definitely fun fun fun.


Tony

[sulla]

EF 100mm f/2.8 IS MACRO USM for the following reasons:

• Yes, Bryan is right, macro lenses are extremely much fun per dollar. Being able to get close-ups of familiar objects from a different perspective (you don't always need to go to 1:1) is so much fun. What augments the fun-factor of the new IS macro over the old non-IS macro is that it is very much more handholdable at macro-distances. It sometimes gets me a shot without a tripod. Being forced to use a tripod for macro is ... not so much fun.
  
• Moreover, this lens also doubles as a perfect portrait lens, adding another dimension to "fun". Bokeh is wonderful.
• Also, the lens CAN be stopped down to f/32 if extreme DOF is needed, (albeit at the price of less sharpness at the correct focussing distance due to diffraction), which sometimes can come handy.
• 100mm is also useful for a great number of shots: city-scapes, landscapes, ...

Although my 24-105 can obviously get me shots that the macro can't, and I would rate it a more "useful" lens, the macro is more fun.


It also depends a little upon the time of-year. Around X-mas my EF 50mm f/1.4 USM becomes my favourite lens, due to its incredible speed which (paired with high ISO settings of 1600+) is unbeatable under the X-mas tree or a candle-light dinner. Forget the macro then! Though this lens is a bit bitchy, because I find I (or "it") misfocuses quite often just a small amount in low-light, but at an Av of under 2 even the smallest amount of misfocussing is annoying, which subtracts from the fun-factor. The AF-assist beam of my flash helps a lot, however. Despite its tantrums, and despite I use it really infrequently, at times, this is my most-fun (or should it be my funniest?) lens.