Archive for the ‘Zoom lens’ Tag
This is the oldest and the cheapest lens that I have. My wife bought me this glass as a gift fifteen year ago for about $300. At that time it was very expensive for us.
I almost never used it. Oddly, I thought that having such expensive zoom I should stay with Pentax brand. This is the classic example how wrong reasons lead to great decisions.
Now, when I do candid street photography, this lens has the second life. I even bought rubber hood for it. It is fun to take quick snapshots using pull-push for zoom and manual focus. With some practice you can operate it pretty fast. Image quality is good enough.
Pentax’s in-body image stabilization technology works great with this stuff too. Usually, I configured it for 200mm. When I am in the mood for long range hunting I have fun with Promaster 60-300.
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Editor’s choice for Image of the Year
Rules and Myths of Candid Photography: Wide angle or telephoto lenses
Before my trip to Peru I read a lot about how dangerous it was. Many people had opted out of having DSLR and decided to only take a Point-and-Shoot. Actually, we ended up having a wonderful trip and no problems with the camera, but back then I was genuinely concerned. I only took my Pentax D20K with my cheapest lens – 18-55mm zoom. Any other lens would’ve cost at least twice as much.
Zoom is all about compromise. Image quality is not great. Nor is it fast. Still, I was not going to walk a lot at night.
For candid photography a small sized lens is always important.
It is easy to appreciate its flexibility on top of a cliff.
For more pictures go to Peru 2010
Many bloggers and experts like to say that you should use wide angle lenses because they require being close to the subject. This makes street shooting a “fair” game. It seems dishonest to use a telephoto by hiding from a distance.
Hunters have the same debate when choosing a weapon. They will argue that it is valiant to select a tool that will give their victim a chance to escape.
However, we are photographers and our goal is to make great images. We are not in a contest with people on the street or with each other. The choice of lenses is governed by artistic considerations, feasibility, or convenience, not by some superficial notion of machismo.
Often I use lenses from wide to short telephoto, including small zoom. On occasion I have fun with my old long telephoto 60-300.
I don’t toggle lenses during shooting. My choice is based mostly on my current mood and situation. If I am in doubt I use a “normal” 31 mm (with 1.5x crop factor).
I don’t use a long telephoto because being far from the object (using small view angle) makes the depth of perspective compressed. But sometimes this compression is an important part of the composition.
Wide angle lenses allow the photographer to be very close to the person. Photographers can invade the personal space of the subject before getting a chance to use the camera’s viewfinder. This may require shooting from the hip or belly. Do not frame tightly in order to have latitude for rotation and cropping.
Use any lenses that you think are most appropriate for your situation. Don’t concern yourself with artificial rules that many candid street photography experts try to push.
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Candid Street Photo 