Are All-Purpose Telephoto Lenses Making Us Lazy?

[dkm]

You must be a flatlander. :)

 

I live in the mountains. Walking isn't always an option (I can't walk on air) and primes can be limiting. I own both zooms and primes, but honestly, composition and "look" is more important to me than some idea that primes are somehow nobler.

 

ymmv.

[neild]

Changing perspective requires the use of our legs - zooming a zoom does not change perspective, only cropping of the image.

 

Comments please.

[Matt Laur]

Neil: well, sure. Obviously. But honestly, the desire to have a change of perspective doesn't always dovetail with the reality of many shooting scenarios. I can have my 70-200 mounted, and achieve very different fields of view on a given subject without moving (I may not be <i>able</i> to move, you know?), or I can set it to 85mm and walk about, and then set it to 200mm and walk about. Or, I could juggle an 85mm prime, and a 200mm prime and do the same thing (walk about), but I can't use either of those at 120mm, no matter HOW much I walk about or change my perspective.

 

This isn't a dichotomy, here. People can have zooms and primes (I do). Right tool for the job, that's all. It's not complicated, and there isn't some moral failing or loss of dignity involved in using a zoom. For me, missing a key shot is the failing. And the simple fact is that a good zoom is more likely to facilitate that under some circumstances. And I'll be the first one to swap it out for a prime if I'm able to work more deliberately or the situation calls for it.

[bjscharp]

<p>I think the key-part in your story is this line:</p>

 

<p><i>(also, my daughter thinks its funny)</i></p>

 

<p>If your daughter thinks it's funny, she'll undoubtly laugh more, leading to nicer picture opportunities.</p>

 

<p>Experiment, and use what you like, that's my advice. Don't bother about what `pros' or armchair photographers tell you.</p>

[willpridham]

Neil, optically speaking, your are 100% correct. Perspective deals with angles and you need to move in order to change angles. Cropping will not change your perspective, contrary to popular belief. The photo was still shot from the same place! However, dropping down to one knee will change perspective.

 

Matt, I don't think anyone has brought up morality here or is making it complicated (except me with zoom and telephoto thing), however all I have indicated is that zooms are over-used. I over-use them too. This isn't a purist stance, it's merely an observation after spending a couple days out actively practicing things that I learned years ago regarding light and composition.

[willpridham]

Bruce said: "For example, those photos of your daughter. If she was a little more antsy waiting for you to get

your 'correct' composition, you may have missed the shot altogether."

 

This is true Bruce as I missed many potential shots. But I wasn't out there working, I was learning. I wouldn't

suggest doing what I am proposing during an actual photo shoot with a paying client!

 

For all the shots I did miss, I also got some interesting ones that I'm not sure I would have seen with my zoom lens.<div></div>

[willpridham]

"antsy waiting for you to get your 'correct' composition"

 

I hardly pose my candid portraits. Not that there is anything wrong with it! It's just my personal preference and I feel the subject is more at easy.

[willpridham]

Some post-process bleaching was done on this, as well as defogging in the water. I also applied a soft light diffusion mask to this. It prints out quite sharp actually and colorful as does the reflection in the water.

[Matt Laur]

Obviously I was a bit tongue-in-cheek on the morality issue. My point was that this topic seems to inspire a certain fervor that seems disconnected from its real relevence, and the more people get entrenched on the topic, the more their tone - sometimes! not picking on you, Will - approaches the way they talk about ethical issues. It's almost as if some people feel that others are doing photography - as a noble art, craft, and profession - a disservice by using kit zoom lenses. I prefer to think that those who, by knowing when to use primes and thus produce better work, are better off. Their work will be that much more distinctive amidst the swamp of prosumer-gear-captured zoom-from-your-couch type shots. Or not. It's so subjective that I guess that's what gets my hackles up in these discussions... there's usually a LOT more to whether a shot worked or not, and the sort of things that people get wrong in composition, lighting, exposure, timing, and other technique are generally ALSO rough around the edges right along with a poor understanding of point of view and perspective.

 

The same personal evolution that improves all of those other areas also, I think, tends to accompany refinement in thinking about camera position. Certainly bothering to mount a prime occasionally will hugely accelerate one's thinking in that area. It has for me.

[willpridham]

It's all good Matt. I respect everyone's opinion and that's why there is chocolate and vanilla. I'm sure that there are hundreds of photographers with much greater experience than I that would dismiss my notion as well.

 

That is the beauty of photography though, it is very subjective. There are multiple ways of doings things to get similar results.

[mkelton]

Yes, but so is air conditioning.

[willpridham]

I like it cold... everyone else who likes it hot sucks! LOL.

[rconey]

This conversation has reminded me that I have way too many lenses. I need to make another trip to KEH camera. Then I can make the mortgage payment......

[willpridham]

My fiancé won't let me into Henry's without her...