Thursday, October 04, 2007

The Forgotten Lens: Gary Voth has a point


I was recently in a discussion about learning photography and what kind of camera should be a good beginner. Here was my answer: go to EBay and buy a cheap 2 1/4 twin lens and 40 rolls of film. Then put it on a tripod and make every single image count. No rapid fire 'gotchas', no hunt and peck photography. Slow, deliberate image making with a tool that simply makes an image. Learn how to do it that way, and you will definitely be a better photographer at the end of the 40 rolls. Gary takes a similar approach with the long overlooked 5mm prime. As an aside, I never had one for 25 years. When I finally got one I fell in love with the simple view it represented. When not shooting women, my F3 would have a 50mm 1.2 or 35mm f2 on it. Dang... I miss those guys... (Thanks Kevin) NOTE: Image by Gary Voth
Gary Voth Photography: The Forgotten Lens: "Of course, people like these zoom lenses. They're convenient and their drawbacks are not readily apparent in casual use. 'Consumer' zoom lenses definitely have their places, for example in vacation and travel photography, much of which takes place out of doors. However, I'm convinced they make poor choices for many beginning SLR users who are motivated by the idea of taking high quality pictures of their kids and family."

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