Do primes force you to "think more" - also, how to focus on gear less?

[Bill Blackwell]

I often hear it said that primes "limit you" more and force you to think more. Is this true? ...

When I started learning photography ~50-years ago on a Leica M3 and a 35mm goggled Summicron, the whole exercise was about "limitations" - one prime lens, no meter (remember sunny 16?), and two rolls of Tri-X film.

My instructor was famous for saying things like "never get caught up with gadgets - you don't need them!" And I've come to agree. In later years when I sported around zooms, meters, and (later) aperture priority cameras, I began to lose those skills I'd learned so well.

So, yes - prime lenses limit you. But that's part of the adventure. I often carry a bag full of lenses with me whenever I shoot, but I usually put one on the camera and leave it there to intentionally limit myself.

However, in the current digital world I still grant myself the laziness of aperture priority. Sorry, Mr. Nash!

 

[Evergreen States]

Challenges are good to improve one’s skills, but it’s helpful to think about what specific things you want to get better at so that your path becomes clearer. The hardest part - for me at least - is sticking with the decision for a sustained time. The Photographer’s Playbook is a great guide of exercises by many different photographers created for this very purpose.

A three picture story sounds like a really good idea to me. Instagram allows one to make posts with multiple pictures now. So does coming up with ideas of what to look for. This will actually help you narrow your focus so that you know what to look for in the world. Ralph Gibson calls this having a point of departure. Having a list of words like “etherial” in mind (even written on a note card if it helps) can be helpful. You can use them as guides from shooting through printing.

I would caution against planning everything out in advance, though. You need to allow some room for discovery. Creativity is a process.

 

[charjohncarter]

I like primes because it is one less thing to think about.

As one of our RFF members so perspicaciously and sagaciously stated, 'limitations increases creativity.'

 

[phrons]

Maybe for beginners

 

[Bob Michaels]

There are plenty of people in the world who have mastered the technical side of photography who have “nothing interesting to say” with their photographs. ......

I was one of those. Hopefully, I am no longer. I photographed seriously from the mid '70's to the late '80's. I will say I was technically very good including printing in the darkroom. But I began to realize there was no real meat on the bone and quit totally for about 12-13 years. I only did family happy snaps. Around 2000 I became really interested in a topic, my local culture, and in the process of investigating it started to photograph again to document some of the things I was seeing. That original interest has tightened, morphed, moved to the Mississippi Delta, and now to Cuba where I live part time. But the original theme remains some 20 years later.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Good questions in OP.

Bad ass answers:

Millions in USSR used nothing but one film camera with one, 50mm lens on it.
I can't say they are all became good photographers, but here is something good in those pictures. Perhaps how people could have good times even in bad times.

Using only manual will not make you more gifted. It will help to learn exposure and nothing else. It just technicality, not creativity.
If you really want to learn a lot about exposure, do not waste your time on film. Get Canon 500D with kit lens for small money and learn how aperture, shutter speed, ISO and light, motion are correlated. Learning it on film is thousands times less effective.
At least get light meter on the phone, one which shows the scene, not just old farts styled with numbers only.

Good zoom has absolutely no difference from primes. Especially for learning. Instead of switching pile of primes, just get good zoom which has 20mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm marks on it. Or with 24 to 70 mm.
200mm is good tool for distortions free passport photos.

Always look at the scene at feel it. How you want to capture? Wide and close, all in one or with some distance. Choose prime mark on the zoom accordingly.

Take thousands digital pictures to learn exposure and to see which focal length you are at most of the time.

Three pictures are way too many. If picture is good it will trigger the viewer to tell viewer's own story. This is what good photo is about. Three are for crime scenes.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Forest_rain.
A very cool article that answers some of your questions:
https://www.japancamerahunter.com/2014/11/storytellers-kit-daniel-schaefer/

A video about a pro photographer Osamu Kanemura who owns and uses one camera w a fixed lens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM4UA4iUQQI&t=116s
It's in Japanese but worth a watch even if you don't speak the language.

 

[Oscuro]

Jay Maisel shoots with a zoom. 28-300. But he is also known for extremely long focal lengths.

David Alan Harvey shoots mostly with 35mm focal length (or equivalent).

HCB shot mostly with 50.

Yes, there are always exceptions. The rule is to look. And to see.

Jay is right. Go look at art.

Ciao,
Mme. O.

 

[jordan.dickinson]

I try to only shoot primes, and in fact, I don't own a single zoom lens. I have from 21mm-135mm covered with primes and I love shooting this way in compositional parameters as it really forces me to move and find compositions.

Please note that I don't think there's anything wrong with zooms, but I find that the speed benefits, quality of design, and the requirement of me to find photos is both compelling, and prescribing in the prime game. I enjoy this limit (benefit) and find it immeasurably useful personally.

 

[Tom R]

I'm sure that this is topic falls under the umbrella of personal tastes and nature of the task at hand.

That being said, I haven't used a "zoom lens" since the 1980's--and that we because it was provided as part of the standard kit.

For personal work, I've always used one lens because this eliminated a lot of stress and second-guessing. After about 30 years with that one lens (a 35mm summicron), I began using a different lens, a 28mm Elmarit. I have two bodies, one for each lens.

Depending upon what needs to be done, I choose one or the other ... and use that choice for several weeks at a time.

Again, this is a personal preference that I'm allowed because I'm retired and work only on personal projects.

I'm sure that one could just leave the zoom lens preset to a particular focal length and achieve the same workflow, but for many, I suppose, having the capability to do a thing interferes with getting the thing done.

 

[Darthfeeble]

I don't understand any of this, my eye sees a picture I want to take and the tool will take it. It doesn't matter to me what the tool is equipped with, it's my eye and that stays the same.

 

[Orthogonal]

As one of our RFF members so perspicaciously and sagaciously stated, 'limitations increases creativity.'

Fair, though it's equally true that limitations decrease possibility. I'm sure we've all had situations where we have an ideal framing in the mind's eye that we don't have the lens for.

The comment so far that resonates best with me (even as someone that almost exclusively shoots primes) is John Bragg's. Zooms for me also really do make me think harder - they add a extra parameter of complexity and decision making to the process that doesn't exist with a prime. This is why I can't be on board with the idea that primes "make you think more" - if anything they allow you to think less; less about FL and more about what's in the viewfinder.

 

[PRJ]

My advice for the OP- less existential angst and more making photographs.

Photography is like walking. No one can teach you how to walk. You just have to try it until you do it the way you do it. I've known a lot of great photographers in my life and they all walk differently. It is really just that simple. There are no secrets to it. You have to discover it by yourself. If you have to have someone explain it to you, you will be paralyzed trying to figure out how to do it.

 

[Archlich]

Regarding how to focus on gear less - I bought an unfinished 2"x2"x2" titanium cube from a local metal dealer. Then a Teflon cube of the same size.

I hold them every morning for the peace of mind. Both will outlast me. Aren't so different from the many cameras I've accumulated...

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Forest_Rain, in answer to your question "How to focus on gear less"...... spend less time on forums like these and then be selective about what you look at. On the front page, there are 13 threads related to gear, and then one about photo awards, and one "show me your film images." Computers are great tools..... google various photographers, you'll find some who talk about their process. Look at images, there's lots of choice.
We tend to focus on the less significant things. That reminds me of the story of the famous musician who looked quizzically at the person who said " your violin sounds great." ....How about "That camera takes great pictures"

 

[maigo]

A video about a pro photographer Osamu Kanemura who owns and uses one camera w a fixed lens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM4UA4iUQQI&t=116s
It's in Japanese but worth a watch even if you don't speak the language.

Thanks for the video. I had never heard of Mr Kanemura before.
Seems like most of his photos are taken with Makina 67 in B&W.

Today I ordered his new book: Beta Exercise: The Theory and Practice of Osamu Kanemura

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Thanks for the video. I had never heard of Mr Kanemura before.
Seems like most of his photos are taken with Makina 67 in B&W.

Today I ordered his new book: Beta Exercise: The Theory and Practice of Osamu Kanemura

Maigo... The one Makina is his tool. After thousands of images, he has it serviced. He is one of the true practitioners of photographic simplicity.

 

[Canyongazer]

"I’d suggest that if anything, you should think less"
Vince


When I was a grad student my advisor, Jim Harrison, urged:
"Shoot with your heart."
"Edit with your head."
I try to do just that.

 

[chipgreenberg]

VERY good/entertaining talk by Sam Abel. He's a great presenter. It's been a bit since I've watched this. If I remember right he uses an 85 and 28.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/life-photograph-sam-abell

Also recommend reading Twyla Tharp The Creative Habit.

 

[David Hughes]

I think the same way about all of them, primes or zooms, because the picture is what I'm pondering.

There's one difference; sometimes when using the prime I think that I should have brought the zoom with me instead and vice versa.

The same thought applies to P&S's, SLR's and RF's; you can throw in film and digital for good measure because getting it right all the time is impossible.

Regards, David