In his final appearance in our Canon Series, aviation photographer, Mark Mansfield rumbles through his camera bag to find his favourite lens. Here he explains the reasoning behind his pick(s).

Mark Mansfield: This is always a tough question to answer, because I have a few in my bag of tricks that I love, but without rambling on let me answer it this way. As an aviation photographer I need to break down my work into two main categories. The first one is air-to-air (A2A) photography, and the second is ground-to-air photography.  

For A2A there is only one lens in my opinion and that is the Canon 24-105 F4 IS L. This lens has a terrific crop (zoom) range, the quality is outstanding on a Canon EOS 1Dx providing amazing results. This is my standard lens that remains almost permanently on my 1Dx, so by far this is my most favourite and most versatile lens since it can be used for 99% of all my photography, both in personal and professional work.

But when I am shooting ground-to-air, or at airshows, then my choice has to shift to the mighty Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II. It is light (I shoot it handheld), pinsharp, and it gives me a great focal length for most airshows around the world.

Visit Mark Mansfield's website to see more of his amazing photography.
For more pro’s selecting their favourite lens, click here.