gdanmitchell
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 p.1 #12 · First Camera Question: x100f alternatives | |
anselwannab wrote:
I really disagree on the zoom or 2 zoom start point. 35mm eq is more than fine for 90% of most photography. And for most of the rest, you really want a special lens for those applications.
Zoom lenses are a crutch for new shooters- plus they add bulk and complexity. Far better to have a smaller camera that you will carry more often- especially if pocketable- and take pics. By all means get a interchangeable lens camera, but I'd start with primes.
I love my 1DXIIs and zooms, but my 100t and now my M10 get used far more often (but for less pics since the 1DXII's are speed/action monsters.
The only thing I would say is that maybe a 28eq for interior shots when travelling, but my 100F and M10 with a 40 did fine in NYC.
If you have to get a zoom, I think it has to be at least a 24-105/4 eq. That is wide enough for almost anything and 105 will do for portraits. If you are going to carry a zoom, you might as well make sure it actually covers what you want. I did the UK with a 5DII and 24-105/4 and really never found much need for more lens.
Money where my mouth is. Got my daughter an Xt30 and started her off with a MF 23/2 lens from China. Later got her a good zoom, and she never uses it. Too big to carry. And I think she likes the old school aesthetic....
Start flying in a Cessna and learn the basics, then move to the King Air - do anything model....Show more →
It is a subjective issue, but one that I think is important, so I'm back with a "rebuttal."
I started photography a long time ago, back when zoom lenses really weren't available and before the early bad and overpriced zooms came out. So I started with cameras with a single fixed focal length — ranging from my first Brownie (really) through folding cameras and twin-lens-reflex cameras.
When I finally got a 35mm SLR (and boy was I proud!), I got a single 50mm prime lens and lived with that for quite a while. I didn't get to use multiple focal lengths for some time after that — as a young and distinctly not-wealthy young guy the one lens was all I could afford. Eventually I ended up with a couple of Pentax SLR systems (ME and MX for the camera historians out there) with — you guessed it — fixed focal length lenses at 28mm, 50mm, 100mm plus a TC.
Today I shoot prime lenses almost (but not quite) exclusively on my Fujifilm XPro2, mostly doing street and travel and similar photography with that system.
So, let's just say that I've had a lot of experience with primes and with single focal length cameras.
A lot of the "start with a prime" folks don't know the genesis of that advice. Many think that it evolved as advice to start with a prime rather than a zoom. But that's not the case at all.
The old advice was about not rushing out and buying a bunch of lenses right away. Because it came about in the prime lens era — and because it was often shared with folks getting a 35mm film camera — the advice was usually along the lines of "gate a 50mm lens and shoot with it for a while before you go out and start buying more lenses." This was most certainly NOT about "restricting" your experience to primes, much less to a certain focal length — it was about learning the basics on a first lens before you go out (with gear lust rising) and start buying a bunch of lenses.
So, translating that advice to today's photographic world, there's no reason at all that the first lens should not be a zoom lens — though the advice still suggests that you start with one, get some experience with it, and then start to think about what other lenses you might or might not need.
A few additional relevant points:
1. Getting started in photography should be a fun, exciting, experimenting experience — not some sort of restrictive one. Almost all folks today are going to enjoy experimenting with a decent zoom a lot more than they enjoy a single prime.
2. A zoom lens is not a "crutch." It is a more flexible tool. In addition, it is the best way for a beginner to learn (with only one lens) all of the critical things about how different focal lengths affect composition, the relationships between foreground, subject, and background, and much more. It is even, I believe, the best way for a person to figure out if they prefer a prime and, if so, which focal length best suit them.
3. In the case of our OP, there's no indication that this person is looking for a camera that restricts their flexibility. In fact, they seem a bit concerned about the limitations of a single focal length camera. And they plan to, as I understand it, use the camera for recording travels, where typically we run into a variety of situations that are handled with more than one focal length.
I'm emphatically NOT anti-prime. When I travel I usually have a small set of prime lenses and often no zoom lenses at all. (On the other hand, for my tripod-based landscape and night photography, and my wildlife photography, I always use zoom lenses.) I've also walked a number of beginners through these questions. 40 years ago, I would have advised them to get the ubiquitous 50mm f/2 starter lens. Today I recommend one of the fine kit zooms like the Fujifilm 18-55mm.
Respectfully disagreeing,
Dan
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