Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:46 pm
It's rare that I shoot with a zoom lens, in fact I only ever owned one and the only time I really ever need that is when I'm in a fixed position which is rare for me. Prime lenses suite the way I work, I tend to get a nose bleed when I go beyond 50mm-though I sometimes do. All this has came about from years of shooting and finding a way of working that's right for me. It's not so much a quality issue with me, I like the way I work when I'm using a prime, none of which are slower then F/2.0. Consider what you want to shoot in the way you want to shoot it, study subjects that really interest you. Most of all photographs that mean something to me were taken with 35 & 50mm primes (not my own I might add) I can think of hundreds (in reality thousands) of important photographs taken at those focal lengths, I can't think of many beyond 100mm.
That's not to say somebody should just going out an buy a bunch of primes or zooms for that matter. I looked it it like wanting to be a musician, I didn't want to play every instrument, didn't want to play to every type of audience. I had an idea of what type of musian I wanted to be by studying and learning from those I loved. Of course I'm not talking about Lenon or Dylan, I'm talking about photographers-none of which used zooms. But in the same way that Hendrix inspired kids to pick up a guitar I was inspired by people like Bresson et el to pick up a camera and a 50mm prime. This may not be right for everybody but it was right for me. I never sort advice on it because I knew what I wanted to do before I had all the tools. Don't buy first then think later, that's just shopping. Study photography not forums, look at pictures see how they were made and why they look the way they do.
Mind you it's not a moral issue, go out and buy 100-400mm and shoot your cat all day. If it makes you happy it's nobody else's business
What uses having a great depth of field, if there is not an adequate depth of feeling? -
W. Eugene Smith