One lens or several (for an outing)?

One lens or several (for an outing)?

  • I do my best work when I'm using just a single lens.

    Votes: 165 70.2%

  • I need two or more focal lengths to realise my photographic vision.

    Votes: 70 29.8%
  • Total voters
    235
Of five Canon and one Bessa R rangefinders that I use on a regular basis, three will have a 50mm, one has a 45mm, the other two are setup with a 35mm. I don't like lugging a bag and just don't like having an extra camera hanging on me. An extra lens "in my pocket, invites loss or damage in my experience.
 
I prefer to go out with one lens and one body because I seldom use a camera bag. Just an extra roll of film and light meter in my pocket.

If I cannot finish the roll, I may continue on another day either with the same lens or maybe another lens.
 
I don't like bags either and voted for 1 lens, which is true, but on the 2 cams I own the use and outcome is totally different.
On my X100 this is very obvious, a slim package for non-intimidating available light people photography.
My alternative is an E-5 with the brilliant 24-150 PannyLeica in a toploader for on my hikes.
Quite a different beast.
 
If I'm out doing errands I'll have my M6TTL .85 LHSA black paint with black paint Leicavit and usually the 35 Lux Asph Titanium, along with the Voightlander 35mm optical finder mounted in the accy shoe.

If I'm out deliberately photographing, I'll have at a minimum, the 21 Asph, 35 Lux, 50 Noct. (only 50 I own), and the 90 Apo. Usually put the 90 Apo on a Motor-driven M6TTL .85 and keep either the 35 or 50 on the .85 LHSA. Working with one camera on the chest and the other over the left shoulder, I have the other two lenses in my Domke F-803 Camera Satchel (smallest they make, ideal for Leicas!) in the padded removeable compartment, stacked one on top of the other back cap to back cap. Add some film, spare batteries for the Motor-M & a spare for the TTL's, pen, spare sync cord, soft release for really slow shutter speeds, etc. and I'm ready to "walk around" with my "kit".

If I'm traveling and go for the purpose of a "photo mission", I'll bring my Domke F-1X and have another .58 M6TTL with a Motor-M and the 28 Cron & Finder in the shoe, along with my .72 LHSA w/ Leicavit as well as the 135 Apo. Extra film, batteries, a Vivitar 283, Gossen Luna-Pro (bought 40 years ago--changed the battery twice?), Leitz tabletop tripod w/ small ball head, lens cleaning cloth, etc.

Sometimes I'll mount a lens on each of the four bodies and take the F1-X over my right shoulder, with left shoulder getting one set-up and the neck holding two, but since I'm getting a little older (52 with arthritis), I'm liking the Satchel more & more!

As a former news photog I trained myself to be able to "see" several focal lengths at once, so I hardly use the viewfinder switch on the bodies. For me it just comes natural to see this way. When I did weddings for a living on film, the (2) chrome bodies (.58 & .85) had color and the two black paint bodies had Delta-400 B&W. In the "heat of battle" it was just easier that way.

Sorta new here, but "been around the block" photographically speaking. Sorry for the long-winded answer. To this day when someone asks me how to learn photography, I tell them with a 35mm rangefinder & a TLR. There is NO substitue for good composition.

Thanks for putting up with me.

Dave
 
I prefer to go on 1 lens outings.
I've turned into a 25 or 50 (on M8.. thus 33 or 65) kinda guy.
If I am doing street with the 25, I can get in close
If I am doing street with the 50, I can be a bit further back (across street even), but it gives me relatively tight composition.

When I try to shoot the gap and carry the 35 (~45) .. I end up with chopped heads/feet, or really loose compositions I need to crop tremendously!

The 35 is quickly becoming an "indoors only" lens for me..
 
ChrisN said:
Do you work best with a single lens at a time (for an outing of several hours for example), or do you need two or more lenses at different focal lengths to be able to realise your vision?
Click to expand...

one... always :)

the only problem is that from time to time you get yourself in a nice situation where you wish for another lens, usually something way different, but it's so rare that it's not really worth bothering :)
 
going out tomorrow with the CV 21/4 and Industar 22 collapsible 50/3.5 on the M4-P, with the 135 2.8 Nikkor on the F to keep my shoulder aching, just in case an RF body and 2 tiny lenses were too light.


i figure that's a pretty reasonable spread -- enough variation to cover about anything with a lens swap and a few steps fore/aft, while minimizing weight/extraneous stuff (barring the F -- holy &$*% it's heavy)
 
Old days apart (when I used to carry cumbersome DSLR and even medium format on tripod), I'm now very happy with a M9-P and one lens. And my choice lens used to be a cron 35, until a friend gave me his cron 50. This is now permanently mounted on my M, while the 35 collects dust on a shelf.

Talking about dust, I do manage to get dust on the sensor even without changing lenses, can't imagine what that would look like if I changed lens all the time.. ;-)
 
I usually have one of two lenses (50mm and 35mm) on the body, with the other in the bag. Too often I found myself needing to switch to the 35 when I didn't have it on hand. Tried using two bodies but really didn't like how it felt more cumbersome than just the lens.
Never mind that it was probably no more so than when I'm using an SLR with an extra lens.
 
I voted two (and more), because normally I'm out to photograph with an exact project in mind. For urban spaces it's nearly impossible having a wide angle view just stepping further away. That's why I carry at least the 50mm along with a 28mm. And maybe a 90mm too.
 
I voted one but My favourite ones are 50mm Cron / 35mm Cron on M6 and on M8 I like 35mm as it give me a comfortable focal length. So if you have one camera with one lens you'll feel more comfortable and can settle down for shooting continuously. Of course if I have two cameras with two lenses it'll be more better and we can get adapted to in two focal length changing two Visual . But here the very question is how do we feel having multiple cameras or one camera with multiple lenses..... of course .
 
Just one for me. On some multi-day trips I will take all my lenses because they're small, but one goes on the camera and stays there until it gets dark and I want the 1.4 or something.
 
2 or 3. Normally I carry a 45mm, 85mm and a 200mm.

I shoot a lot of landscapes and scenery, and find having a long lens is really useful in a lot of situations.
 
on short trips (domestic - two days/two nights) I will take two lens and two bodies (film and digital). On long trips (international - one week or more) it's normally one lens and one body. Might sound kind of backward, but I hate to carry stuff on long trips, where as for a short time it's fine.

I enjoy working both film and digital and mixing the results for sharing.

Casey
 
When I'm doing reportage-style stuff, I need to be restricted to one lens. When I'm out with the tripod, taking my time, I prefer having all my lenses available.
 
One lens tends to focus my mind and stop me faffing with gear (as does using film 'cause I can't adjust colour and contrast and do chimping etc). Pleases the wife too!
 
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