Okay, okay, I'll admit it: For the kind of shooting that's most natural here in Finger Lakes country—driving around, and looking around, and finding all kinds of scenic tidbits, distant framings, slices o' life, cloud formations, lakescapes, critters, houses and buildings, deer, doggies, graveyards, vehicles (of various sorts!)—and even, occasionally, humans—a mid-range zoom is really the most appropriate lens to have on the camera.
Okay I said it. Please don't tease me, please.
(Although I recently learned, when trying out the Panasonic GX9 and the the slower 12–60mm lens not long ago, that a lens with the long end longer than 70mm is best. Hereabouts anyhow.)
You never know what you're going to
stumble upon up here.
I like primes best, and 35/40mm-e is my favorite focal length, but results are what count and one mustn't be afraid to be flexible. Even when it comes to settled habits of mind. :-)
Mike
Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Book of interest this week:
PhotoWork: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice, Edited by Sasha Wolf
(clicking on the link above takes you to Amazon)
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Grant: "Cool! An Amish F150."
Eolake Stobblehouse: "When I can't go above 100mm, I really miss it. I see so many compositions in the distance."
I like primes, too, but the Olympus 12-100 Pro lens has lived on one of my E-M1 II bodies ever since I first put it on. Good range, great lens.
Posted by: Charlie Ewers | Wednesday, 06 January 2021 at 04:47 PM
That horse spotted you, I guess it’s not used to cameras :)
Posted by: Richard Parkin | Wednesday, 06 January 2021 at 05:19 PM
Mike,
Don't monochrome converted your Sony. You will not be happy with the magenta results. It will always be magenta to compensate for the loss of color filter array.
Instead, buy, rent or demand an Olympus Pen-f camera. Set it to monochrome on the front dial. Add one of those m43rds lenses you still have and live in monochrome bliss. Its truly the best at all black and white.
David
Posted by: David Bateman | Wednesday, 06 January 2021 at 05:29 PM
A few years back there was a flood of cheap 55-200 zooms and they seemed to be very good.
I hate that when people park on the sidewalk.
Posted by: Clayton | Wednesday, 06 January 2021 at 05:34 PM
Mike, quick thanks for the nod on the Nikon S lenses. They are really special as your Nikon readers suggested besides me. I hope at some point you have an opportunity to try some out. Eric
Posted by: Albert Erickson | Wednesday, 06 January 2021 at 05:42 PM
Primes are great but I hate having to lug a bunch of primes around on a 10 mile hike. Then there is the change time and you miss the moment. My 24-70 is glued to my 5DsR. I do carry the 70-200 and 98% of the time I'm happy. At times the primes (I have many) do make sense (my 100mm macro is my favorite) but not for a hike in the woods.
Posted by: Malcolm Leader | Wednesday, 06 January 2021 at 06:21 PM
I agree - a 17-70mm µ43 lens (classic 35-135 in the film era) would be my choice for typical-use wanderings. Unless I live in the High Sierra for a week I just don't have much use for 24mm/e width in my weekly walkabouts, and I can carry one prime for that rare use.
Also please make it f/3.5-4.5; I have fond memories of how those earliest var-ap lenses brought zooms from f/4 beasts (e.g. Minolta's Beercan) to a more convenient bulk.
Posted by: longviewer | Wednesday, 06 January 2021 at 07:49 PM
"For the kind of shooting that's most natural here in Finger Lakes country would be out of place here in Surf City (Huntington Beach).
As I get older my interests change. Therefore so does my favorite camera/lens.
Today lunch is more important than surfing 8-)
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Thursday, 07 January 2021 at 02:32 AM
I have a Pentax KP and my primary lens has always been the 21mm ltd, sometimes swapped for a 28 or a 35mm but I recently purchased to 20-40mm ltd zoom and I find as well as being weather resistant, it also gives me all the range I need.
Posted by: Phil Martin | Thursday, 07 January 2021 at 06:02 AM
My current favorite is using a 16-80mm (24-120mm-e) on my Nikon D7500.
I suppose I'm using that "nested kit" you suggested as I also have the 35mm 1.8G DX (50mm-e) in the bag that I still have fun using (I'm a 50mm guy).
Posted by: SteveW | Thursday, 07 January 2021 at 11:09 AM
If what appears to be lying on the ground all around that nag is what I think it to be, no wonder the poor creature looks guilty and embarrassed!
I owned one zoom, once, in my life: I think it was a 2.8/24-70mm Nikkor. I hated it. It was worse than carrying two lenses. It was gone in less than two weeks. I bought it with the same dream othes have, that of convenience. Instead, I realised that I'd saddled myself with an unwanted weight. It wasn't much good, either.
Posted by: Rob Campbell | Thursday, 07 January 2021 at 02:29 PM
I've just bought a tiny "superzoom" camera with a small (1/2.3") sensor and an absurdly broad zoom range (25mm-e to 625mm-e), to take with me on bicycle rides (something I've taken up only recently).
It takes quite decently useful snapshots at both the wide:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mfunnell/50806127476/
..and long ends:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mfunnell/50812471666
Within its obvious limitations I find it quite fit for purpose - which is pretty much confined to "riding my bicycle", but still...
...Mike
Posted by: Mike Funnell | Thursday, 07 January 2021 at 09:46 PM
Another user of the Olympus OMD EM1 Mk III and the 12-100mm f4 IS lens. Wow! Just bought it a week or two ago for when I take my dog for walks/runs every week-end on a nearby beach for a couple of hours. I have two Sony A7RIVs and a bevy of lenses for them, but I decided I wasn't willing to subject them to sea and sand... The 12-100mm is something special. I've never had more than a 4x zoom range before; this one is 8x. And You can literally handhold it down to . . . I don't know, but for a long long time, because the lens and body IS is that good. It really eliminates any need for a tripod. . . It's not a small combo, and I like compact and relatively light, but it's well worth it to carry this combo.
Posted by: Howard | Friday, 08 January 2021 at 10:00 PM
I usually find wider focal lengths give more interesting compositions. Maybe it is because it is easier to compose with a long focal lens and I tend to value more what I've worked harder at. With a wide angle lens you have to come to terms with all the crap that insists in getting into your frame and ultimately make a better picture to look at. Wide angle lenses are more democratic in a visual sense, and I get more pictures with a stronger sense of place with them.
Posted by: Sergio | Saturday, 09 January 2021 at 06:09 AM