The answer of course is that technically this depends on what product you are shooting, its size and shape, the space your studio allows you, which camera you are using, what lenses are available for it, what you are looking to achieve.
For small objects and food, we love the Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro USM, it lets you shoot full product and close-ups without changing lenses, and it is not too heavy. If you were to shoot furniture, however, it is unlikely that this would be your lens of choice. For furniture you might be looking at 2 different lenses for full view and close-ups, or a zoom lens, and of course, a tripod.
But as a rule of thumb, all other things being equal, the lighting is more important than the lens. The best lens will only produce a mediocre image if the subject is lit poorly, while a mediocre lens can produce a great image with precision lighting. Most importantly, what really matters is the conversion rates you are getting for images shot with a specific lens or lighting.
Yes, photography is subjective, and while you may like one image best, what really matters is which image makes a difference between you customers buying your product or not (in commercial photography anyway, after all this is the whole point of taking the photo in the first place). We at 360 Refinery strongly recommend that you try different things, see what works best, and then stick to it.
