35mm equivalent

What lenses do you need for a camera? It totally depends. Speaking for myself, if I only had one lens to choose for a camera, in which case you can take any compact or other fixed lens camera, it would be a 24-100mm equivalent lens.

24mm equivalent

Anything wider or longer is nice but not necessary for me. 24mm on the other hand is the minimum I want in a camera, 28mm doesn't cut it for me, as is the standard with most kit zooms. 100mm on the other hand is more than fine for me, I prefer to step closer instead of taking pictures from a distance. In my eyes you take the most dramatic images with a wide lens as close as you can to your subject. A fixed focal lens camera like Fujis X100s are fine, too, and probably all you need, see, most people use their fixed focal lens phone camera as their only camera, but I couldn't live with only 35mm at the wide end. One zoom lens is fine today because all real cameras are good enough to take good images in any light. You don't need a fast prime lens to take better images, they only get you less noise when light gets darker. PLUS, almost all "slow" normal zooms have image stabilization today, which let's you take shake free images especially at night. I much rather have a one stop slower zoom with IS instead of one that is not stabilized as normal walk-around lens. And they are smaller, lighter and cheaper, too.

If I had two lenses to pick I would throw in a 50 1.4 equivalent.

50mm equivalent

Henri Cartier-Bresson only used a fixed 50mm lens on his Leica for all his life and his images are among the very best. If 50mm is fine for you, skip the slow 24-100mm zoom and only take the 50 or a 35, they are lighter, cheaper, faster, give you nicer background blur at those focal lengths and probably make you take better pictures because you have to zoom with your feet.

35mm equivalent

50mm is the classic focal length, it's a very cool perspective getting you quite close if you want and letting you keep a distance otherwise. Most motion picture scenes are shot at 50mm, which often leads to photos that remind you of classic movies. Pretty cool.

If I had three lenses to pick I would put the normal zoom away and take an ultra-wide instead, a 16-35mm for example, it's the zoom most press photographers use. It let's you get everything into the frame in tight places, putting the spectator right in the middle of the action.

16mm equivalent

I would keep the 50mm and add a long zoom like a 70-200. I used this set up almost entirely on my last trip in autumn. Probably next time I would take a second body to avoid the several hundred lens changes during a trip, but if you have some time you're really covered with this three lens combination for everything. I use the long zoom for landscape shots or posed portraits but not for documentary, for that the 16-35 plus the 50 are all I need.

144mm equivalent

Happy shooting and a sunny Sunday!

KIKI