I was reading through another post where it was metioned about covering basic ranges with lens to start out with.

For us non pros can some one list various lens and what situations they would use them for?

I'll share what I have and what I use them for. Most of us have acquired lenses that reflect what we shoot so what works for me may not be ideal for you.
1. Canon 17-40mm F4L. This is my basic working lens because it goes from fairly wide angle to "normal" and lets me include groups, landscape or full-body portraits without having to switch lenses.
2. Canon 50mm F1.8. It's fast; it's inexpensive; it's sharp. I use it for head & shoulder portraits primarily or single element portraits (one person or one dog).
3. Sigma 70-200mm F2.8. This is my action lens and I use it for taking shots of dogs moving, wildlife (although it's not quite long enough for birds or "real" wildlife) and other shots where I need both reach and speed. It's also fairly light which makes it easy to work with for long periods of time and pretty sharp stopped down to F8 or F11.
4. Sigma 28-70mm F2.8. A good all around working lens with more speed (but less sharpness) than the Canon 17-40. It's my primary backup lens.
5. Sigma 28-80 F3.5-4 Macro. I use it for macro shots primarily. It came for free with an old Canon film camera and it takes pretty decent macro images so I've kept it.

If I did a lot of landscape work, I'd want a prime (non-zoom) real wide angle lens in the 10mm to 15mm range and if I did more wildlife in the wild, I'd love either a very long prime (300mm or 400mm) or a good long zoom from the Canon L series.

Hope that helps a bit,

Jim

Hi Ahleha,

What type of camera system do you own? I think that you definitely want to cover the basic ranges...and if you are on a budget, you may want to consider some 3rd party lens manufacturers.

For example, Tamron's 28-75 F2.8 is very well rated and 1/3 the cost of Canon's or Nikon's professional lenses. For the ultra-wide end, Sigma's 10-20 lens looks very good (I have the Canon 10-22 and it is also pretty good given the limitations of the glass). Sigma's 80-200 is an excellent lens and very affordable. With the cropped frame sensors, in the Nikon/Canon cameras, you will also get a solid telephoto with it.

Olympus on the other hand has its own top quality glass and covers very different ranges....i.e. Their 14-54 matches a 28-108 zoom range...all in one lens.

Take care
James

I have all Nikon Lenses. I chose all the lenses of the same manufacturer because there are less color variations between the glass by the same manufacturer than by different manufacturers. I currently have AF18-70mmf/3.5-4.5 zoom, AF80-200mmf/2.8 zoom, 28mmf/2 manual focus (used only for Aurora Borealis photography), AF50mmf/1.8, AF300mmf/4. My next lens purchase will be a 500mm/f4. I also use a 1.4x teleconverter. I am going to purchase a 1.7x teleconverter. The 18-70 is for wide angle and normal usage, the 80-200 is my most used lens. The 300 is my 2nd most used lens. The 28 is taped to infinity focus and set at f/2 for photographing the Northern Lights. The 50mm is my least used lens.

D70 with kit lens 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED (aberration and light fall at corner)
nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6D (try to cover the focal length from 18mm-300mm :-) )
nikkor 60mm f/2.8D micro (easy for handheld close-up)
nikkor 85mm f/1.8D (nice bokeh, 129mm on D70)
nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF (sharpest and cheapest AF nikkor)
nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI-S (one of the best in bokeh, will be back to work when i get the D200)

wish list:
sigma 14mm f/2.8
tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 DI
nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D
nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5D

example from 60mm f/2.8D

Aleha,

I'm shooting Olympus' Fourthirds system which allows for very compact and bright lenses.

I use the two very high quality zooms: Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 and Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 and the 1.4x teleconverter EC-14. This gives me a 35-mm film equivalent focal length range 28-560mm f/2.8-4.9 in a very compact package.

These lenses belongs to Olympus' "High grade" line of lenses which are water and dust protected and designed for higher resolution than currently available in the Fourthirds bodies. The optical quality is nothing but superb.

Cheers, Jens.

Hey Free Ride,

That is a great shot you took of the flower. At some point I am going to ask you how you took it.

-JM

I use the 24-85mm Nikkor the most for weddings and portraits. My 80-200 Nikkor AFS is my second most used lens. All my glass is Nikkor. I also have the 18-70mm DX Nikkor lens in the kit for the D200. I like the true wide angle of this lens. I have used it a lot as I want to be acclimated to this lens. I also have a 24-120, 30-70 and 70-300 lens. I save a little each month toward a Nikkor AFS VR 600mm lens. My desire it to have this in 2007. I would also prefer to have faster 2.8 glass as my slow lenses for the ranges I cover currently. But what I have works fine, and unless something terrible happens I will be happy with them. Each purchase makes the 600mm lens longer to wait for. I have waited for 10+ years to buy this lens. I have actively been saving specifically for this lens or its equal for 4 years now.