The Way I See It - Lenses

8/25/2021 Nikon D5500, AF S DX Nikkor 18-55 @ iso 12800 40mm f/5 1/10th second

My early experience with complex cameras was a Cannon Ftb, with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. Just that one lens.  A few years later I added a 135mm short telephoto. Then a Cannon F-1, and AE1 program (with a power winder) and a large collection of lenses, 24mm, 28mm, 200mm, and a 100-200mm zoom.  All but one was a fixed focal length.  When I moved to autofocus cameras in the mid 1990's zoom lenses from moderate wide angle to short telephoto had become the norm.  

When I listen to the commentaries on photography, there a lot who urge buying a using a "prime lens" and a group that rage against "kit lenses" aka, the standard lens that ships with most new cameras.  For decades a "prime" lens or primary lens for a 35mm was a 50mm lens. To us old schoolers, a prime lens is a 50mm, not just any fixed focal length lens. 

A 50mm lens approximates the core field of vision of the human eye.  Our overall field of vision is much wider, probably more equivalent to a 28mm lens on 35mm or "full frame."  But our brains concentrate on the a limited segment, and the rest is peripheral vision.  Movement or a flash of light in the periferia is noticed and investigated, but otherwise it is just there.  What we actively see is the central area.  

Photographing with a fixed focal length prime lens trains the photographer to move in, to frame and compose. I have read quotes from classic photographers, that if your photo is not good, you are not close enough. 

I will readily admit that variable focal length lenses (a more accurate term than a zoom lens) have made me lazy as a photographer, I change the lens setting rather than move about to compose and frame the image.  Having learned on a fixed focal length lens, I know how to force myself to seek a better angle, a better position. 

One of the things that set my earlier work apart from the crowd, was my willingness to find the ideal angle to capture the image.  Not that I haven't taken some great images with variable focal length lenses, but if I take the time to move myself and the camera, I get even better images.  If I were teaching today, I would urge my students to either spend a month with a fixed focal length lens, or set their variable focal length lens to a single length and spend a month using only that.  

An ugly truth, is that the variable focal length lenses of the 60's and 70's were crap by comparison to what you can buy today.  The lenses were slow a much bigger factor when film speed was limited to 400 or 800 ISO (with a concurrent increase in grain the faster the speed) and lacked sharpness.  Most of my early lenses were fixed focal length for a reason.  The 100-200 was really only useable in very bright light, and even then it never had the sharpness of the 135 or 200 fixed focal length lenses.  (I bought is used from a local dealer, who had taken it in trade and immediately thought of me, he knew I was shooting aerial photos and thought it would be perfect.) 

The way I see it, practice with a single focal length.  Move in, find a placement and angle that accentuates the scene.  Do this enough to train yourself to seek better composition and framing.  If needed tape your variable focal length lens into a single position and practice.  Variable focal length lenses are really amazing today.  

This summer I added a Nikkor Dx series 35mm f/1.8 lens to my collection.  It is fast, and it forces me to practice composition and framing.  I am glad I found it (used for a good price.).