Top cameras and lenses used by the White House photography staff

EF85mm f/1.2L II USM

I was browsing through The Official White House Photostream on Flickr today. The photographs are excellent. Pete Souza is the Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama and Director of the White House photo office.

I noticed that the EXIF data was available for just about every photo and it contained lens information. Naturally, being a programmer/photography geek, I decided to download the EXIF data for all 1,433 photos (as of today) and find out which lenses the White House photography staff likes best. Here are the results:

Cameras

Camera # of photos
Canon EOS 5D Mark II 1074
Canon EOS 1DS Mark III 31
Canon EOS 5D 23
Canon EOS 1DS Mark II 2
Unknown 303

Lenses

Lens # of photos
EF35mm f/1.4L USM 439
EF50mm f/1.2L USM 179
EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM 166
EF135mm f/2L USM 136
EF24mm f/1.4L II USM 69
EF85mm f/1.2L II USM 34
EF70-200mm f/4L USM 16
EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM 27
EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 20
EF28mm f/1.8 USM 10
EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM 5
EF135mm f/2L USM +1.4x 3
EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM 3
EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM 3
EF24mm f/1.4L USM 3
EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 2
EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM +1.4x 2
70.0-200.0 mm 2
EF20mm f/2.8 USM 1
EF35mm f/2 1
EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x 1
EF200mm f/1.8L USM 1
Unknown 310

By John Watson

John Watson is the original founder of Photodoto. If you're interested in what John has been up to, you can browse his personal blog.

0 comments

  1. Pretty neat, gotta love that Flickr API.

    Was thinking about doing something similar with my own photos, and maybe including exposure data and PlaceID info, too.

    And yes, that is quite a lens collection there.

    1. What do you mean? You mean all that click-click-clicking during a press conference? Probably so that the press corps can be distracted by those noises, so that spokeskid Jay Carney’s Obama lies don’t get heard by everyone, LOL!

    2. no they cannot be silenced they cameras use mechanical shutters with mirrors which must make the flick sound you hear. Some mirrorless cameras can be silent but top photographers are not using them yet.

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