Our Favorite Lenses

Hi everyone! I hope that you all had a lovely week and are excited that it's finally the weekend. I figured I would share a post on our favorite lenses for anyone who has been thinking about investing in a new lens or is unsure of what lens may be right for you. Lenses aren't cheap. We all know this which is why it's good to research as much as possible and get recommendations from your peers to make a well-informed purchase. Now there's no right or wrong choice here but it's all about the type of work (and style) you're trying to achieve. At the end of the day, what's most important is your creative eye and imagination.

Because I had been photographing portraits for quite some time, I was fortunate enough to have collected a few lenses by the time that we started Weekend Creative. For this reason, we ended up just using the equipment that I already owned. Having had absolutely zero experience in the commercial photography space, I remember thinking that we HAD to use my 50 1.2 lens because in my mind it seemed like the most true-to-life (or the eye?) lens that would be great for product shots. Don't get me wrong, the 50 is after all the "nifty 50" but once we started experimenting, that's when we realized how versatile some of our other lenses were. I'm going to be sharing some of our favorite lenses in this post and why we love them so let's jump in!

24-70 2.8 (Canon)

This is the lens we use for 95% of our shoots and truly we owe it to our friends at Jurada Studio for sharing with us the versatility of this lens. For the longest time, I had been using this fun wide zoom lens for all of my creative portraits and never once thought it would be a great lens for our product photography work. Once we started using it though, it quickly became our favorite. As product photographers, the majority of the time our cameras are staying still but when it comes to shooting with prime lenses (like the 50) you're forced to move your entire setup if you want to move closer or further away from your subject. Before we started using our c-stand for an overhead setup, we would use our Manfrotto tripod (and side arm) to shoot flatlays but our tripod only went up so high. That's really where the 24-70 became really handy. Sometimes, all you need is a little extra room and having the flexibility to just "zoom" out a tad to get everything in your shot is SO helpful. We also love the fact that we can keep our camera a bit further away from our set because it gives us more room to style and light our scene. Lastly, the focal length of this lens makes it easier to reduce lens distortion, something we were noticing a lot in our 50. 

One of the reasons photographers love to use a prime lens is because of their fast focusing system but when you're shooting still life, your subject is legit going nowhere and your equipment is sitting there waiting for you to use it. At the end of the day, you really just need a great lens that can allow you to focus well and capture plenty of detail. 

100 2.0 Macro (Canon)

Now I'm going to be super honest here. We purchased this lens last year because a client of ours then was constantly asking us for texture shots and so we figured that instead of renting it we should just buy it. Big mistake. We didn't work with that client again after a few shoots. Womp womp! Maybe that's a story for Per Our Last Email... Haha! Kidding but also not kidding. At the time, we really didn't use this lens for anything else other than textures but we recently took it out for our #weekendclubphotochallenge and suddenly I'm obsessed with it again and it's making me want to play around with it for fun on our next test shoot. This lens has got some razor sharp focus and the detail is *chefs kiss.* If you're looking for a great lens to get some nice close up shots, I highly recommend it. We've personally never used it for our regular shoots but I'm tempted to try it out next time because the focal length of this lens might actually offer less lens distortion. I'd love to know if any of you have tried this lens for some of your product shots. Check out this straight out of camera shot from our breakfast themed shoot. 

35 1.4 (Sigma)

While we don't typically use this lens for any of our product work, it's worth mentioning because whenever we've done any lifestyle photography for our clients, this sweet lens (as well as the 24-70) tends to be our go-to and for good reason. The sharpness is incredible and the wide aperture makes it absolutely perfect for photographing models on location. We used this lens for our Camelbak shoot and man was it amazing. This lens does have a good amount of chromatic aberration though so that's something to keep in mind when retouching. 

No shade on my nifty 50 at all but it's been a while since we've used it for any of our product work and that's ok. It still gets love when I'm shooting portraits but when it comes to still life photography, it's really all about what you're comfortable using and the type of work you're trying to create. Renting some of these lenses can be a great way for you to test the waters and see which one is right for you. I hope you enjoyed this post and do let me know if you have a favorite lens of your own in our Slack channel! 

Is it the weekend yet?
Arabela