Pedal problem

[payasam]

I have so far resisted the temptation of posting, on this site, photos not taken with rangefinder cameras. This one was to have been put in a thread where I said that while selective focus was possible with Four Thirds cameras and lenses, it was difficult and was not such as to satisfy anyone used to 35mm full frame. However, in view of a consideration serious enough to be called a physiological threat to photographers, I decided to start a new thread.

Thirty months ago I got my first zoom lens (on a 4/3 camera). I had no earlier experience of zoom lenses, although since the mid 1970s I had used Canon SLRs for which those lenses were to be had.

With 50 and 35 and 100 and 28 and 135 lenses (Canon SLR and Leica/Canon RFDR), I zoomed with my feet and managed well enough. Getting closer to the subject or farther away became actions that did not require thought.

Now, having done a great deal of work with a zoom lens, where the photographer need not move as distance is determined optically and needs no more than a supple wrist, I find that I do not zoom with my feet any more when using lenses of fixed focal length. My feet might just as well not be there.

I am worried. Do feet which have fallen into disuse become vestigial, like the muscles with which only a few humans can still wag their ears, or do they suffer atrophy and eventually turn green and fall off?

 

[Mr_Flibble]

😀

While one does indeed no longer have to move to the wanted focus distance, one does still have to walk/climb to the acquire the necessary angle to produce a pleasing composition...

The camera neck strap has so far not caused us to lose our opposable thumbs either 😉

 

[robklurfield]

this is one of the reasons that, as much as I enjoyed using it, I was finally happy to sell my Digilux 2. it made me physically and mentally lazy. I stopped moving both my feet and my grey matter. I suppose zooms are great for sports photographers, but it's primes all the way for me. using wide angles more than normal or teles, forces me to always try to confront the world directly and so I think there are pyschological benefits, too. perhaps our feet will turn into stationary objects with all the functionality of tripods.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I am worried. Do feet which have fallen into disuse become vestigial, like the muscles with which only a few humans can still wag their ears, or do they suffer atrophy and eventually turn green and fall off?

If they do - a few of us will be stumped!......sorry😱

 

[payasam]

Owwwww, yelllllp

 

[marke]

I saw this problem occuring with me when I got my first TV remote control. I knew the old quads would begin to atrophy. Now days, it's become a real struggle getting out of the over-stuffed recliner. 😱

Seriously, I think robklurfield said it well. Before I went back to shooting RF a few years ago, I never though I could ever go back to primes again. But now, I feel the same about zoom lenses. There are obviously times when a zoom can be a big help, but I have found that uses primes has helped me shoot in a way that keeps me physically and mentally alert. Hey, what do you think kept Henri so slim and smart?

The Surgeon General has determined that zoom lenses are detrimental to the general health of a photographer, in addition to promoting anti-social behavior. That can only lead to the breakdown of civilization.

 

[Spavinaw]

Every so often on eBay I see SINGLE focal length ZOOM lenses for sale (Example: 135mm Zoom Lens for Sale). Maybe one could have the best of both worlds with a lens like this. I never owned one of these myself and don't plan to. 🙄

 

[btgc]

No need to worry - zooms are just lenses containing several focal lengths in one barrel. You still can choose focal length and then use feet to fill frame 🙂

 

[ampguy]

There are uses for zooms that you can't do with feet or primes, moving them in and out fast during an exposure, it can look like a comet is coming crashing into earth. Can be very effective with sports and auto racing.

 

[jesse1dog]

I've read so far in this thread and still wonder about the title!
I thought it was going to be about bicycles and ' payasam' had got on his bike and pedalled away!
Joking apart - that's a very nice portrait thats been posted.

jesse

 

[btgc]

There are uses for zooms that you can't do with feet or primes, moving them in and out fast during an exposure, it can look like a comet is coming crashing into earth. Can be very effective with sports and auto racing.

I yet have to try this, but true, this is known trick.

 

[robklurfield]

true, but, for most of us, also, irresistible. like that cookie left by someone in the kitchen when I've promised myself to avoid sweets.

No need to worry - zooms are just lenses containing several focal lengths in one barrel. You still can choose focal length and then use feet to fill frame 🙂

 

[robert blu]

Being a fan of bycicles I was too thinking of a thread about pictures and cicling ! Anyway I think it is a nice portrait, the expression in her eyes makes it. Now: woom or primes ? difficult questions, I was thinking that zooms are (were?) necessary when shootiung slides. But now I'm getting old and prefer to move light and started to walk around with one camera and two lenses: one on the camera and one in my pocket (or bag). And I discover that with some practice I can correct frame even without a zoom. But progress (?) makes us lazier and weaker: remote controll on tv, air conditioning (in areas where it is not so hot), electric powered bycicles, and why not zooms ! But final result is what counts, if pictures are good and we are satisifed it is ok !
ciao, robert

 

[buzzkill58]

I use a couple of zoom lens with my DSLR when shooting school sporting events <ducking behind a big rock>.

In the past year I have returned to film, rangefinder cameras, and the joy of prime lens! It has been an interesting and enlightening experience to walk around my subject to find the best angle and framing I like using a prime.


Buzz

 

[dee]

Maybe with auto-focus my eyes will withdraw into my head LOL .

Zooms are OK , but I recollect when one would find a good quality F 1.8 50mm lens ' free ' with every SLR - so you could take pictures in low light - it's all f 3.5 if you are lucky , and f 4.5 quite often .

I have a 45mm Rokkor pancake permanently mounted on my Panasonic L1 body - 90mm f 2 !
But I now have tunnel vision LOL

In some ways we seem to have thrown away the baby with the bathwater !

My ASdee is more comfortable with a lens and viewing system which is constant though .

 

[btgc]

true, but, for most of us, also, irresistible. like that cookie left by someone in the kitchen when I've promised myself to avoid sweets.

I don't have any, but seems there are zooms with locks...or this is only on dual focus lenses? I'd love to set zoom lens at certain focal length, lock it and don't look again if it has not moved.

 

[payasam]

Such an arrangement would certainly be useful to some people: although, I suspect, to too few for it to become a common feature. Often when I see something, I turn the zoom barrel to the mark of the focal length I want. Then I do not zoom in or out with the ring but do that, if necessary, with my feet. But everyone who works with zoom lenses is not accustomed to lenses of fixed focal length. I have seen more than one Zoomie having a tough time with lenses that did not zoom.

[edit] One meaning of "pedal" is "of or pertaining to the foot or feet".

 

[Doug]

Yes, as in "bipedal"... And it's the use of those feet that will give you different perspective in your photos. With different distances to the subject, its relationship to the background changes, regardless of focal length, so there's still reason to move oneself. 🙂

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Well... not to be obstreperous, but I really like zooms. And when I use my SLR cameras, I only have zoom lenses. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with them.

Of course, if I'm photographing with Leicas, I walk. Then, the Leica bodies are a lot lighter than my Nikons, so zooming with them would be kind of irrelevant...

Oh, did I forget that I really like the red dots on my M6TTL bodies? 🙂

 

[payasam]

There's nothing wrong with zooms, Francisco. Just that when I bought my film SLR kit in the mid 1970s, such zooms as were available were expensive, complicated and delicate. Fixed focal length lenses gave decidedly better images. Now, for most general work with digital, I nearly always use a zoom.