And its such a big country, so any other lens has problems to cover it... For me, the choice had to do with 2 things.
1. The lens was new for me. I actually got it two days before my flight from Sweden to India. So i was excited over my latest lens.
2. I am a professional photographer, and i intentionally wanted to go for a holiday and leave all cameras behind. But took another decision. (Well i couldīnt go naked, could i?) Maybe a more intelligent choice would have been a midrange zoom, but this extreme lens become the perfect travelmate for me this time.
Would i do it again? Well, yes, today, and after spending one month with my choice, i donīt find it so extreme any more. I simply got use to it. And love the lens!
The whole idea for me was to travel light, but yet have the absolute best gear with me. Also in my 7 kilo totally packing, a small tripod got place. Two 128 GB card took no place!
For a single lens, I would have taken a 28mm or 35mm, but I guess the 15mm gives a very exaggerated look to all the images. I assume the first set of images were from Goa. I guess that because you hardly see any Indians in those images, and that jives with what I've heard about Goa. India is a great place to travel to. Everyone gets sick when they go there, but it's such a colorful country. I got sick twice there... within 3 weeks.
Ah, the southern route. My next trip will be the southern route. My first time in India, I went to Rajastan, Delhi, Varanasi, and Kolkata. I wish I had pushed further into West Bengal but ran out of time. Rajastan and Varanasi are wonderfully colorful. My next trip will be either a second trip to India or Myanmar.
I've done 1 lens trips before. the lack of option was... liberating. just do with what you got. it's easier with a 35 or 50, but I've done 14, 28 or 58 before and it can be done with anything else.
plus with your combo, you could always crop in post.
One of the best sets I've seen around here. Your timing is great in many of the shots and there are many details to observe. I especially enjoyed the shot on the beach with the gents playing cricket. The gestures are outstanding in that shot.
There are some great shots but I'm not a big fan of ultra distortion in every single pictures (and i'm not even a long lens guy!)
If I really want to travel with 1 prime lens that might be either 28mm or 35mm. But I have travel with Panasonic 20mm on M43 as a 2nd camera and I 'm surprised how much that odd focal length can do.
Toothwalker wrote:
It surely keeps the dust away.
That probably won't help if he was using D600
I'm saying this while doing tones of spot removal on many of my travel pictures...
Fascinating set of pix. SE Asia was as close to India as I ever got. I notice some don't like the approach. Certainly the 15mm "marks" these images, but then every lens does that though often more subtly. I note that some don't like the distortion, but India has its own "distortion field" at least for those of us from the outside so why not the lens?
I've never used something this wide, but I regularly put the 35mm f/1.4 on my 1DsIII and keep it there for some time. Having only one focal length both reduces options but increases choices. One has to do a lot of thinking on how to approach or frame or even if the shot is possible.
If I'm using a vehicle on a trip then I normally carry most of my gear as it grants options. On the other hand, having only one lens can enhance creativity. I'll often put a lens on for my walkabouts and keep it there for a week or so. Lots of junk, but generally something interesting. I kept a 135mm f/2.0 on a 1DsII for over a month. Found out how incredible the lens was and also how many close things can be done with a "telephoto" lens. Of course the wide aperture really opened up possibilities.
I think you've taken a real artistic risk. Some are arresting. Some are baffling. Some amusing, and plenty are just blah.
Noticed Rusty's suggestion of the 24 TSE. Great idea. I'm about to start a round with it. One challenge will be the relatively narrow aperture and resulting limits on DOF. On the other hand, so many possibilities.
OntheRez wrote:
One challenge will be the relatively narrow aperture
If you're talking about dof ... no problem, tilt the other way and you can get a very narrow plane of focus. If you're talking about light levels, then the f3.5 max WO could a bit limiting in certain applications.
