# Which lenses should I sell?



## Vivid Color (Oct 2, 2013)

Hi, 

I would very much like some advice in determining which lenses to sell if any.

For bodies, I have a 6D and T1i. For lenses, I have:

Canon's: 
24-105L
70-300L
100L Macro (as soon as it's delivered!)
40mm pancake
EF 28-105 USM (bought in 2001, probably v1)
EF-S 18-55
EF-S 55-250 (bought in 2009 so assuming v1) 

Tamron's: 
60mm Macro
18-270 (PZD version).

Of course, I'm keeping all of my L lenses and the 40mm, it's the others I'm not sure so about. 

The only lens I know for sure that I am planning to sell the Tamron 60 mm Macro.

In terms of what I like to shoot: my travels, landscapes, wildlife, flowers, people (often casual portraits or group shots) and architecture. 

I don't mind having some redundant backup lenses, but I'm thinking that I have too much at this point. Any thoughts you have will be appreciated and considered. 

Cheers,

Vivid


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 2, 2013)

If you have lenses that don't get used sell them. It doesn't matter what lens it is, keep the ones you will use.
Surely, you had a need for them when you bought them.


----------



## jdramirez (Oct 2, 2013)

I agree... sell the ones you don't use. I stopped using my 100L and sold it and more I miss it because I would use it now... but alas... I can't use what i don't have.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 2, 2013)

jdramirez said:


> I agree... sell the ones you don't use. I stopped using my 100L and sold it and more I miss it because I would use it now... but alas... I can't use what i don't have.


 
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to sell a 100L  

I've sold some pretty nice lenses simply because I did not use them, including a Canon 600mm f/4 L.


----------



## Sporgon (Oct 2, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Surely, you had a need for them when you bought them.



I wouldn't say that too loudly on here; there's a whole tribe of people who clearly suffer from Elles Disease. The least affected purchase them perennially when they don't need them, and the very worst seem to have a bi monthly relapse and cravings of such strength that only the purchase of an L will satisfy them - for a while. 

To the OP I'd ask if his 18-55 is the new IS one. If it is then keep it and ditch the rest of the EF-S. If it's the old non IS one then sell all the EF-S and purchase the new 18-55 if you're going to keep the Rebel.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 2, 2013)

Sporgon said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > Surely, you had a need for them when you bought them.
> ...


 
Just joking. I'm as guilty as anyone else.


----------



## mwh1964 (Oct 2, 2013)

Sell to offset new L's.


----------



## neuroanatomist (Oct 2, 2013)

Look over your EXIF for the past year or so (and/or since getting the 6D). There are a variety of ways to check lens usage over time, including some 3rd party utilities, depending on your library software (I use Aperture Inspector, for example). For lenses where usage is low, if there's another lens that provides an equivalent, then sell the less frequently used one (e.g., I'd guess you don't use the 28-105 much, since you have the 24-105/4L).


----------



## LetTheRightLensIn (Oct 2, 2013)

Vivid Color said:


> Hi,
> 
> I would very much like some advice in determining which lenses to sell if any.
> 
> ...



really we can't answer for you, case in point you said you are keeping all L for sure and selling the tamron macro for sure and well I might have started by suggesting make sure to keep the tamron macro and sell the 24-105L ;D 

the 55-250 seems redundant unless you love the light weight (the new STM is supposed to be much better though) and the 28-105 too seems redundant

oops just noticed you have a 100L on the way, ok that explains the tamron macro 60 sale ;D and also why to not listen to people on the net giving advice ;D


----------



## mackguyver (Oct 2, 2013)

Here's another (free) EXIF analyzer:
http://leightyphotography.com/pixstics/


----------



## sulla (Oct 2, 2013)

well, exif analyses are only usable to some degree: Older lenses will have more photos taken with them than new ones. Does that mean the older lenses are more useful? Rather not.

For me it would be a no brainer:

As you own an FF and an APS-C body, I would sell all the EF-S lenses, as their use is halved. ;-) That equates to the EF-S 18-55 the EF-S 55-250 and the Tamron 18-270.
A 28-105 along a 24-105 seems pretty useless to me. I would sell it even if it earned me next to peanuts. It would only eat up space in my bag.
One macro seems enough to me. I would get rid of the Tamron 60 (albeit I bet you have used it more than the 100L, based on EXIF data.  
I hope to have been of use,
Sulla


----------



## mrzero (Oct 2, 2013)

I have a t1i, and am hoping to add the 6D with 24-105 kit sometime soon. I shoot the same things you shoot. So, here is what I would do:

Canons: 
24-105L
70-300L
100L Macro
40mm pancake
EF 28-105 USM (sell)
EF-S 18-55 (sell, unless you want it as a knock-around with the rebel)
EF-S 55-250 (sell) 

Tamrons: 
60mm Macro (sell)
18-270 (sell)

Obviously, you know the macros are redundant since the 60mm only mounts on crop and gives a similar view as the 100mm on your full frame. Also, I highly doubt you'd ever use a crop superzoom when you have the 6D and two L's covering a similar range. The 28-105 is redundant, and the 55-250 is redundant as well. The 18-55, I might keep to toss my t1i in my backpack every day for S&Gs. 

What you might want to consider adding? An ultrawide (17-40, 16-35, 20mm, or Samyang 14) or some fast primes (24/28, 35, 50, or 85, depending on preference). Or just spend your new cash on the perfect bag to hold your lightened stable!


----------



## jasonsim (Oct 2, 2013)

Sell these:

EF 28-105 USM (bought in 2001, probably v1)
EF-S 18-55
EF-S 55-250 (bought in 2009 so assuming v1)

Tamron's:
60mm Macro
18-270 (PZD version).


----------



## wsmith96 (Oct 2, 2013)

My recommendations are similar to others, but I would suggest you keep the 18-55 incase you decide to sell your t1i. If so, given the age of the camera, it might be easier to sell with a lens. Also, given the amount of those lenses available, you might not get much at all with it, but could sweeten the price on a used T1i. Just a thought. Or, what I do, I use that lens on my t1i for when my kids want to take pictures. That way if something happens to that lens, at least it wasn't my 17-55 or 70-200L.

-w



Canon's: 
24-105L - keep
70-300L - keep
100L Macro (as soon as it's delivered!) - keep obviously
40mm pancake - questionable - I don't have this lens, but for me I'm not sure I'd use it that much
EF 28-105 USM (bought in 2001, probably v1) - sell
EF-S 18-55 - keep
EF-S 55-250 (bought in 2009 so assuming v1) - sell

Tamron's: 
60mm Macro - sell
18-270 (PZD version) - sell

That's what I would do.


----------



## Marsu42 (Oct 2, 2013)

Vivid Color said:


> In terms of what I like to shoot: my travels, landscapes, wildlife, flowers, people (often casual portraits or group shots) and architecture.



In other words: everything  



Vivid Color said:


> I don't mind having some redundant backup lenses, but I'm thinking that I have too much at this point. Any thoughts you have will be appreciated and considered.



My thought: Look at your Lightroom catalog (if you're using that) and do some statistics about what lenses, f-stops and focal lengths you were using.


----------



## Chris Jankowski (Oct 3, 2013)

I would recommend that you sell T1i body and 6 last lenses on your list. This will leave you with an excellent FF body 2 great zooms 24-105 and 70-300 and a fantastic macro/portrait lens. I do not think that you really need T1i if you have 6D. For greater reach you can crop the FF frame.


----------



## Swphoto (Oct 3, 2013)

I've previously used the Library filters in LR to look at metadata for situations like this, but would like to find a better way. Any suggestions for a product like Aperture Inspector for Lightroom? I see that he was working on Lightroom Inspector, but the site for that seems to be down.

I came across this one, but I'm not a fan of it needing to dump the data on their site for analysis: http://lightroomanalytics.com/


----------



## Greatland (Oct 3, 2013)

keep the L lenses, dump the pancake (waste of money) and the EF lenses.....


----------



## Dylan777 (Oct 3, 2013)

Sell everything. Keep 6D + 40mm pancake as a compact system.

Your new gear:
24-70 II
70-200 f2.8 IS II
85 f1.8 - *L* II is even better


----------



## bratkinson (Oct 3, 2013)

I recently did a mental check of what lenses I used and which ones mostly sat in my bag, being toted around as 'excess baggage' for the most part. I sold the 3 I barely used.

I recommend the same for you. Look at what you use the most and sell the rest. I'd start by selling off the T1i and the EF-S lenses to go with it...unless you like toting that one around as a light weight, single camera shooting. I'm toying with getting a mirrorless or a G15 for 'banging around in my car'. But unless that's your intent for the T1i, dump it. 

Stay with the 6D and the Ls + 40mm. FWIW, I kept 4 Ls to go with my 5D3.


----------



## aroo (Oct 3, 2013)

Don't sell the t1i? It's worth more to you as a working camera system than you get from selling it. Put the rebel, 18-55, 55-250, and 60 macro in a bag with the battery charger. Forget about it until somebody can really use it.

Why do you still have the 28-105?


----------



## Vivid Color (Oct 4, 2013)

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. You've given me some ideas and perspectives that I hadn't thought about and that's exactly what I wanted. 

Neuro, thank you for the link to Aperture Inspector. You or someone else had mentioned it before, but I couldn't find it in the App Store. Now I know why! I watched the demo and I'm going to get it. 

I plan to keep the T1i, at least until I get a replacement for it, although that won't be right away. I really like the smaller size and weight for times when I don't want to take the heavier 6D and L lenses with me. It's not much bigger than the new SL1, although clearly the T1i has older technology. 

Aroo, you asked why I still have the 28-105. It was the lens I bought with my Canon Elan 7 in 2001 and I kept it when I sold the Elan 7. I thought it might be a better lens than the EF-S 18-55, but after using the comparison tool in The Digital Picture, it looks like the 18-55 is sharper, although the 28-105 is a faster lens. Am I reading the chart info in TDP correctly? 

Wsmith96 suggested I keep the 18-55, which I could bundle with the T1i body when I want to sell it. Assuming I've correctly understood the information from TDP, perhaps I should sell the 28-105 and keep the 18-55? 

Any additional thoughts will be appreciated. 

Carol 
aka Vivid


----------

