Lens Kit

Ditch the Trinity: Why Four Primes (and One Zoom) Might Be Your Smarter Lens Kit
Video Tutorials

Ditch the Trinity: Why Four Primes (and One Zoom) Might Be Your Smarter Lens Kit

I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit building spreadsheets comparing lens prices, and the question I get asked more than any other is some version of “should I just buy the trinity?” It makes sense. The 16-35mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm zoom trinity is the default answer to “what lenses do I need?” It’s tidy, it covers everything, and every working photographer seems to own it. But tidy isn’t always right.

The Holy Trinity of Lenses: Why Three Zooms Beat a Bag Full of Primes
Video Tutorials

The Holy Trinity of Lenses: Why Three Zooms Beat a Bag Full of Primes

I used to approach lens buying the same way I approached buying tripods – impulsively, one at a time, without a system. I’d grab whatever seemed like the best deal that week, end up with overlapping focal lengths, and still find myself in situations where I didn’t have the right tool for the shot. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize the problem wasn’t my budget. It was that I had no framework for building a kit that actually covered everything.