I Know, I Know, Another What Lens Question but!!!

[russellsnr]

Hi, Ok I have in my bag a 1Ds Mk II, 17-40mm, 70-200 F4, 28-135 IS & of course the 50mm. Main shooting is outdoors Land/Sea now I was considering a prime for the simple reason I only have the 50mm as the other lenses cover the 17 to 200mm range what do you consider would be the best option on a prime for the outdoors?. Would I be wasting my money?.
Your opinions most welcome.
Thanks
Russ

[Donald]

Russell

Not sure I understood your thinking as to why you're considering another prime. What is the 'gap' that you feel exists with your current suite of lenses?

[russellsnr]

Russell

Not sure I understood your thinking as to why you're considering another prime. What is the 'gap' that you feel exists with your current suite of lenses?

Hi Donald and thanks for the reply, I suppose the first reason is that as I say I only have the one 50mm everything else is zoom and one of the big problems I have is composition within the zoom range, for example I see a scene, setup the camera look through the view finder and then start zoom in zoom out get home on the computer only to find the what I saw in the first pkace is not what I zoomed to so I thought if I got a prime fixed focal it would assist me in the composition of a scene. I really hope this makes sense to you.
Thank You
Russ

[rpcrowe]

Russelsnr...

You commented, "I see a scene, setup the camera look through the view finder and then start zoom in zoom out get home on the computer only to find the what I saw in the first place is not what I zoomed to so I thought if I got a prime fixed focal it would assist me in the composition of a scene."

IMO, the best tools to assist in composition are located a few inches behind the viewfinder: The photographer's eye and brain!

I often read photographers stating that they want to shoot with prime lenses because primes will "force" them to pay more attention to the composition of an image. IMO, except that a prime MAY have a faster aperture and MAY have slightly better image quality; there is absolutely nothing that say a prime lens of 50mm can do that a zoom left at 50mm cannot do.

One lens of another will not "force" you to be more attentive to composition anymore than cigarettes "force" you to smoke. Composition is up to the individual decision of the photographer at the time of the shot.

I primariy shoot with top-line zooms because: their image quality is more than sufficient for my needs and they provide me with versatility in composing my image. I tend to do the majority of my cropping in the camera and leave very little cropping for post processing. That way, I can use all the pixels in my image and don't have to throw any away. A prime will only allow me to crop in the camera if I am standing in the serendipitous exact spot I need to be. This doesn't always happen and "foot zooming" is not always a possibility.



I "could" have framed this shot differently with my zoom lens but I could not have foot zoomed from the location I was shooting. The composition may or may not be what you would have used. However, I would have had the choice of composition using a zoom. I would not have had that choice in using a prime; except to switch lenses which might of might not have provided me with the composition I wanted...

[russellsnr]

Russelsnr...

You commented, "I see a scene, setup the camera look through the view finder and then start zoom in zoom out get home on the computer only to find the what I saw in the first place is not what I zoomed to so I thought if I got a prime fixed focal it would assist me in the composition of a scene."

IMO, the best tools to assist in composition are located a few inches behind the viewfinder: The photographer's eye and brain!

I often read photographers stating that they want to shoot with prime lenses because primes will "force" them to pay more attention to the composition of an image. IMO, except that a prime MAY have a faster aperture and MAY have slightly better image quality; there is absolutely nothing that say a prime lens of 50mm can do that a zoom left at 50mm cannot do.

One lens of another will not "force" you to be more attentive to composition anymore than cigarettes "force" you to smoke. Composition is up to the individual decision of the photographer at the time of the shot.

I primariy shoot with top-line zooms because: their image quality is more than sufficient for my needs and they provide me with versatility in composing my image. I tend to do the majority of my cropping in the camera and leave very little cropping for post processing. That way, I can use all the pixels in my image and don't have to throw any away. A prime will only allow me to crop in the camera if I am standing in the serendipitous exact spot I need to be. This doesn't always happen and "foot zooming" is not always a possibility.



I "could" have framed this shot differently with my zoom lens but I could not have foot zoomed from the location I was shooting. The composition may or may not be what you would have used. However, I would have had the choice of composition using a zoom. I would not have had that choice in using a prime; except to switch lenses which might of might not have provided me with the composition I wanted...

Hi, Again firstly thank you for the reply. Yes I understand what you have said and I do realise that it is not in first instance the camera or the lens that takes the scene and produces the photograph but the eyes of the photographer, maybe it is just me I need to slow down and not try to rush but and I don't no about others but sometimes when you see a scene the excitment of the moment sets in and what I have read and listened to on DVD's goes out the window and the mind goes into the rush mode.
Thanks Again
Russ

[Colin Southern]

As an alternative, may I suggest keeping one of your zooms on a particular focal length if you want to "force" yourself into a particular mindset?

[Dave Humphries]

As an alternative, may I suggest keeping one of your zooms on a particular focal length if you want to "force" yourself into a particular mindset?

Just what I was going to suggest.

Perhaps if you can muster enough self control for this exercise, you can learn to slow down too

I know what you are going through, I have done so myself in the past, and still do with some subjects - if I see a certain type of bird of prey in flight, I get so excited, all the shots come out blurry - how silly is that?