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The landscape and tabletop photographers are doing quite well right now. The wedding and sports shooters are not. We can't do much to make a difference in view of the health crisis in the world, but we can look at the equipment cupboard and speculate:
a. The wide-angle environmental lens is going to be pretty quiet for a while - the events that saw its use were pretty close-run and crowded affairs. There was no social distancing then, and you needed the 14mm to get enough of the crowd in.
b. On the other hand, this would be a good time to go away and do landscape pictures of distant scenery with the wide-angle...except there is a state-wide ban on travel outside of our home district. So back in the cupboard it goes.
c. The standard lenses - both prime and zoom - will get more of a run as the tabletop and art studio shot becomes the standard. Just as well, as these are the sharpest and most capable ones. And with set-up and stacking shots there will be no need to go to the extremes of aperture in either direction. Thus sharpness will be as good as it can ever be.
d. A tele would be a comfort. Both to bring distant objects like airplanes into view and to keep us away from other people.. I can go to 135mm only and that is not very long. It is at times like this that I regret selling the 55-200 and not investing in a 100-400 long ago. If you have one of your maker's long lenses - or one of the affordable Sigma tele-zooms, you are laughing. Laugh six feet away, if you please.
e. A super tele would be even more fun. I wish I had one of the old Soviet MTO lenses with the wooden case and the rack of useless filters. I could adapt it and spend hours at a local look-out snooping on people. Normally I couldn't care less what other people do but now it would be much-needed entertainment.
Let's face it, folks, we're looking around the house for anything that looks like it would transmit light to see if it is fun to photograph through. I've not gotten to the pinhole aperture, paper mask, or bag of marbles stage but I can see it coming. It was only the lottery of fortune that kept me away from the Lensbaby series of optics when I was in the shop...you would be reeling in horror from the screen now had I bought one back then.
I might still buy one...
