I like statistics. I like seeing how I act in an objective manner, it provides a certain distance and understanding that can come from looking on the outside in. So, when I decided that I wanted a new lens to replace the one I’ve had for nearly four years, I thought that having an understanding of how I use my equipment would be invaluable in deciding what next to purchase.

Before looking at numbers or usage, I decided whether I wanted to simply replace the unit I have or buy something else. As I am primarily purchasing a lens for travel, having one lens is still a must. As patient as Justine is when we’re out and I’m taking photos, I just couldn’t imagine adding the requirement of swapping out lenses to the mix. Ideally, I’d have two cameras and two lenses, but this is not a realistic proposition for me, at least right now.

I like the lens I have now, it gives me the ability to frame shots in camera (which many purists call lazy, but when you’re visiting somewhere once, I just want to be able to get the shot and get it right) and the long zoom range helps out with that foreground or background blur I so love. A wide aperture would also achieve that but since I need a lens with a wide range of focal lengths it’s not as viable. So, how do I use my “main” lens? Do I exclusively use it zoomed in to get the lovely bokeh — as all the cool kids call it — or do I only take wide shots? The numbers will obviously be skewed by a few factors, such as taking shots intended for use as panoramas (though if I had a wider lens, perhaps I would take fewer of those), as well as re-factoring and re-shooting with slightly different settings.

All the statistics were generated from my Lightroom database, using the free ImageReporter application to give me the numbers. I then plotted the data using Google Spreadsheet. Roughly 24,000 shots were used, with 15,000 of those being from holidays and the remainder other usage. I figured seeing all my usage, as well as holiday and non-holiday would give a good snapshot of how I use my lens. I only selected photos from my Canon ESO350D and the 18-200mm lens I use almost exclusively.

To start, I had a look at how I use the ISO settings. I figured this would give a good indication on whether the lens I use is fast enough or if I have to compromise at a higher ISO. Of course, if I carried a tripod that would also sort out frequent use of high ISO.

So, it seems in general, I tend to use ISO100 a large amount of time, stepping down to ISO400 and ISO1600 as needed. The stepping down is presumably due to light conditions and having a faster lens would probably compensate. I find it interesting I only step down in such large amounts though, so I’ll try to use the “middle” ISO settings when I can.Moving on to what I really wanted to see, we have each major focal length plotted against the percentage of time I use it.

From this chart, a few things are evident. When on holiday I actually use wide angles a lot more than I do when not on holiday. This is not something I expected. It is also interesting to not the sharp from after 130mm. I suspect this is because once above 130mm I would just use 200m. Whether the 200mm is mainly used for bokeh or for bringing the subject closer is a more difficult thing to assume. Excluding the 200mm range, it’s obvious that around 75% of the time — at least when on holiday — I am using the 20-100mm range, meaning that a shorter zoom lens could quite possibly be satisfactory. The benefit possibly being that with a shorter zoom range, the same amount of money may buy me a slightly better quality lens.The lens I had previously been intending to purchase — the Sigma 18-250mm Optically Stabilised HSM — still seems like it could be ideal. Adding in an HSM motor and optical stabilisation is of immediate benefit, and the longer range may possibly be useful while on holiday. Of course, given that I tend to use half of that means that a lens in the 17-120mm range would be perfect. Sigma sells an 18-125mm unit, but it seems to be exactly the same as the 18-250mm one I’ve been eyeing off as far as image quality is concerned. I think a 17-70mm lens (which both Sigma and Canon make) may be a little shorter than I would like, but close to 70% of the time I am using that range so perhaps it’s a good buy for me. Canon does a 24-105mm lens which may be a little expensive but in any case, the wide is not quite wide enough as is evidenced by the high usage at the wide end of the spectrum.

The moral of the story is that having made a decision then deciding to put some further analysis into the decision hasn’t really made much difference. What I want doesn’t exist — at least in my price range. The big decision right now is whether to get a 17-70mm lens or the 18-250mm lens. Will I regret not getting the longer focal range, given that I use it around 11-12% of the time while on holiday? Should I just get the 17-70mm and take two lenses.

At least I’ve got some pretty graphs to help my decision along.

The * button (it’s on the back of the camera, behind the shutter release) is something I’ve mentioned to others before, but it’s still a really useful tip to impart. When faced with an image with a high dynamic range, but only wanting to take one properly exposed photo I would use the * button while moving the camera around the image to see where the bright and dark parts of the image would be.

For instance, I moved the camera to a dark part and pressed the button while moving around a few times and then repeated but while looking at a bright part of the image.

Knowing what the extents of the exposure were, I would then continue pressing the button part way between the dark and bright parts (usually closer to the bright parts) until my guesstimate of the exposure felt right.

It didn’t always work, but many times it was very close and only needed a small tweak.

Today I set myself a challenge of making a somewhat believable Photoshopped image. The challenge was to create a shot where I could be seen in the reflection of my sunglasses, which I was wearing at the same time.

The result turned out quite well, since recreating the same position of the glasses while holding them by hand proved to be difficult — even with me in front of the camera being directed by Justine! — so I had to do a lot more faking in Photoshop than I originally expected.

It might not be the best shot I’ve taken for the 365 days project, but I’m happy that it’s a believable enough shot.

There were a number of times on our trip where the lighting was dynamic enough that I wanted to try an HDR when I got home. HDRs are difficult without a tripod but the tip I mentioned previously where you use the * button is also how I managed to try and take a hand held HDR.

I’d use the * button to find a very bright and very dark section of the future image. I would then ensure the camera was set to spot metering, and position the centre focus point on one of the bright or dark sections; this is where the middle of the image would be — I’ll use a bright window as an example of the middle part.

Next, I’d find a dark part of the image and lock the exposure there, and move back to the middle where the bright section was. I turned off the Auto Focus, and I’d take the photo with the centre part totally overexposed, then immediately press the * button and take the photo again, but with the bright part properly exposed.

This way, the two images should be almost identical in location and focus with just the two different images for the HDR creation. Not as good as taking five shots with a tripod, but you make do with what you’ve got.

Side of a freight train at Amsterdam’s Centraal Station.

Taken while eating curry and fritjes (me) and mayonnaise and fritjes (Justine). We were waiting for our overnight train from Amsterdam to Munich and grabbed a hurried dinner from a crappy diner.

This is the last photo I took in Holland.

Taken while Justine and I were on a walk around the block. A bit overprocessed but I wanted to try and bring out the texture in my hair.