Cameras are missing ... fun ?!?!?!?!

Derrel · Jul 10, 2019

The idea that prime lenses are as flexible as Zoom lenses,this is not true. The zoom lens provide something called focal length flexibility. Focal length flexibility is extremely useful when one cannot move position, such as when stationed at the sideline or baseline Of a sporting event. For example a 70 to 200 mm F2.8 zoom has become a pretty standard Sports lens,and for good reason. The same goes for the 24 to 70 mm zoom lens for covering events such as press conferences,weddings, and other types of ceremonies. This lens and compasses several known and popular focal lengths 24 mm, 28 mm, 35 million, 50 mm, and the 50 to 70 mm range.

petrochemist · Jul 10, 2019

Solarflare said:
Well, I dont ever use zoom lenses and I dont ever miss zoom lenses.

And I would have no qualms about recommenting people to learn photography with prime lenses. Whats the problem ? You have to move around more to get the right perspective for your shot, but thats all the "cost" compared to prime lenses.

On the other hand prime lenses are smaller, more compact, cheaper, brighter, offer to shoot with less depth of field, and offer higher image quality. Thats why using them is more fun and thats why I never use zooms anymore.

I especially get annoyed whenever I read zooms would be more "flexible". In truth prime lenses are just as flexible as zooms, if not much more so. The only difference is you have to move around for the right perspective, but you get all the other options primes can do and zooms cant.

Sure, sometimes you really need the variability of focal length. Then you need a zoom. But other than that, your default lens should really be a prime, not a zoom, for the reasons given above.

I currently use primes most of the time, and like the results they are giving me. But I'm afraid I can't agree with the last half of your post.

Whatever lens you're using moving is needed to change perspective, it's totally irrelevant in the prime/zoom debate. Primes are generally smaller, lighter, cheaper and can be faster., and some of those features can be fun, but some zooms are also great fun and they allow shooting in many situations where primes become severely limited.

However annoyed you might get there no debate that zooms are more flexible if you don't need fast apertures and there are now even zooms that can give those fast apertures! There are zooms that could achieve with a single lens most of what I use half a dozen primes for, changing between setting in a fraction of the time it takes me to switch lenses. But such lenses would cost over 10x more than my collection of old primes, and wouldn't have the same quirks. I enjoy the process of selecting a lens, focusing & setting the aperture, yes primes can be great fun. But in a situation where you have to grab the shot while the opportunity exists they can get frustrating. Its bad enough at a motor race to hear a smash behind you & have to turn round before the action is over - If you have to change from a 300mm prime to a 50mm there'd likely be no chance of getting anything of the action...

Derrel · Jul 10, 2019

The Leica as Teacher

Excerpt:" I would just like to throw this out there for what little it's worth...if any young or beginning photographer of real ambition within the sound of my voice would like to radically improve his or her photography quickly and efficiently, I suggest shooting with nothing but a Leica and one lens for a year. Shoot one type of black-and-white film (yes, even if you're completely devoted to color and digital, and hate film and everything it stands for. You don't have to commit to this forever; it's an exercise). Pick a single-focal-length 50mm, or 35mm, or 28mm. It doesn't have to be a "good" lens—anything that appeals to you and that fits the camera will do. Carry the camera with you all day, every day. Shoot at least two films a weekI would just like to throw this out there for what little it's worth...if any young or beginning photographer of real ambition within the sound of my voice would like to radically improve his or her photography quickly and efficiently, I suggest shooting with nothing but a Leica and one lens for a year. Shoot one type of black-and-white film (yes, even if you're completely devoted to color and digital, and hate film and everything it stands for. "

OKAY, this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is part of the guy's advice from a 2009 post he did. He is the guy that says that modern cameras lack "fun", as if fun were a feature! Lol.... obviously, I think he's full of ***+. Like saying that onyl 1960's American-made Harley Davidson motorcycles are "fun:, ad that newer, Japanese "superbikes" "lack fun".

" fun" is NOT a 'feature'///

Modern digital cameras are highly configurable. Remember, he is the guy who thought he needed to go through a five-step, slow process to get his iPhone 4s ready to snap a shot..

Derrel · Jul 10, 2019

The Leica as a teacher. Yeah. Sure. I can think of many better cameras for the majority of "young or beginning photographer of real ambition within the sound of my voice would like to radically improve his or her photography quickly and efficiently"... the rangefinder was the camera of the 1950's...by the end of the 1960's the type was mostly dad as a serious tool.

Derrel · Jul 10, 2019

David Hume Kennerly On the iPhone is a series of essays, anecdotes, and tips about how and why he takes pictures. Using only the camera in his iPhone, Kennerly pursued an around the world photo-a-day mission in 2013. Along the way he discovered that paring down his formidable photo arsenal to a single, simple camera forced him to sharpen his eye and made him an even better photographer. The images and insights in this book will challenge and inspire any shooter, from amateurs to seasoned professionals.

Derrel · Jul 10, 2019

Years ago, as a University of Oregon newspaper photographer for the Daily Emerald, an 11,500 circulation newspaper, I carried the following, on a daily basis. It weighed about 18.5 pounds, and was carried in a shoulder bag: 2 cameras with motor drives, selecting from a Nikon FM + MD-12, an FE-2 + MD-12, or and F3-HP + MD-4. These motors all used 8,AA batteries. Lenses: 24/2.8 Ai-s, 28mm/2.8 Ai, 35mm/1.4 ai'd or 35/2 Ai'd, 50m/f2 or 50/1.8 Series E, 85mm f/2 AI, 105/2.5 Ai-s, 135/2.8 Series E, 200mm f/3.5 Vivitar, one or two Vivitar 285 HV flashes, and sometimes the Quantum Battery 1. Plus a couple of small accessories, I owned NO zoom lenses until 1987 or so. My first zoom was a Nikon 70-150mm f/3.5 Series E.

So. I had seven different focal lengths at my disposal. TodaY's 70-200 f/2.8 can replace the 85, 105mm, 135mm and 200mm lenses, and do amazing work.

For outdoor sports, I would use the paper's 300mm f/4.5 ED~IF lens.