zoom rethink...

[back alley]

i have been avoiding zooms ever since i left the slr scene in the rear view mirror!
zooms have been a near crippling lens for me to use.
having all that choice from here to there left me indecisive and 'zooming' back and forth looking for 'the best' framing i could muster.
this usually left me frustrated and without a decent image in the end.

today…shooting with the xe1 and the 16 to 50 zoom my attitude seems to be changing.
first i shoot most of what i shoot within that range of focal lengths, if you substitute the 16 for 18 and the 50 for 60 all my primes are covered in the one lens. it is so nice to carry just the one lens…too bad it's so slow as it can never take the place of my faster lenses.
what has changed for me?

well, when shooting primes i have a pretty fair idea of what the 18 or the 23 or the 60 will show me when i raise the camera to my eye…so i can think/feel/see ahead of taking the shot.
before, with a zoom, i raised the camera to my eye and fiddled with the damn thing till i had a shot composed to my liking. i was fitting the lens to the scene.
what i'm doing now is setting the lens at 16 or 23 or 35 or 50 and again, having a pretty good idea of what it will show me if i raise the camera to my eye.
i'm treating the zoom as a series of primes instead of an ever moving/changing lens.
it has cleared my mind, taken away the indecision/frustration and made the process much more fun again!
i am looking forward to fuji's newer faster version of this lens...

 

[helen.HH]

well then, please post some photos
would love to see the way this zooooom draws 😀

 

[kshapero]

This a common dilemma. For now I work only with primes.

 

[daveleo]

I just can't get into zooms. I own one (have bought and sold a bunch, trying trying to accept them) but I never use the thing.
I dream about selling all my primes and buying "the one true zoom". Can't do it.

PS: the one really fabulous zoom lens that I ever owned (still do !) is the one on my Leica Digilux 2. Makes fabulous pictures. The Pana LX3 was no slouch either. But both of these cameras have very small sensors.

 

[jbrubaker]

Zooms have their place! I hate changing lenses outdoors where there is no place to set anything down. I always seem to want a lens change on a beach, when the wind and sand are blowing, or something like that. The Fuji 18-55mm zoom is a really nice all-purpose lens. ---john.

 

[Jason Sprenger]

For short focal lengths, I much prefer primes. With a short zoom on an SLR, I tend to go too wide with it and regret it later.

At a zoo or similar venue, I'll take an SLR and a 70-200 as I cannot zoom with my feet so much.

 

[back alley]

well then, please post some photos
would love to see the way this zooooom draws 😀

check the rff fuji section, 16-50 lens pics.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Zooms are very practical. I use them for this reason.
But most of the time it is primes for me on DSLRs, SLR.

 

[YYV_146]

I avoid zooms unless I'm shooting at >200mm lengths...

Maybe when someone makes a 24-70mm f1.4, though 😀

 

[Godfrey]

Zooms are very practical and convenient, it is true, and modern zooms at the high end can be exceptionally good performers.

But try as I might, I cannot get on with the usual run of wide to portrait-tele mid-range zooms. They seem to just get in my way most of the time. I like zooms at the end ranges ... ultrawide to wide-normal, tele to long-tele, and primes in the middle. That works for me.

G

 

[burancap]

Back to the future for me too!

I am not leaving my primes, but as the body gets wearier, the zooms trump painkillers. The Fuji 18-55 is excellent and my new love is the Leica 35-70/4 Macro -just brilliant!

 

[back alley]

 

[John E Earley]

I use a zoom when taking pictures of my grandkids but only because it's easier than chasing them 😉

 

[lxmike]

To be honest I have always used primes, never zooms, favouring 28mm and 50mm

 

[lxmike]

I use a zoom when taking pictures of my grandkids but only because it's easier than chasing them 😉

Thats a good idea

 

[back alley]

if you're talking rangefinders…yeah, zooms hardly fit the bill.

 

[kaiwasoyokaze]

for me, zooms are good for long exposures and when you want to have some kind of warp speed effect. that's the only reason i would want one.

 

[GaryLH]

If I am carrying two bodies, it is usually a prime for each body. The secondary camera stays in the camera bag until needed. If I am only using one body I tend to go one lens mostly. It is usually a prime, but sometimes it can also be a combo of zoom and fast prime. The zoom being the primary lens and the fact prime for low light.

For d/slr's I tend to use zooms more then primes. For cameras like the Fuji's, primes more than zooms.

Zooms definitely have their place.. They may not be as sharp or fast as a prime, but you are not going to miss a shot because u were in middle of changing lenses and they can provide precise framing.

Gary

 

[GaryLH]

if you're talking rangefinders…yeah, zooms hardly fit the bill.

For rangefinders..I think there were only three pseudo zoom ever. Leica makes two of them tri-elmar and wate. Konica made the other, a 21/35 dual. I have owned the Konica and tri-elmar.

Not sure if anyone else did one.

Gary

 

[jsrockit]

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