The Only Five Lenses You Need to Own

There are only five lenses that a photographer and or videographer getting more serious about their craft needs to have. I’m not going to define these to a single focal length or focal range (although I do give my recommendations) but rather different types of lenses. To shoot almost anything, you need a wide-angle prime, a normal prime, a telephoto prime, a telephoto zoom and a wide angle zoom. And I’m also going to tell you why you don’t really need any other types of lens like, say, a normal zoom which is usually a 24–70mm or 24–105mm.

Now let’s go through exactly why you need each of these lenses, and it will paint the picture of why it’s these five.

1. A Wide Angle Prime (24mm, 28mm, 35mm)

So why do you need a wide-angle prime, and what wide angle prime do you need specifically? As for my recommendations here, regardless of your camera ecosystem, you will want the full frame equivalents of around 24mm, 28mm, or 35mm with an aperture that is at least f/2 or brighter to really get the benefits of owning a particular prime lens. A wide angle prime is particularly useful for many different things. Going on a vacation? A wide angle prime is pretty nifty for taking landscapes and taking your large, group family photos (in fact, this lens is great for any group photo of more than like three or four people). A wide angle prime is also…