Exclusive use of one body and one lens...

[rusty johnston]

From time to time we read recommendations, on this site and others,

that to improve your photography the exercise of using just one

camera and one lens should be practised but I'm curious if anyone

actually ever does this? For some of us financial constraints force

us to practise this exercise more than we might want but have any of

you tried this for any length of time and if so, for how long? Is

it your regular habit? And do you feel that it improved your

photography?<div></div>

[ronald_moravec1]

I sometime try and "travel" with 35/50/90 and see how much I can so with one of the three. Walking closer and farther only go so far.

[jhodges]

Up until recently I've shot with only a 50 'cron for a few years. It was a new experience for me and went along with a whole new outlook on photography. I don't know if my output has improved much as I don't get to spend the time I'd like shooting, but it has changed my understanding of photography in general. And rather than buying a lot of kit for my camera it allowed me to determine with clarity what I needed based on my prints. Now I plan on spending some time with my new addition, a 90 tele-elmarit.

[jhodges]

An addition to my post...

 

I can of course get away with such things because my photography is only a hobby. If I were a pro, or selling any, I suppose I would have to use what would produce the best commercial results.

[jorge]

I frequently do it. What happens to me is that I start to look for subjects and scenes fitting the equipment I have and shun anything else. However, although I've honed my eye by means of that excercise, I don't impose it to myself as a rigurous discipline.

[david_loble1]

Rusty - For the last three years, after I switched back to 35mm RFs this has

been my m.o. about 80% of the time. About a year ago I bought a Mamiya 7II

w/ just the 65mm lens. (Recently added an 80.) I consider it a good discipline.

I am an amateur. And, yes, I lose some shots because of the limitations .

David

[roger_michel]

we discussed this about a week or two ago. i think a lot of the dissatisfaction that people have with leica (and thus the phenom of all the "mint FS m7/6TTL" threads) stems from the fact that they try to make it a one lens camera, for cost reasons or otherwise.

 

the best and highest use of the leica is as an ultra high quality travel kit for people and landscape photography. and so, IMHO, the people who find real long term satisfaction with leaica are the people who put together a sensible kit (20mm russar, 50DR cron, 90 t-e and an m6 classic is a great $1700 outfit), match it with a tiny tripod (gitzo 002, etc) that they will actually carry around on trips, and then have a blast taking all kinds of pictures.

 

for those who go the one lens route, the camera is inevetiably very limiting. and the thrill of carrying a leica around only goes so far.

[toby_boudreaux]

I have only had one camera and lens (Bessa R2 and VC 50/1.5) for the past year. I am in the process of building my first Leica kit (M6/M3 with 50/2 Cron). I love the idea of having an ASPH 35 at some point, but it will likely be at least a couple of years away.

 

I'm only a hobbyist (obviously), so it's not vital that I have the flexibility that comes with multiple lenses (or an SLR kit). I like the simple set up because it forces me to learn and reduces a major variable in doing so.

[gerald_widen]

My kit is comprised of an M2 and numerous lenses, including five 50mm lenses,two 35's a 25mm a 90mm and an 85mm lens. I'd say 80% of my photos are taken with my Canon 35mm.

[cabophoto]

Rusty,

<br><br>

while I have all the focal lengths that Leica makes for the M system I find myself using the 35mm for probably 70% of my pics. On a trip to Cuba (see <a href="http://www.cabophoto.com/CUB.htm">Cuba pics</A>) I carried only a 28/2.8, a 35/1.4 ASPH and a 50/2. All but a couple of pics were taken with the 35mm, and frankly said I think I would have done as well with only this lens.

<br><br>

Carsten

[bobtodrick]

About 10 years ago I ran into a rut in my shooting. Couldn't think of anything worthwhile that piqued my interest, though I still routinely took out my 2 OM-4 bodies with drives, lenses from 16mm to 300mm, multiple accessories, and cleaned and admired the whole unused lot. A psycologist friend suggested getting rid of it all and making a project of a roll a week with 1 camera, 1 lens. I put it all away and bought an original Hexar AF and spent a year doing just as he suggested. My love of shooting, instead of gadgeting returned. I found great pleasure in thinking of an image and trying to figure out how to make it work within the constraints of a 35mm lens. After a year I sold all the Olympus gear and purchased a CL with the 40 and 90, and now have Bessa R2 bodies with 21-35-50-90 lenses. I use the 35 90% of the time. This was some of the best advice I've every had. One body/one lens forces you to concentrate on how to make the image effective, instead of blindly zooming in or out, or trying 5 different lenses to avoid thinking.

[albert_smith]

I have, in the past, done many such deprivation exercises, one lens only. I was in the military, and would deploy to various locations for months to sometimes an entire year, and would use these opportunities to be a minimalist. I found out something after many of these experiments. If you stay within a small window around the 50mm lens, say 24mm to 90mm, then it just does not matter which lens you have on the camera. If you want to photograph, you will.<P>

 

After the initial shock of not being able to change glass. After mentally cursing yourself for the lens left home, you just get on with it and make the lens you have work. While on-paper, a bag of lenses would seem to assure you would be able to get the shot, I found that living within the constraints of a single focal length would often speed up the process.

[ben z]

All I'd succeed in doing by using a single focal length would be to come back with the same shots I'd have got with that lens if I had six others in the bag...but missing all the shots I'd have got with the other six. For a beginner, juggling a bag full of lenses might be an obstacle, but only because they're not experienced to know which lens to choose. My wife wouldn't know which lens to pick for what, but she has a great feel for good composition and uses a zoom.

[frank_meeker]

I use a lot of different cameras professionally, but when I want to refresh the creativity, I take out a beat 1968 Nikon F with a 50 mm f1.4 or a beat Leicaflex with again, a 50 f1.4. I try for closeups wirth tubes and tight facial portraits. It usually helps and quite often, I get something to use as a promo. It is much easier to stay "focused"(ptp) if you are using just one lens.

 

Regards,

 

Frank M.

[SolaresLarrave]

Some days I take out one camera with the 35/2 lens I have. Other days, it's the 'cron 50 or my new "old" 90/2. Like Jorge, I shun scenes, ideas or compositions I can't do because of the lens' limitations and go only for what I really can.

 

Naturally, I get a lot of duds, but then, it forces me to think differently.

 

Now... when I travel, I do take a small arsenal: two bodies and two lenses, one on each, but different film on each body (color in one, Scala in the other). Does it help? Kinda... There are moments or photos I can only see in B&W, and there are things whose colors make them memorable.

 

What can I say? I'm human, I like things and do this as a hobby.

 

Enjoy, relax and go out shooting! :)

[bob haight]

If I am going off for longer than a day, I take a kit to include a wide, normal and whatever I think I will need. OTOH, if I am just going off for an afternoon, I rarely take more than one l lens. Usually, a 35 or 50. I definitely believe a one lens setup, no matter what the camera system, is a great technique. With an SLR, I frequently just take an 90 or 135. Less clutter, more focus on the art.

[sprouty]

50mm lens - 25 years. It doesn't feel like depravation, it feels more like freedom. But that's just me.

[donald_macklin]

I second what sp said.If I want to go wide angle,I use my converted Polaroid Pathfinder

110A with Type 55 stock.

[tom_burke3]

Don't have a leica (anymore), I have an EOS 33 but mainly use primes with it - 24, 28, 35,

50, 100.

 

Something I find interesting is to go out locally with just one lens and shoot what I can.

The a couple of weeks later go out again over the same ground with a different lens, and

again shoot what I can. It's interesting to see the differences, and also the ways that a

given shot will work in one length but not another.

[donald_macklin]

Nice lookin' rig by the way, Rusty.Enjoy!

[el_fang]

I do this all the time. On assignment, I'll have a second body with a 70-200/2.8 VR in the trunk, but otherwise it's one body with a 35 equivalent (currently, a D70 with 24/2.8). Works for me.

[john_amiet2]

For me the objective motivates the whole approach. What I need to shoot and why. All my lenses are considered possibly tools, but in some (for me, frequent) situations practical considerations limit what should be used. A typical scenario would be shooting a series on an orchestra rehearsal. The multiplicity of people, instruments, stands and other material on stage presents the photographer with a "bowl of spaghetti" aspect. I simplify this by choosing the subject for each frame and shooting with a Noctilux wide open. This allow an impression of the environment to be present in the background, but clealy lifts the subject from the 'business' of the whole orchestra, visually speaking. I can easily shoot 15 rolls over a number of hours in this way and sell more images than I ever did before I adopted the tecnique.<div></div>

[red_buckner]

Good question. It's always good to re-examine received wisdom. I used only a 50mm lens when starting out. Just an SLR and that one lens was all I could handle when I was staggering through so many mistakes and wondering why other people saw so many pictures that I was blind to. After almost a year, I bought a 135mm for a vacation, but didn't use it on the trip or for six months afterwards. Then, when I switched to the longer lens, I used it almost exclusively for over a year. At that time, it better suited my way of seeing things than the 50--or maybe I just needed to work with another focal length. My habit now is to mount a 50mm and carry a 90mm, and no more. Having a lot of lenses at hand is good for studio or landscape; but not for the kind of work I do, which is shoot-fast street stuff.

[tom_halfhill]

Over the years I have discovered a paradox: the more lenses you carry, the more likely your camera will be mounting the "wrong" lens. Seems like it should be the other way around, but it's not.

 

Think about it. If you have only one lens, say 50mm, it's always the "right" lens, because you have no other options. You have to make your vision fit the 50mm.

 

Let's say you add a 35mm lens. Now there's only a 50% chance you've got the right lens on the camera when you see a picture. Let's say you add a 90mm lens. Now there's only a 33% chance you've got the right lens on the camera when you see a picture. The more lenses you carry, the less chance the camera is mounting the right lens, and the more time you'll spend changing lenses.

 

Of course, a zoom lens is one solution, but they are large and have slow maximum apertures. You may need to duplicate some of the zoom's focal lengths with prime lenses just to have more lens speed when you need it. Another Catch-22.

 

When somebody invents a small, light, affordable 20-200mm f/2 zoom lens, photography will be much easier. Meanwhile, I have found that three lenses are almost always sufficient and four lenses are the practical maximum to carry. Which three or four are up to you.

[stephen_w.]

Tom, very well said. I never thought about it in quite those terms before. FWIW, I have a 35 more-or-less welded on one body and a 50 on another for local work. When I leave the house, I pick up one camera, depending on the film inside and either the 35 or 50, unless I have a particular subject in mind, then I'll take the lens which will give me what I'm looking for. One day I took only the 12 to the St. Louis Arch. When I travel, I add a 21, 75 and 12 (for fun).