In today's world, there are many camera lens options for use in professional photography ranging from cheap to crazy expensive. What do you really need and how expensive of lens should you buy? It can be a huge investment and is a question I am asked quite often.

The 1st consideration depends on what you intend to photograph because every style of photography seems to have an area of focal point that works best. For example, Wildlife photographers usually rely on big lenses like 500mm, 600mm and 800mm, whereas landscape photographers lean toward wide-angle lenses. Portrait photographers are usually around 85mm with huge apertures ranging from f1.2 or f1.8, or lower. 

What do I use? I primarily shoot Wildlife photography and specialize in the animals of Africa. The problem is I have to go to the other side of the planet to shoot the big 5. I currently live in Phoenix, Arizona so when I'm not in Africa, I photograph Landscapes, Indigenous People, LDS Temples along with some commercial work. So as you can imagine, I need quite a few lenses. I have lenses that range from 14mm to 800mm, plus a few specialty lenses like a macro, a shift/tilt lens for architectural images, and an f1.8 85mm portrait lens.

I shoot with the Nikon Z9 with Z lenses but my backup camera is a Nikon DSLR so at this point I still use some Nikon F lenses. Someday I hope to upgrade to all Z bodies and lenses.

Below is a listing of lenses in order of use:

Wildlife Photography: 200-500mm f5.6, 70-200mm f2.8, 800mm f6.3

Landscape Photography: 24-70mm f2.8, 70-200mm f2.8, and 14-24mm f2.8

Indigenous People: 85mm f1.8 and 24-70mm f2.8 for people, 14-24mm f2.8 and 24-70mm f2.8 for structures.

LDS Temples and Architectural: 24-70mm f2.8, 19mm f/4 Shift/PC lens, 14-24mm f2.8

If I only could choose one lens for each genre what would I choose? That's a tough question but here goes:

Wildlife: Either Nikon's 200-500mm f5.6 or the 150-600mm made by Sigma or Tameron. I saw images from a friend using the Sigma 150-600mm on my last trip to Africa and they were stunning. The 600 gives a little more reach than my 500mm. Nikon is slated to build a new Z 200-600mm which I will purchase as soon as it is available. 

Landscapes: 24-70mm f2.8. The 14-24mm f2.8 is awesome but it's crazy wide and needs intense foreground interest to be at its best.

Indigenous People: 85mm f1.8, but anywhere from 50mm to 105mm would work well.

Architectural: 14-24mm f2.8 with the 19mm f/4 Shift/PC lens being a very close 2nd if not an equal lens.

There is always a question of whether or not to purchase the fast f2.8 lenses or f4 lenses. First of all, I know plenty of pros that use the F4 lenses because they are lighter allowing the option to take more lenses on an excursion, especially if hiking. The f4's are not quite as sharp in the corners which really only causes concern if printing big but being light and inexpensive makes them a great option. 

Lastly, I personally believe in investing money into lenses over camera bodies because you can use a good lens for 20 years but will have to upgrade your camera much more often.

Whatever lenses you choose, good light and good luck to you

About David Williams: I specialize in African Wildlife, Landscape and Indigenous People Cultural Photography. See my work at https://www.davidwilliamsphotography.com 

https://davidwilliams.photoshelter.com/index 

https://www.instagram.com/david_williams_photography_

https://www.facebook.com/FineArtDavidWilliams