I currently have 4 lenses in my lens setup:

• 50mm f/1.8
• 35mm f/1.4
• 24-120mm f/3.5 (my kit lens)
• 70-300mm f/1.4 

I’ve talked about my love for the 50mm and 35mm as travel photography lenses before, but I don’t always bring up the other two lenses. I’m a Nikon shooter and use Nikon lenses. I’ve never tried other third party lenses although I’m definitely open to it. I’ve owned various lenses before and have settled on these four lens for now. Although four lenses is not a lot of gear, I wanted to show the versatility of the gear that I do have, even as I build out my gear list a little further and invest in a few more pieces.


The oldest lens I have in my lens line-up is the 50mm. I've had this lens back in 2007 when I had just started shooting with my first DSLR - a Nikon D60. I spent a lot of time thinking about the right lens for me before picking up the 50mm. I was doing a lot more portrait and fashion work back then, and this lens certainly came in handy. I don’t own a 50mm f/1.4 right now and although the f/1.4 is a much improvement from the f/1.8, I don’t get enough use out of the 50mm these days to prioritize the upgrade.

My most used lens is the 35mm f/1.4 - it’s my go-to lens for everything and if I could only take one lens with me to shoot just about anything, this would be it. There are so many reasons to love the 35mm, from it’s f-stop to composition to focal length. It’s everything I’m loving.

My least used lens is the 70-300mm, believe it or not I actually use my kit lens more than I use the 70-300mm. I technically inherited this lens from Alex when he sold all his Nikon gear. I didn’t have anything close to that focal length before so I got this lens from him. At the time, I imagined myself doing a lot more nature and animal photography - I was daydreaming about a trip to Alaska and a safari ride in Africa and I knew  the lens would come in handy. But alas, neither trip has happened yet although both are on the list of trips to take in the near future. So for now, I hardly ever find myself picking up this lens.

My most versatile lens is the 24-120mm. I mean, the focal distance is versatile alone, 24mm happens to be the widest angle I own so I use it a lot for interior shots when I need something wider than a 35mm. When I’m really in a pinch, I’ll even use the 24-120mm like a 35mm prime lens and put it at the 35mm focal length.

My most coveted lens is the 14-24mm f/2.8. For a while, I was really lusting after the 85mm prime lens, but more and more I’m finding that I want something at 24mm or wider since I want to capture more context in my travel work. In addition, I find that I’m fairly well covered in the long-end of the focal lengths and the gap in my gear is at the wide angle end.

That’s it for a quick look at my current lens set-up: what’s your favorite lens?