I don't believe this thread! Just by reading it, it has tipped me over the
edge and I have finally bought that 50mm prime that I had been umming and
arring about for the past week or so (50mm F1.7 SMC F ). It wasn't expensive
($49), but I was just having trouble deciding if I really wanted it
considering I have a 35-70 zoom which I use most of the time. It seems I
have been silently enabled...
Regards,
/\/\ick...
+----------------------------+
| |
__/) Mick Maguire |
((((| Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
(\\\\_/) ICQ: 48609010 |
\ / |
\ /---------------------------+
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Mike Johnston
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 7:27 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Only using my prime lenses - I promise
I've been arguing for years in favor of primes, basically because I think
people who use ONLY zooms or who ASSUME zooms are inherently better can
often benefit from having their eyes opened. Shooting with a prime for a
while is a great way for people to move the quality of their shooting up a
notch or two.
The general advantage of primes is that they're smaller, lighter, faster,
less fussy (fewer operations prior to shooting, generally), and have higher
overall image quality (generally, these days, that means less flare, and not
much else).
These points are nearly moot with digital. My current digicam only weighs a
few ounces, and it's got a lens that's considerably smaller and lighter than
a Leica 50mm Summicron, for instance, and it's a 35-105mm f/1.8-2.6. (My
other two cameras, the Pentaxes, both have 50mm lenses on them most of the
time.)
The real point that continues to get me about "zoom vs. prime" discussions
(and I've been involved in a number of them) is: HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE
PHOTOGRAPHING UNTIL YOU SEE IT? Most of these arguments presume that the
"subject"--the organization and the field of view of the desired
picture--are known in advance.
That is, let's say you come across a small tree in a field. You wish to make
a picture of the tree. So you either a) change your lens, b) change your
zoom setting, c) change your vantage point, or d) some combination of the
above until the framing is composed to your liking--presumably, with the
tree filling the frame adequately but not cut off.
But this isn't how most photographs are seen! That is, with many
photographs, there may be nothing to zoom in to or out to. What if you're
looking at a complex scene and you can:
--Set the zoom to 35mm and compose interesting framing;
--Set the zoom to 50mm and compose interesting framing;
--Set the zoom to 85mm and compose interesting framing?
In this situation the zoom is becoming a needless complication, a
distraction.
Now go one step further than that. I've always maintained that if you're out
shooting with a prime lens, you learn to see like the lens sees. That is,
you don't need to lift the camera up to your eye to know how the viewfinder
is going to frame a view. You already "see" with that "cropping" in mind.
And this enables you to SEE PICTURES that, without a set frame in mind, you
wouldn't see.
The point is not so much that zooms are poor tools, or of lesser quality, or
bigger, or whatever. It's that they add confusion to the act of
photographing, by introducing too many needless variables and preventing you
from seeing acutely. As you're working a subject you'll see a THOUSAND
potential framings--tens of thousands. How do you begin to winnow all the
choices down to find twenty or thirty that work pretty well, which you'll
further refine when you edit? I think it helps greatly when you and the lens
are seeing similarly.
But then again, maybe I'm wrong about this. I've certainly had good
experiences shooting complicated subjects with zooms where the zoom didn't
distract or confuse me, and where I was able to make adjustments quickly and
intuitively.
I guess where I come down on this is merely this: I've always preferred
primes; and I believe (operative word--believe) that using primes helps
photographers make better pictures; and it's my opinion that any student of
the art who is looking to improve his or her shooting skills should pick a
prime lens and use it for a year.
That would help support my point, because if you pick a prime lens and shoot
with it for a year, I guarantee that it will become one of your favorite
focal lengths and will probably remain so for the rest of your life. <g>
--Mike
P.S. By the way, we've got to find something for Chris to do. <g>
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