Some thoughts on lenses

I have a variety of lenses and several camera systems, old and new. My wife commented about how many good shots I was getting with the Ricoh GXR even though she knows I prefer the Nikons for anything "serious". Gave me pause for thought. The reason is pretty simple, the GXR is my "no particular plan" camera -- I pick it up when I'm going just about anywhere, so nearly always have it when opportunity arises. Suppose "best" is the one you have with you.

That led naturally to thoughts on lenses. Unless it is a major photo specific trip, many times I'll just be sure the battery is full up and that there is plenty of space on the SDHC, and off I go with whatever lens that I put on the camera before leaving home. Most likely one zoom or another, but a reasonable part of the time a FF. Clearly, you aren't too likely to get wildlife closeups with a wide angle (unless you're a heck of a stalker) or excellent landscapes with a tele, but there are nearly always opportunities to get interesting shots with the available equipment. We often agonize about what to lenses / cameras to bring, when actually we could challenge ourselves to use one lens, and when the dust settled, have a fine set of photos. We would have carried less, fiddled less, and still got the job done pretty well. I enjoy going out with a wide lens or "standard" 50 -- it does change the opportunities somewhat, but I don't think it limits them in general practice. If you haven't done it or done it recently, you might give it a try, you could find it interesting.

We often agonize about what to lenses / cameras to bring, when actually we could challenge ourselves to use one lens

That's what I've been doing most of the time when leaving the house. Often with a mid-range zoom as a "compromise". Then I decided to get rid of the mid-range zoom altogether - why have a good set of lenses but shoot with the compromise "just because it's more convenient"? Now I try to grab a bag with a good set of lenses when I leave the house. Probably a mixture of Nikon DSLR and Sony mirrorless most of the time.

I tried the mix with the GXR, but except for Macro or IR, I nearly always defaulted to the Nikon. I do best with Nikon alone / kit or the mirrorless alone / kit.

I used to use the small Rollei 35 and other go-with cameras, but nowdays it's my cell phone. I had bought a "pocket" point and shoot digital Canon, but have hardly ever used it.

 

For "serious" shooting, I still use one or another film or digital SLR and my mirror lenses for my polyspheroid water tower :)

For serious shooting I've been using my cell phone for the last few years. Doesn't make much difference. I think the lens is a 30mm, pre-asph.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2017 by Brad_

In re: Phones, to each his own -- I dislike them and rarely carry one. When taking photos, they suffer from the same lack of a finder as many cameras. I used a finderless camera for a couple of years at work. Any time the light was from the wrong direction it was shoot and guess. Just me.:)

I do best with Nikon alone / kit or the mirrorless alone / kit.

That's been my mode of operation too - mainly because the mirrorless was with manual focus lenses and the Nikon with AF. Now my Sony system has transitioned fully to AF and with the 12-24/4 has a lens for which I have no equivalent for the Nikons. On the other hand, there's a gap between the wide-angle and tele zooms for the Sony that I currently can only fill with the 50 on the D810. So mixing it up is a bit of a necessity. When I am out and about with the "heavy artillery" (200-500 or 80-400), I can always stick the Ricoh GR in the bag in case the need for shooting with something wider arises.

 

Cell phone: while mine is always with me, I hardly ever use it to take photos.

My first SLR was a Canon A-1. I bought it used with a 50mm 1.8, plus a Soligor 21mm and a Vivitar 70-210.

 

Pretty quickly, I came to dislike the 21mm(I've since dramatically reversed my stance on wide angles) and I found that the Vivitar was just too heavy and slow to cart around. Even though these were "off brand" lenses, it was from an era when Vivitar by and large made decent stuff, and that was a solid metal chunk of a 2-touch lens.

 

In any case, it didn't take me too long to whittle myself down to just carrying the camera and 50mm lens. I'd stick a roll or two of film in my pocket(usually Fuji Superia 400 or sometimes Kodak Gold 400) and be perfectly content for anything. I'd only take a different lens if I knew I'd encounter a different situation.

 

Yes, in time I "grew in" to other lenses, but I took a lot of photos with just that combo.

 

Even now, I find it oddly refreshing just to walk around with a camera body and a single prime lens. At the end of the day, too, a 50mm(or a 35mm on an APS-C) is more than likely to be that lens even though I now will tend toward the wide end.

It sort of depends, I have three setups. Two go-bags, one has a pair of digital bodies, 28-75, 80-200 and 300 plus a flash, cards, batteries and so on. This is a bag I can take anywhere at all and it covers 95% of everything I do. The second is a smaller go bag with a digital and a film body, a 28 and an 85. Third is simply an F4S or an F2 with an 80-200 manual focus lens. It sort of lives in the car. All are Nikon stuff, it's simply what I am accustomed to and use most easily. I have a camera phone too but when the day comes that I actually see a UFO I'll want more reach.

 

Rick H.

Even now, I find it oddly refreshing just to walk around with a camera body and a single prime lens.

Yup, even liberating --totally agree.

Nowadays i prefer compact zoom cameras but in the past when I owned ILCs I rarely went out with more than one lens and seldom used more than two- a 28mm and 50mm.

Even now, I find it oddly refreshing just to walk around with a camera body and a single prime lens.

 

For sure on that... My phone with fixed 30mm lens is close to ideal for making both candid street photos and engaging strangers on the street for conversation and a portrait. It's always with me, ready to make a photograph.

 

I consider it the Swiss Army knife of cameras, providing a ton of supporting utility; i.e. taking notes when engaging subjects, processing, messaging, interviewing, videos, and loads more.

 

t sort of depends, I have three setups.

Yeah, all the moving parts -- haven't carried Film & Digital together -- worth a try. Thanks!

Sometimes I just pick up one of my lenses which I haven't used for a long time and try to use it the best possible way I can. This method of course makes me think sometimes, why I picked up this one, it's useless for this kind of situation or subject. Usually I use my 50mm CZJ Pancolar of Samyang 135mm, they produce very different bokeh effects, but I like them both. Especially the old 50mm lens when shot at f1.8, makes sometimes beautiful backgrounds. Somebody may think they are busy and rough, but I like the way it renders the images.

I like the way it renders the images.

So do I!

I consider it the Swiss Army knife of cameras, providing a ton of supporting utility; i.e. taking notes when engaging subjects, processing, messaging, interviewing, videos, and loads more

i love your iphone photos Brad and inspired by you i tried using just a phone but it's multi functionality defeated me. I'd take out my phone, log in, bring up the camera app, reset my preferences especially aspect ratio and art filter and by the time i'd done all that it would've been much quicker to whip out and power up my olympus tg.

 

Another reason I stopped using the phone was because losing it is big trouble (so much info- gone) whereas losing the tg is annoying (i've lost a couple) it's not a big problem.

 

i agree that ios devices provide plenty of scope for PP.

Sandy, you are absolutely right. The one-lens-drill really can force you out of your comfort zone/habit. Every once in a while I'll go a week or two only using a 35 or 50 on FF. My typical 2 mile beach walk/walk about bag includes a FF d700 with a 35 2.0 mounted (kind of in keeping with the one lens drill but also forthe look it produces) an 85 1.4 and a 135 2.0 for some length just in case plus a speed light with velcroed trigger. That's a nice 50 mm spacing. I generally photo people, so it is tailored in that direction as I don't go much below 35 with people unless I pull out all the stops and go to an 8mm circular fish. As McNally said tongue in cheek, I haven't seen a landscape yet I can't improve if I put a person in it (and light him- my addition).

I do come across an article or a blog post now and then that discusses this sort of thing, and the results and experience for the photographer are usually positive. Think about this: our phones, as Brad alluded to, have a fixed lens which is equivalent to 30mm in 135. It's not ideal, but we don't agonize over it. We just use it.

 

I think that a zoom lens is also a legitimate way to declutter your camera bag. There's nothing wrong with something like an RX100 as your main or only camera.

 

Some further thoughts that emerge from this discussion:

 

No wonder that the Leica Q is so popular. You can crop it to 7Mpx (in '50mm' mode) and it will still give you better photos than a lot of cameras, such as older DSLRs and CSCs, never mind phones and compacts. The Digilux 2 (Panasonic LC1) is still in demand, and it has 'only' 5Mpx.

 

If the quality of the pixels is good, then you don't need to have as many. Examples, which I have often given: the Leica Q out-resolves the Sony RX1r II, which is its closest competitor; the M9 at base ISO is arguably superior than some brand new models from other manufacturers.

 

Technical advances allow us to carry less stuff. Eventually a super-zoom camera with a 1" sensor could be your one and only camera, even if you're a sports photographer. It sounds so... amateurish, but digital cameras, even expensive ones, were amateurish for years before they became viable.

 

It's quite possible to use a late model iPhone for some jobs, preferably the 7+ with the dual cameras. I know that this can be done, but it depends on the job and how big the images need to be. That large DOF really comes in handy. And it just gets out of the way. The only problem is that the client will probably be a little suspicious.

It's quite possible to use a late model iPhone for some jobs, preferably the 7+ with the dual cameras. I know that this can be done, but it depends on the job and how big the images need to be. That large DOF really comes in handy. And it just gets out of the way. The only problem is that the client will probably be a little suspicious.

 

When it comes to using my phone as a camera, I always come back to the fact that you can take a better photo with the camera you have than the camera that you left at home!

 

My phone is always in my pocket. I don't always have a separate camera with me.

 

BTW, you probably know this but for other folks-on the newer versions of iOS it's possible to "swipe" into the camera from the home screen without unlocking the phone. You can't view taken photos, but you can at least take photos.

BTW, you probably know this but for other folks-on the newer versions of iOS it's possible to "swipe" into the camera from the home screen without unlocking the phone. You can't view taken photos, but you can at least take photos

Ben, thanks for mentioning that. Not only is the phone more responsive, it remembers previous settings too!

After all the cellphones I've picked up at the bottom of my local river, some with even a neck strap attached to a waterproof bag, I'ld think I would likely drop it as well if I had one or lose it along with any photos I shot with it.

 

My heavy DSLR, especially with a Sigma 70-300mm lens, keeps me alert and mindful so I don't let my guard down and drop it. Since I don't own a cellphone, others must take them for granted as everyday devices like a comb or toothbrush.

 

I look at my DSLR as a prize possession. The girl who dropped this in my local river already had a replacement working as a TracFone by the time I contacted Samsung to try to return it. Don't know if there's pictures on it because it requires a password to get into it. It's now a brick, no value at all.

 

Don't know why phones were brought into the discussion, since they had no part in the original post which was "Some thoughts on lenses". They do have their militant enthusiasts who have to sing their praises constantly, which is, I suppose, why the subject was inserted. I am glad they enjoy their phones. I find them to be a boring disposable electronic device, intrusive and annoying in both roles, as communication device and as camera. Unlike fine cameras which frequently become sought after and interesting collectibles, these things will at worst be thrown in the trash, at best recycled. If you wish to discuss "Phoneography" suggest you start your own thread unless your intent is to Hijack this one, in which case, I'm sure you'll continue.

Tim, the guys at the local cell phone store said one of the big killers of cell phones is water... in the toilet. I doubt if that applies to dslrs.

BTW, Tim, my comment wasn't aimed at you!

Don't know why phones were brought into the discussion, since they had no part in the original post which was "Some thoughts on lenses

well, to be fair, Sandy, i thought your post was about simplifying the photographic process and phonecams certainly do that.