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This trick will tell you which lens to buy next

by 4 Comments

Buying a new lens is always an exciting event. But, with such a huge choice, you may be indecisive about the one in which you should invest your hard-earned money. In this video, Toma Bonciu suggests a simple trick that will help you determine what would be the ideal next lens for you. Additionally, this trick can also help you when you have to pack light: it will help you to decide the ideal lens to bring.

Your Lightroom catalog will help you to discover all this. Toma notes that and it’s more accurate and much easier if you have all your photos in the same catalog. In the Library module, click on Metadata and filter the data so you see the lenses and the focal length of the photos. You can also add the aperture if you like.

When filtering photos by focal length and aperture, it helps you to decide in which lens you should invest. Let’s say you use only zoom lenses and you want to buy a prime. When you see which focal length and aperture you use the most, it narrows down the choice and it’s a great way to tell which prime would be perfect for your needs.

As for filtering photos by lens, it helps you determine which lens or lenses you use the most. So, in case you can only bring one or two lenses with you (I had this situation before), this is a great way to see which one you use the most and choose it to be your companion.

Have you used this method before to determine which lens to buy or to bring with you?

[What Lens and Focal Length you use the most | Landscape Photography Tips and Hacks | Photo Tom]

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  • In case you don’t have Lightroom – https://www.vandel.nl/exposureplot.html

    • Thank you for this info. Will try it out shortly.

  • Ahmet

    With a few of my friends we ran an analysis on focal length used. And for everyone the result was that we all use our zooms at the two extremes “only” But looking into the data revealed that actually we use more frequently the two ends because we either have nothing to swap the lens to or have no time to do so (or we were lazy). Otherwise we did use all the focal lengths available evenly.

    I’m only mentioning this, because at first glance the data can be misleading. An analysis like the one suggested will always tell you that you need a longer focal length a bigger aperture and a wider lens. But well this we did know already.

  • Huge Dom

    @Ahmet I found the same too. There just wasn’t a focal length that obviously stood out enough for me to consider going prime for. Also, one obvious short coming with this analysis is it wouldn’t tell you anything about FL that you didn’t already have or use, which is kinda the main point for a new lens. ie. If your usual lens is say 18-135, this analysis wouldn’t tell you may be you should consider using 10-12mm.

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