Looking through a 35mm Lens. Or maybe a 28mm one.

Here’s one for all of you who obsess over photography.

One of the things I’ve always prided myself on when it comes to Dakotawarcollege is the fact that this site is more oriented towards integrating graphics and photography into the site than some of the other political blogs in the state.

Over the years, I’ve felt it’s important to capture things in time, and I’ve accordingly invested time and money in my equipment.

After starting with a 5 megapixel Olympus C5050z Camera (that I broke a knob off of) with a add on telephoto attachment taking photos of John Thune up on the stage at the Republican National Convention in NYC, I moved to a Nikon D5000 which served me well for a number of years, until I decided to go with the best I could afford.

At that point, I moved to my current camera, My 36.3 Megapixel D800, which is an absolute workhorse. And it’s a major challenge.

While I was comfortable with what my D5000 could do, after 4 years I still feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of what my D800 can do.  There’s a newer model I wouldn’t mind (the D810), but I think it’s silly to consider another upgrade at this point.  Because I know even with an upgrade out there, it’s one of the best cameras out there… and I should be perfecting my technique with it, instead of thinking I’ll shoot better pictures with a better camera.

So, over the last year or so, I’ve invested into equipment instead. The Atomos Ninja, so I can use my camera for high end video. Various cages, and lighting systems. And most notably as of late – I’ve been putting it into my lenses.

I originally used the inexpensive cropped picture lenses that came with my D5000, but I’ve slowly been investing in full frame lenses, and am starting to see a bit of an assortment.

I generally do two distinctly different types of photography. My Real Estate Photos – where well lit interior photography is the challenge. I also have my political photography, where I might have anything from long distance photos to portraits of our state’s political leaders.

And in all cases, I’m using a variety of lenses to get the best shots.

For home interiors, my go to lens is my Rokinon 14mm/2.8f lens, which takes great photos of rooms. And I just added a Nikon 28mm/1.8 lens to complement it.

Since the time of my D5000, my political photos were mainly done via my old Nikon DX 55-200 mm lens from WalMart. This past year, I added a Nikon FX 24-85 lens to it, as well as a nice Nikon 50mm/1.8 lens.   (Along the way, I picked up a Tamron 70-300mm lens because it was cheap, and I’ve got a Rokinon 85mm lens on the way as a treat to myself after a house closing today.)

I find myself facing a question of, given the varied uses I have to pull a camera out for, is there anything I should be looking to acquire to have the best tools available for the job?  I question whether a nice 35mm lens would round out my photography toolkit, or whether I’ve adequately covered my needs by my 28mm and/or 50mm lenses?

So, all you shutterbugs out there – give me a new perspective, and help broaden my horizons. Are there tools I’m ignoring as I work to be a better photographer?  Or is having the perfect lens for the job a common obsession?

I welcome your input.