How many different interchangeable lenses do you have?

[ProfHankD]

I'm very curious how many different lenses people in this forum have... because I suspect it's a lot more than "normal people" have. After all, many adapted lenses are much cheaper than new native lenses. So, let's find out.

How many interchangeable lenses do you have?

For this poll, let's count only lenses that YOU HAVE USED within the last few years and still have available for you to use (were not equipment you short-term rented, nor portions of your collection you've since sold off). Count both adapted and "native" mount lenses. If you have multiple copies of a particular lens model, you can count each one; you also can count add-on lenses, such as teleconverters, focal reducers, or front-mounted wide/tell conversion lenses.

 

[petrochemist]

I'm very curious how many different lenses people in this forum have... because I suspect it's a lot more than "normal people" have. After all, many adapted lenses are much cheaper than new native lenses. So, let's find out.

How many interchangeable lenses do you have?

For this poll, let's count only lenses that YOU HAVE USED within the last few years and still have available for you to use (were not equipment you short-term rented, nor portions of your collection you've since sold off). Count both adapted and "native" mount lenses. If you have multiple copies of a particular lens model, you can count each one; you also can count add-on lenses, such as teleconverters, focal reducers, or front-mounted wide/tell conversion lenses.

I've had to guess, die to the 'used in last few years' clause. I know i have over 300 now that could be used, but probably around half or two thirds of them I haven't used yet. Fortunately at that end of the scale the bands are wide enough I'm unlikely to be out by more than one band.

Some of the lenses I have came bundled with others I wanted & aren't worth passing on to anyone. Others are more difficult to adapt needing extensive DIY

I suspect if we take 'normal people' to be the most likely number for a camera owner, the result would be one or at most two. I've certainly known photography enthusiasts who don't have more than this! Only about 30% of our current local photographic workshop members have more than 5 lenses.

 

[QuietOC]

I count 86 on my spreadsheet currently in possession. That does not include accessory lenses. I haven't physically counted in a while. It looks like my count has gone down a decent amount. I've generally had over a 100. I keep my gear list on here accurate, but it doesn't include multiples.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

I don’t really know how many lenses I have but about 10 yers ago I was keeping a list and it was over 250 at the time. But I don’t madly shuffle lenses about like a crazy man and in fact some have never been used beyond testing them after acquisition. Somewhere along the track you merge from lens-enthusiast into collector.

I don’t deal in lenses.

On the other hand when someone mentions a lens on fora I remember that “I have one of those” and often will get it out to check just what it can do. Therefore I spend quite a lot of time taking pictures and practising to see if I can do better. That is “master the photographic gear” - this seems odd as the common perception is that we buy gear to make great or even greater images. But I am more interested in understanding the process. The process luckily is a lot deeper than simply pointing an AF camera at something and pressing the shutter and everything is “done” for you. The essence of the mobile phone camera user and this would bore me stupid.

On the other hand 95% of my images are by-the-way and either recording something or testing (like Gary Winogrand) to see what things look like when they are photographed. This has the advantage of trying different settings to either enhance nature, to be utterly realistic, or to simply give it an artistic spin.

I even go to extremes and try some ill-regarded or ultra-cheap kit to see if I can master it enough to take an acceptable image - not perfect, but any skills learned are harder tested using less perfect gear.

Remembering my friend who could best my big bag of special clubs at golf with a single old wooden shafted iron i think I can have now advantage of him even with a six year old GM5 and some pretty middling old legacy MF lens of the naughty shelf versus his old entry level dslr with kit lens or even his mobile phone.

I think that I have mastered the medium over many lenses and camera bodies and am now awaiting that single outstanding image opportunity that will make my name memorable. I might have to wait a bit longer ....

Yesterday I was using a Pentax 110 70/2.8 with an RJ PTX110-M4/3 adapter with iris controlled by a bent piano wire on a GM5 camera body to shoot a helicopter lift in progress. Just happened to be the gear handy - I am sure that 70mm on M4/3 was more useful than a perfect mobile phone image.

We need photographic ability (learned or natural); good gear; and the “Photographic Opportunity”. Generally we can manage with two out of the three but not one of these factors alone. Having all three in place is perfect.

It is good to see another poll that investigates just who we are on this forum and what gear we have/use.

 

[John Crowe]

I voted for 8. I did not include my 3 Canon native lenses. They are Nikon, Mamiya, Arsat, Canon FD, and Laowa.

I have adapted another 20 or so over the past 15 years including Zeiss as well.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

I'm very curious how many different lenses people in this forum have... because I suspect it's a lot more than "normal people" have. After all, many adapted lenses are much cheaper than new native lenses. So, let's find out.

How many interchangeable lenses do you have?

For this poll, let's count only lenses that YOU HAVE USED within the last few years and still have available for you to use (were not equipment you short-term rented, nor portions of your collection you've since sold off). Count both adapted and "native" mount lenses. If you have multiple copies of a particular lens model, you can count each one; you also can count add-on lenses, such as teleconverters, focal reducers, or front-mounted wide/tell conversion lenses.

I've had to guess, die to the 'used in last few years' clause. I know i have over 300 now that could be used, but probably around half or two thirds of them I haven't used yet. Fortunately at that end of the scale the bands are wide enough I'm unlikely to be out by more than one band.

Some of the lenses I have came bundled with others I wanted & aren't worth passing on to anyone. Others are more difficult to adapt needing extensive DIY

I suspect if we take 'normal people' to be the most likely number for a camera owner, the result would be one or at most two. I've certainly known photography enthusiasts who don't have more than this! Only about 30% of our current local photographic workshop members have more than 5 lenses.

I find it quite amazing that so many on other fora seem to be quite relaxed at swapping mount systems and selling their present gear off (obviously at a loss and gone forever). They cannot own many lenses and it gets harder all the time. Once it was only mount and and flange focal length that was an issue to continue using your prized lenses on another system - now with AF motors, electronic control and impossible flange focal length interchange with the latest ML mounts makes keeping your existing lenses when swapping mounts effectively impossible. But this is the majority where a lens mount mistake is only a few lenses sold on an established market place.

Of course this becomes more “interesting” as updating camera bodies by rote becomes less exciting on the technological plateau. Those that swap out lenses with their mount format moves will gradually keep their camera bodies and accumulate lenses until the very accumulation locks them in.

Years ago I nearly became perma-locked to EF (with a significant investment in expensive lenses) which then demanded the use of Canon dslr bodies alone. Later discovered the joys of legacy MF lenses. Subsequently I have become very aware of the need and ability to use lenses on multiple mount systems - just a few adapters away.

 

[Diacyclops81]

The category way too damned many should be included. I am not a store, so not over 500….but definitely over 125. Guess I ought to start a thread on how many useless SLR bodies do you have…don’t know how many defunct bodies I have purchased to get a lens included in the deal.

 

[Albert Silver]

I think that the location of this poll will have a major effect on the answers. I count a dozen, but of that dozen we are talking 5 normal native ones, one of which I plan to sell (Sigma 24-105 f/4 Art) and the rest inexpensive vintage lenses I have picked up. Two probably don't count as they are still on their way, a Cosinon 55 f/1.4 and a Helios 44M-7. Near the top of my want list still is the Nikkor 105 f/2.5

However it is not only the availability of vintage lenses that is key to accumulating so many and affordably, but even knowing about this option. I have opened the door to more than one by just buying some cool (and cheap) vintage with adapter and gifted it.

 

[ProfHankD]

For this poll, let's count only lenses that YOU HAVE USED within the last few years

I've had to guess, die to the 'used in last few years' clause.

That was very deliberate on my part. I wanted to keep us in the "users" rather than "collectors" stats, because I know there are definitely people out there who buy old camera equipment purely to have it sit on a climate-controlled shelf. I have nothing against them, but I don't think that a person with 2000 lenses they'll never take out of their original retail packaging tells us much... whereas somebody who actually uses a dozen or more lenses, well, to put it bluntly, that's a group that few professionals would have qualified for back when I was doing professional work in the 1970s. I suspected we would have a lot of folks who use lots of lenses, but I'm honestly shocked to see my huge collection isn't all that close to the largest user collection....

 

[ProfHankD]

The category way too damned many should be included. I am not a store, so not over 500….but definitely over 125. Guess I ought to start a thread on how many useless SLR bodies do you have…don’t know how many defunct bodies I have purchased to get a lens included in the deal.

Ah, yes... the SLR-shaped rear lenscaps.

 

[Albert Silver]

The category way too damned many should be included. I am not a store, so not over 500….but definitely over 125. Guess I ought to start a thread on how many useless SLR bodies do you have…don’t know how many defunct bodies I have purchased to get a lens included in the deal.

I throw them away.

 

[Andy1712]

This is a great topic.

I am at roughly 40 lenses and find that when I reach for one of a dozen or so 50’s I do not really have a good reason for picking one over another.

Thus I have thinking about doing an exercise. First, set all my 50’s to 7 feet, wide open.

Then set up a tripod in shaded spot with the camera pointed at a sunny glade some 20/30 feet away. The idea is to focus each lens on a detailed object 7 feet away and let the more distant, over hanging, branches and eventual sunny clearing reveal the lenses character. By reviewing these photos in a slideshow I think I could create a ‘visual personality’ for each one. This ‘profile’ might help me choose just the right glass for the footage I am interested in shooting... maybe?

Do other people do this sort of thing; no sharpness charts but rather lens personality?

What do you think of using 7 feet as the focus distance?

 

[Travis Butler]

The category way too damned many should be included. I am not a store, so not over 500….but definitely over 125. Guess I ought to start a thread on how many useless SLR bodies do you have…don’t know how many defunct bodies I have purchased to get a lens included in the deal.

Hah. Absolutely.

I've mentioned it here before... but something I like doing with bodies like that is pairing them up with a spare lens - one of the ones bundled in that you've got several copies of, or one of the cheap junky ones, or something - and give them to a kid who seems like they'd be interested.

Even if they don't develop an interest in photography, a classic mechanical 35mm SLR + lens is still a heck of a toy - and who knows, they might grow up a photographer!

 

[Travis Butler]

The category way too damned many should be included. I am not a store, so not over 500….but definitely over 125. Guess I ought to start a thread on how many useless SLR bodies do you have…don’t know how many defunct bodies I have purchased to get a lens included in the deal.

I throw them away.

Ugh. ;_; At least donate them to a repair shop for spare parts...

 

[Albert Silver]

The category way too damned many should be included. I am not a store, so not over 500….but definitely over 125. Guess I ought to start a thread on how many useless SLR bodies do you have…don’t know how many defunct bodies I have purchased to get a lens included in the deal.

I throw them away.

Ugh. ;_; At least donate them to a repair shop for spare parts...

Really not worth it. Example: I picked up a Mamiya-Sekor 55 f/1.4 for $15, attached to a Mamiya film camera. The description was "very ugly", and lens was described as "grimy". Which helped my cause as I noticed it had a filter attached and it was the grimy part. Other potential buyers did not seem to catch on to this detail. I took a risk and the lens turned out to be in great shape, no scratches or fungus, and even the filter cleaned with some soap and water. But the camera? Quite worthless, and ebay has tons of lensless bodies at such prices unsold. Add to that I live in Brazil and here in Rio the demand for such a camera for parts is nil.

 

[silver to silicon]

APS-C user here - M50

adapted manual: 28, 35, 50, 58, 90, 70-210. Maybe 1.5 and 2.0x count too.

• The 90 macro and 70-210 (1:3 on FF) are nature photo fun, at ranges where AF is less needed. Others for reversed macro, bokeh and other experiments, hold overs from film days. Most focus pretty close used on crop and all but the zoom are 2.5 or faster. MILC use is easier than on Rebel DSLR.

adapted: AF 50 and 70-300.

• 70-300 SP VC AF still very nice after 6-7 years.

native: 18-150.

• Also about 1:3 on crop and still learning to use, impressed by the long and the short of this lens, the newest to me.

 

[walter g1]

Not sure. Somewhere between 129-256.

 

[SiFu]

Hello!

In working order and about as many in parts/defunct etc. Only counted the working ones for the poll.

Best,

Alex

 

[petrochemist]

For this poll, let's count only lenses that YOU HAVE USED within the last few years

I've had to guess, die to the 'used in last few years' clause.

That was very deliberate on my part. I wanted to keep us in the "users" rather than "collectors" stats, because I know there are definitely people out there who buy old camera equipment purely to have it sit on a climate-controlled shelf. I have nothing against them, but I don't think that a person with 2000 lenses they'll never take out of their original retail packaging tells us much... whereas somebody who actually uses a dozen or more lenses, well, to put it bluntly, that's a group that few professionals would have qualified for back when I was doing professional work in the 1970s. I suspected we would have a lot of folks who use lots of lenses, but I'm honestly shocked to see my huge collection isn't all that close to the largest user collection....

None of my photo gear is stored on climate controlled shelves, but some might be in boxes with desiccant There are quite a few that I don't realistically expect to use in the future for anything other than parts or practise at stripping rebuilding (perhaps that not a reasonable expectation either) - 29 out of a job lot of 30 probably fall into this bracket the other one being a lens I'd been on the lookout for & the job lot cost less than the lens alone.

I'm surprised you allow multiple examples of the same lens if you're after users numbers. They would count to my mind if the duplicates have bee modified in some way (elements removed or flipped) but I'd say that makes them a different lens, with more than just sample variation in their behaviour.

I think the number I have reasonable expectation of using again probably also falls in the same band i selected originally, so it should fit the purpose of the poll.

 

[Manichaean]

I'd like to think that I have fewer that 256, but I'm afraid to accept an idea that it may be over that number already or even check that. May be I have to see a psychotherapist? ))