It's an all purpose type of lens. If I go out with my Nikon D750 and only one lens, it's the nikon 24-120 f/4.
this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
1 points (100.0% liked)
Photography
24 readers
1 users here now
A place to politely discuss the tools, technique and culture of photography.
This is not a good place to simply share cool photos/videos or promote your own work and projects, but rather a place to discuss photography as an art and post things that would be of interest to other photographers.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Travel photos?
Just to have while traveling or walking. Doesn’t really excel in anything but also isn’t bad at anything. It’s like the Honda Civic of lens.
Lots of things. Badgers, mushrooms, snake...
I'm glad you mentioned the critical snake use case.
Sometimes I myself saying "ahh snake it's a snake. Ohhh a snake" but I can't take a photo because I don't have a f4 zoom
My 24-105 f/4 is the lens that lives on my camera about 90% of the time. Unless I have specific shots in mind that require something longer, wider, or faster the 24-105 gives me the versatility to shoot pretty much anything I come across. I find it to be particularly well suited to being a do-it-all travel lens, which massively lightens the load when I’m traveling.
Yeah, it's a pretty classic "Jack of all trades, master of none" lens. Even still, it does a great job 95% of the time.
Great travel lens if I don't feel like bringing a whole bag along - although I use the 24-120 that Nikon offers. When I shoot events and some smaller-size sports, I often have it on a second body for wider angle usage or large groups and it compliments the primary body's 70-200 pretty nicely.
I shoot Canon, the 24-105mm is my everyday, walk-around lens. It's on my camera all the time.
24-105 for a long time was my "only take one" lens. If I was shooting at like conventions or something and I didn't feel like carrying a bunch, didn't need super shallow depth of field, and could use that extra bit of telephoto when I needed.
It is the walk-around lens. It's also great for video.
I have thought about using it for events. Would it still be good indoors, or is a 2.8 or lower needed?
Especially where more modern cameras can handle cranking up the ISO higher without completely cooking the picture in low light. f/2.8 to f/4 is a loss of a single stop of light, it is now a relative non issue to bump up to compensate. Which even then, also worth considering how your images will be viewed. Even if there's some noise, if how you share your images means someone is only going to see it as a 3x2" post on their phone screen, isn't gonna matter a lick. You can even miss focus a little bit if that's the case lol. Only other photographers are going to look that close.
It's my walk around lens, I keep a 50mm or 24mm pancake in my pocket if I need the additional stop.
That was my walking around lens on my D700. Wide enough and long enough for almost anything I'd encounter and it would be sharp enough open to make carrying more lenses unnecessary unless I knew I'd need a UWA or longer tele. But if you've got other lenses that cover that range and don't mind switching them on and off the camera, sell it.
Almost everything, it's a great general purpose lens. Like a 24-70 f2.8 but giving up a stop of aperture for more zoom.
I used a Sigma Art 24-105 as my work workhorse for years (until I dropped it)
Years ago I got my start in photography doing fire scene photography. Fire departments have a concept of “first alarm response” which means if someone calls and says “I see flames”, they send the list of units on the first alarm. Likewise, the 24-105/4 is a great first-alarm lens to have on your camera when you out the bag away so when you grab your bag next time, you know what’ll be on the camera to start.
Usually it’s useful for cameras. Makes a good football in a pinch though.
Kidding aside, any and all things, but definitely more along the lines of “I can only bring one lens, and I don’t know what I want to shoot”.
Save space and time
I have a canon 24-105 f/4. Excellent image quality, easy to carry. It’s my work horse.
Is has more reach than 24-85 and a constant aperture with excellent IQ for its price. I use mine as much as the 24-70 I never cared to own.
Not much. It’s worse than the tamron 28-200 and I only see it as a competitor
Portraits and landscapes! Is it fixed f4? Bc those are awesome!
For most manufacturers, a 24-105 f4 is going to be a redesign of the 24-70 f2.8, since those are the real cash cow for the manufactures right now. You're trading speed for extra zoom. There's optical limits to how many features a lens can offer, no matter how much you spend; you don't get more reach without giving something up.
So for context, 24-70 f2.8 was the top-of-the-line lens used by pros for general purpose daylight photography for decades, really since Canon released their first version in the early days of autofocus. They're heavy and expensive.
In contrast, the 24-105 f4 is lighter, cheaper, offers better range and is pretty darn close in quality. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better general purpose lens. Because of that, I've seen it as a favorite for photojournalists, especially in places where they might lose a camera, as well as budget videographers and travel photography.
If I could have only one lens, and I needed to shoot commercial work, I would pick a 24-105. If I had two, I'd pick a 24-105 and a 50 mm prime. If I had 3 or more, I'd move to more specialized tools.
I think it’s a great all purpose lens except for when you need to goto low light with no flash. I think it’s perfect for travel specifically, esp on a good FF camera . F4 on full frame, especially on longer focal lengths can get you deceptively blurry backgrounds. And if you need more reach you can always go into APSC mode, if you have 24MP that leaves you with 10mp
Never used one, but I've never heard anyone speak badly about it. I'm a prime guy, so it's never been on my radar. My 'do it all lens' is a 35mm f/2 IS.
Last year I shot a Track & Field National Championship race with the same lens. I have a 24-70 f/2.8 now but I do miss the 24-105 occasionally.
That lens is good but I'd rather have a shorter reach and get a 2.8f.
I wanna buy one to shoot concerts and still have a decent aperture, especially on a constant f/4