Question Need decent mid-range coverage; thoughts?

[AggressorBLUE]

Just to say, depending upon the amount of cropping needed, (I think) it is better to crop a wider angle close up shot than to back further away with a longer focal length lens and not crop.

Agreed, and thats what has me still keeping to the wider side of things, but still wanting to move a notch or so closer to the mids; ie not committing to a full 12-40 working range, but something like 7-14. I consider it to be less about ‘reach’ and more about being able to crop the image optically, where getting a few feat closer with the 8mm fe isn’t feasible, so that I have more IQ headroom to work with when cropping digitally. At the same time I want to be able to capitalize on those moments where a wider scene presents itself, and/or the subject lets me get ultra close.

 

[Nemrod]

Agreed, and thats what has me still keeping to the wider side of things, but still wanting to move a notch or so closer to the mids; ie not committing to a full 12-40 working range, but something like 7-14. I consider it to be less about ‘reach’ and more about being able to crop the image optically, where getting a few feat closer with the 8mm fe isn’t feasible, so that I have more IQ headroom to work with when cropping digitally. At the same time I want to be able to capitalize on those moments where a wider scene presents itself, and/or the subject lets me get ultra close.

I understand. Just keep in mind, which you know of course already, even a little further distance away requires huge jumps in strobe power and allows more stuff in between your lens port and the subject.