5 Most Used Lenses ? The Results !

OK - bored so I compiled the results from the thread of the same name to find our most used (not necessarily favourite) lenses. If nothing else it may give people some tips on where to start / what to buy next !

5 points for 1st, 4 for 2nd and so on. Lists in no particular order - 3 points per lense. Lenses appearing on just one list were discounted. Lenses with multiple variants were clumped together.

This went down to the wire with a surprise (to me) winner !

1. DA 100mm - 58 points
2. DA *16-50 - 57
3. DA *50-135 - 56
4. Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 - 42
5. DA *12-24 - 30
6. Pentax 50/1.4 variants - 29
7. DA 55-300 - 28
8. DA 18-55 WR - 28
9. DA 16-45 - 27
10. DA 35/2.4 - 23
11. Tamron 90 variants - 20
12. DA 40/2.8 - 18
13. Tamron 17-50/2.8 - 17
13. DA 17-70 - 17
15. Sigma 70-200/2.8 - 16
16. FA 31 Ltd - 15
17. Sigma 105 macro - 14
17. Sigma 150-500/50-500 - 14
19. FA 43 Ltd - 13
20. SMC 28/3.5 - 12

Some surprises too in the lenses that didn't make the top 20 : DA *300 (10), FA *77 (10 pts), DA 21 ( 8 ), FA *55 (5), DA 10-17 (4), DA 70 (1).

Up to and including Frogherder's list.

Top work man, appreciated I'm sure

Hmm, I only own two of them!

I'm intrigued by the fact that an original K series lens just made it into the top twenty. I can see why though - I've got the 28/3.5 and it is absolutely amazing. It doesn't see any use on digital now as I have the DA 35/2.4 but it'll be on my KX for Goodwood FoS the weekend after next. Planning to shoot the static exhibits on colour slide film and the track displays on digital (hopefully with a new Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 ), that'll avoid the need to change lenses and also give a wonderfully intuitive old camera a chance to show that it can still keep up with the latest gadgets!

Frogfish you didn't stack the DA 35 with the DA 35 right? there are two different lenses you know

There is the DA35 f/2.4 and the 2.8 macro limited.
I believed the limited has be named several times so i'm surprised not to see it in the list.

Also it isn't fair to stack the Sigma 150 and the 50-500 together they are two very different lenses.
That way the DA*300 and the FA77 will make it in the top 20 maybe

Nice stats !
Not having the DA 100 I'll now mount the FA100 in collegial support

Pete

Good job indeed.
Think that should talk with my bank advisor

Interesting. I wonder how much price influenced the results.

The DFA 100 (you missed out the F Frogfish:wink was snapped up by a lot of people at a very reasonable price last year.

Would the Sigma 10-20 have finished ahead of the DA12-24 if the latter had been priced more sensibly over the past few years?

I think the low ranking of the DA17-70 is quite surprising given its quality and the utility of its focal range - particularly in comparison to the 16-45 & Tamron 17-50. But the latter two are available for a lot less and the Tamron is even a stop faster.

Perhaps Pentax should be revising thinking on their prices, though these have admittedly been coming down of late.

I believe I separated the 35s correctly (3 lenses) - but I won't bet my life on it and I can't state with any degree of certainty I didn't make any mistakes, I just totted up the numbers quickly for a bit of fun

Sigmas - although they are different lenses (150-500 & 50-500) they are primarily used for the same function and people usually choose between them so I thought it reasonable (though not completely accurate of course) to group them here.

I was really surprised the DA*300 didn't make more lists (of those that have it) as it's a wonderful lense - though I can understand how it is maybe not used as much as a 16-50 for example. It really is a specialist lense.

Thank you to everyone else who commented !

Oops !

I think that one is all about the pricing. Although the Sigma has 2 degrees on the 12-24, and that's a large difference at these FLs, I still believe the huge price difference puts people off the Pentax and enables the Sigma to easily outsell it - however that said it is still an excellent lense in its own right and produces some wonderful images, although no doubt the 12-24 is superior overall.

Yes I was surprised just a little to see the 16-45 above the Tamron 17-50/2.8 which I thought would easily finish above the Pentaxes by virtue of it's quality, pricing and being faster - but was even more surprised to see not even a single vote for the (one year old ?) Sigma 17-50/2.8, a better lense that those three (there was one vote for the older 18-50).

Obviously though, statistically speaking, this little bit of fun is irrelevant, as the number of people who put up their lists is just not enough for us to glean any accurate, relevant, stats from. Though it may reveal a trend ?

The big surprise to me is that the DA* 60-250mm isn't on the list. Very surprising when you consider that the Canon 70-200mm L lens is said to be the workhorse of pro Canon users.

Good work though, thanks.

60-250 - 11 points - 21st

Most of those 'Canon pros' will be using full-frame cameras though - the DA* 50-135 is the equivalent of that range on APS-C and #3 in the list.

There are 1095 good reasons why the 60-250mm doesn't rank higher.

Oooops,
How come I don't have a DA 100 in my bag.
Now let me see where did my wife hide my LBA.