My mom once said my dad is living through me via a camera but I think it’s the other way around.

My dad was, too, an avid landscape photographer but once I came into the world, he was converted into a portrait photographer, no longer interested in photographing landscape when he’s got someone to pose for him 24/7.

This week, I added a new camera lens to my collection. I’d bet my dad didn’t have as many lenses as I do.

I am now the proud owner of these 5 camera lenses. That’s a lot of lenses, though, most likely, lots of people out there that have more.

The second from the left is the newcomer – 18-400 mm Tamron lens. I think people call this a “Superzoom lens” because of its impressive zoom range. What steered me clear of this lens when I was lens-shopping early last year was the aperture range. I wanted something with a larger aperture to shoot in low-light conditions and nightscapes. Though this lens does not have a large aperture, it will be pretty good for daytime photography.

The one in the middle – 17-70 mm Sigma – was my go-to lens prior to this addition. I like the Sigma lens for its large aperture, which helped me on my quest to shoot nightscapes. I think, depending on travel transportation method, this might still remain my go-to lens.

Prior to the addition, I had to constantly go through the motion of switching between the 17-70 mm and the 70-300 mm lens whenever I need to shoot something that’s faraway like wildlife, planes, and the moon. So it made it a priority that I must carry 2 lens with me at all times, which was a bother sometimes.

The second lens from the right is the kit lens – 18-55 mm – and the one next to it is the 50 mm fixed lens. I think I’ve only ever used the 18-55 mm once or twice. It’s my least favorite lens out of the lineup.

The 18-55 mm and the 70-300mm lenses came with the camera, which was a great deal for the price at the time. So technically, I bought only 3 lenses.

It wasn’t impulse that I bought the 18-400 mm lens this week. I’ve been looking at lenses for a while but the garden distracted me from making the actual purchase. The upcoming trip was the thing that catapulted this to the forefront of my mind and how much anxiety and grief it could cause me if one of the 2 lens was to get damaged during the trip. Besides, traveling by plane, for me, means I have to travel light. Only pack the essentials. After all, that luggage space is valuable real estate.

After the 18-400 mm lens arrived, I went out into my garden and tested a few shots.

Overall, I think it’s a pretty good lens though it was easy to get carried away with the zoom when shooting macros and close ups. I also did had to switch to manual focus for those because the auto focus was focused on the wrong subject. So I think for garden macro shots, I will stick with my 17-70 mm.