What is your holy trinity pf primes?

It doesn't have to be all primes, say you have a wide angle zoom instead of a prime.

Here is mine.

15mm 1.7

Originally my trinity used to consist of Panasonic 14mm and the 20mm. Both of these lenses worked very well together and very often traveled together. The 15mm 1.7 captured a lot of their strengths and you could say the 15mm is the love child of the 14mm and the 25mm.

25mm 1.4

Now the 20mm is only used for indoor shots for rare occasions, I have space in my pocket/bag for additionial lens and the 25mm 1.4 get my use for it speed and it completely different focal length.

45mm 2.8

Part macro, part portrait lens. Another lens from the Pana/Lecia featuring the duo personality disorder. I could of gone for the Olympus but I wanted the Macro as an extra instead of speed/macro. Even when the new 42mm 1.7 comes out, I most likely ignore it.

There's no one answer.... for me it's the 12/2, 20/1.7 and 45mm F/1.8 together I have no need for any other lenses and I could sell every other lens I owned and combine them with the 75-300.

Hithertoo wrote:

There's no one answer.... for me it's the 12/2, 20/1.7 and 45mm F/1.8 together I have no need for any other lenses and I could sell every other lens I owned and combine them with the 75-300.

Me too. Those are the only primes I own. However If didn't own the 12mm I would of bought the 15mm or 17mm instead of my 20mm. But I love my 20mm lens. It's my favorite lens. Also I don't use the 12mm or 45mm nearly as much.

For me, at first, it was:

Panasonic 12-32mm + 20mm f1.7 + Oly 45mm f1.8

I knew I wanted to go wider even before buying into M4/3 with those three, so I soon ended up with Oly's 9-18 and even the Bower 7.5 FE. That still left me wanting something wide BUT brighter, so eventually I ended up at:

Oly 12mm f2 + Pana 20mm f1.7 + Oly 45mm f1.8

If portability wasn't such a big priority I'd possibly replace the 20mm with a combination of Panasonic 15mm f1.7 + Panasonic 25mm f1.4 (or Oly 25/1.8)... So effectively it'd be four primes rather than three.

It'd be a lot to juggle mentally tho; and there's several other choices I'd rather bring or mount right now to bother with that, including the UWA, FE, and a tiny 35-100 f4-5.6 I want to start using more.

The three primes are seeing more use lately simply because I haven't been out to shoot during the day nor traveling anywhere so it's been mostly social occasions, largely at night.

C Sean wrote:

It doesn't have to be all primes, say you have a wide angle zoom instead of a prime.

Holy trinity? Why the mythological reference?

Anyway, the three prime lenses I carry most…

• Voigtländer 17.5mm
• Voigtländer 42.5mm
• Voigtländer 75mm f2.5 Color Heliar (Leica L39 screw mount)

There are other primes I like and use a lot… my other Voigtländers (25mm and 35mm f1.4), or my Nikon 105mm f1.8 AI-S macro… but three is three.

Hithertoo wrote:

There's no one answer.... for me it's the 12/2, 20/1.7 and 45mm F/1.8 together I have no need for any other lenses and I could sell every other lens I owned and combine them with the 75-300.

Me too. Those are the only primes I own. However If didn't own the 12mm I would of bought the 15mm or 17mm instead of my 20mm. But I love my 20mm lens. It's my favorite lens. Also I don't use the 12mm or 45mm nearly as much.

I've really grown to love the 20mm's FL, tho originally I largely chose for it's combination of price, sharpness, and small size... Having it kinda led me to the 12mm too. If the 14/2.5 was a 12/2.5 I might've settled for that.

The 15/1.7wasn't out when I bought the 20 but I doubt it would've changed much, still larger, pricier, and a little too wide for all around use for me.

gugarci wrote:

Hithertoo wrote:

There's no one answer.... for me it's the 12/2, 20/1.7 and 45mm F/1.8 together I have no need for any other lenses and I could sell every other lens I owned and combine them with the 75-300.

Me too. Those are the only primes I own. However If didn't own the 12mm I would of bought the 15mm or 17mm instead of my 20mm. But I love my 20mm lens. It's my favorite lens. Also I don't use the 12mm or 45mm nearly as much.

I find my 20mm lens is my most frustrating, I'm just not good with normal lenses and prefer wide angles or telephotos. That's not saying it's a bad lens, it's just something that challenges me to get the most out of it.

Most likely it's the fact that I have an aversion to getting close enough to make it really work well. It can be a bit flat when you use it from long distance, but get a bit closer with it and it works well.

Been toying with this list for a while

Had the Oly 17mm 1.8, and the 45mm 1.8, and Panny 20mm II then I acquired the 12mm f2 and let go of the 17mm since I like the perspective on the 12mm

I lust after the 75mm then acquired it; the 45mm became less used so let it go

Between the 12mm and the 75mm I had to have something , so the 25mm 1.8 came into existence

The Panny 20mm with its slow AF also were let go

Now remain the 12mm, the 25mm, and the 75mm, the 'holy' trinity of primes AFAIC

The 60mm macro is always there as a specialized macro lens , ditto with the 9mm fisheye

The PRO zooms complement the missing focals

Cheers,

I could do most of my shooting with just these 3 lenses. Wish the 14 had a bit better IQ but love the form factor.
--
JL Smith
www.flickr.com/photos/jl_smith

14mm 2.5

A very good lens which I like a lot. Environmental portraits, indoor photos, landscapes. Small, affordable, with very nice rendering. And I just attach the Pana wide angle converter lens, and have a 21mm equivalent lens too.

25mm 1.4

My general street photo lens. It gets me close enough to the subject, while takes the surrounds as well. I also use it indoor when I want to show the subject in a more intimate way.

45mm 1.8

My ultimate portrait lens. However, for face portraits I prefer my Pana 45-150 at its long end.

C Sean wrote:

It doesn't have to be all primes, say you have a wide angle zoom instead of a prime.

Here is mine.

15mm 1.7

Originally my trinity used to consist of Panasonic 14mm and the 20mm. Both of these lenses worked very well together and very often traveled together. The 15mm 1.7 captured a lot of their strengths and you could say the 15mm is the love child of the 14mm and the 25mm.

25mm 1.4

Now the 20mm is only used for indoor shots for rare occasions, I have space in my pocket/bag for additionial lens and the 25mm 1.4 get my use for it speed and it completely different focal length.

45mm 2.8

Part macro, part portrait lens. Another lens from the Pana/Lecia featuring the duo personality disorder. I could of gone for the Olympus but I wanted the Macro as an extra instead of speed/macro. Even when the new 42mm 1.7 comes out, I most likely ignore it.

For me it's the Zuiko 12 2.0, 25 1.8 and 60 2.8 macro. Rationale:

- All three use the same 46mm filters, are from the same manufacturer so have similar colour and contrast characteristics, are all available in black and handle similarly. In other words, they feel like a complete set;

- The focal length progression is logical, slightly more than doubling at each step

- Between them, they can shoot most subjects, from landscapes to available light to close-ups

C Sean wrote:

It doesn't have to be all primes, say you have a wide angle zoom instead of a prime.

Here is mine.

15mm 1.7

Originally my trinity used to consist of Panasonic 14mm and the 20mm. Both of these lenses worked very well together and very often traveled together. The 15mm 1.7 captured a lot of their strengths and you could say the 15mm is the love child of the 14mm and the 25mm.

25mm 1.4

Now the 20mm is only used for indoor shots for rare occasions, I have space in my pocket/bag for additionial lens and the 25mm 1.4 get my use for it speed and it completely different focal length.

45mm 2.8

Part macro, part portrait lens. Another lens from the Pana/Lecia featuring the duo personality disorder. I could of gone for the Olympus but I wanted the Macro as an extra instead of speed/macro. Even when the new 42mm 1.7 comes out, I most likely ignore it.

Mine is exactly this, but instead of the 45/2.8 macro it would be the new 42.5/1.7. Pair it with the Olympus MCON-P02 focal reducer, and I bet you'll have a seriously capable macro lens on your hands. That's my plan anyways.

I have

PL15

P20

PL25

O45

The I want the Nocticron to replace the O45, and the O60 for macro. Well I guess that's more than the trinity lol.

Perfect world

PL15 Check

PL25 Check

PL42.5 do want!

If I had a choice of just three prime MFT lenses, my choice would be:

• Voigtländer 10mm f/0.95

  

• Panasonic 20mm f/1.7
• Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2

  

http://robertevangelista.blogspot.com/2015/02/blog-32-olympus-17mm-f18-more.html
http://robertevangelista.blogspot.com/2014/12/portraits-before-selfies-there-was.html
http://robertevangelista.blogspot.com/2014/07/blog-16-olympus-40-150mm-f40-56-r-12.html

My Trinity is:
17 mm 1.8 (35mm FF Equivalent)
45mm 1.8 (90mm FF Equivalent)
75mm 1.8 (150mm Equivalent)

17mm 1.8

45mm 1.8

75mm 1.8

Sample Pictures

17mm

17mm

17mm

45mm

45mm

45mm

45mm

45mm

I don't have the 75mm yet.

If I had to choose only three lenses they would probably be oly 9-18mm, oly 25 f/1.8 and oly 40-150 f/4.5.6 and a raynox DCR-150 closeup lens.

I know it is not a prime, but the 12-32 is currently my small, wide angle, and hard to   All three lenses make for a small light package on the GX7.  It is hard to argue about for less than $200.  I suppose if funds were unlimited, the 12/2 might be the choice instead, and maybe the 60 or 75 instead of the 45.

• Rokinon 7.5mm Fisheye, because I enjoy playing with the unique perspectives a fisheye can capture. I also own rectilinear wide lenses like the 9-18mm, but the fisheye is special and can always be de-fished with very good results as well 
• 20mm f/1.7  - the lens that tempted me to buy a m4/3 camera in 2010. Beautifully compact with excellent image quality and a focal length that pleasantly splits the difference between a 17mm and a 25mm. It provided a FOV that works for so many situations. AF is slower than my other lenses, but still faster than the MF Rokinon!
• Oly 45mm f/1.8 - versatile  enough for indoor and outdoor portraits, as well as any general photography that calls for a modest telephoto. Excellent IQ and fast AF. I wish it had slightly better build and a better MF ring, but on the other hand its tiny size and feather weight is part of its charm. 

Sean