Christine Aguila wrote:
Hi Larry: I only own 4 lenses, so I don't find myself frustrated with lens decisions that often, but the camera bag issue used to drive me nuts until I made peace with the fact that I was going to have to purchase more than 1 bag for different shooting situations. I think Godfrey & Bob W. & all the other good PDML folks who have suggested less is more have given you great advice. I once carried all the gear I own in a backpack (with tripod) on a walkabout & I was so miserable & sore. Never again. Godfrey, posted some lovely reflections about a Canon shooter he met somewhere. It wasn't too long ago; you should be able to find it in the archives, but the gist was that Godfrey met a Canon shooter, asked what kind of stuff he'd been shooting that day, and the Canon photog said he hadn't shot much, he was sore from carrying 20 lbs of gear, and he was headed home. Godfrey, did I get that right? :-). Clearly, what's the point of lugging a bunch of gear if it keeps you from the pleasure of making photographs, which is the point of the exercise!
I'm in a similar boat to Christine, lens wise. For context, I typically shoot auto racing, or play around with settings while shooting the cats in the den. For the last few years I've done very little photography beyond that.
So, when I go to the track, I typically take four lenses in the bag. I have others, but they almost don't count, as I rarely use them. The "big four" mostly live in my camera bag. And what are they? Well, once I got into digital I got a DA 16-45, and added a DA 50-200 a few months later. From the film days, I brought an FA* 200/2.8 and an F* 300/4.5. At the track, outside the camera bag, I also use a Sigma APO 400/5.6 Macro on a monopod, and the track is pretty much the only place that it really gets used.
So, in one sense, I always take all my lenses (excepting the Sigma) with me all the time, filling a Domke F2 pretty completely, especially trying to find a place to stuff a flash (for podium shots, to alleviate the facial shadows caused by the baseball caps they're wearing).
On the other hand, I've got probably a dozen other lenses that I only use once or twice a year, or less, each. Come to think of it, I really should sell some of those. Like, do I really need a Zenitar 16/2.8 fisheye on the digital bodies since I have the 16-45? There ain't much fish left in the eye when you "crop" to the digital frame size.
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