sammm

I like the stupid quote.

In choosing your lenses, think about how you will use the camera. I tend to take a lot of environmental portraits, and would get first the 50mm lens, then a 100mm lens, and then a 70-200 zoom. Forget about the 35-80; you can just as easily move closer or farther away with a 50mm and get better resolution.

 

But if you plan on shooting wildlife, especially small animals like birds, or will be shooting a lot of sports, you may well prefer to drop the 100mm and the big zoom for either a long prime (e.g., 400mm) or a really big zoom that has a very wide aperature (and so a low f#).

 

The reason the gurus don't like the zooms are, first, that they don't make you think as much about framing and, second, that you tend to compromise resolution and contrast in order to get the zoom mechanics. The reason to use a zoom, especially on the long side, is that it can let you get the shots when your location is fixed and your subject is in rapid motion.

 

The f number shows maximum aperture and thus the amount of light you can expose your film to. The number is the focal length (e.g., 50mm) divided by the aperature. If you can conceivably afford a big zoom that goes to 2.8 instead of 4.5, get it, you'll really appreciate it. Consider something used from the photo.net classified or the online auction sites. For the smaller 50mm lens, I really appreciate my 1.4. You should look under "learning" on the site for the write ups on lens and exposure; they'll go through this better than I can here.

I'm coming late to this - I was on vacation when the topic arose. But there's a comment in here I'd love to second, which is Carl Root's suggestion for adding a technical quality category. The technical comments are the one's I most look for and learn from and anything that emphasizes or encourages them would be useful.