One camera, one lens

Stephen L said:
Prime by choice in an ideal situation because of wide aperture, compactness, weight. But then I have to decide which prime, as I seldom go out with a specific purpose in mind. So I go zoom ....
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To me it's less about having a purpose in mind than adapting one's vision to the focal length at hand - which simplifies life, in a way. The material is there, the light is there, & the task is to make something meaningful.

Meaningful to whom may be another question. Although my own pictures are a sort of personal diary, they are also (as all pictures are) a sort of performance, which with luck may be communicable.

Its an open world, & what we do is curious.
 
droj said:
To me it's less about having a purpose in mind than adapting one's vision to the focal length at hand - which simplifies life, in a way. The material is there, the light is there, & the task is to make something meaningful.

Meaningful to whom may be another question. Although my own pictures are a sort of personal diary, they are also (as all pictures are) a sort of performance, which with luck may be communicable.

Its an open world, & what we do is curious.
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This is why I can pretty much stick to 35mm FF - General sunrise/sunset, walkabout, beach, coastal scenes, village scenes, street etc

My main times I'll pack something different is I'll add 24mm for night skies & I do like my car shows/meet photography at 85mm.
 
LeeRatters said:
If you can't decide, you must have too many.... ;) :ROFLMAO:
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Define “too many”. And no reference to a certain member whose name begins with Trevor. :p
 
As I seldom go out these days, with the intention to capture a specific image, a range of focal lengths is far more useful to me than a wide aperture or a saving in weight.

I prefer the widest range of options, to let me record the things that catch my eye. I would guess that most photographers these days prefer zooms to primes...

Photographer at Swinon Mela.jpg
 
I just realised I didn't answer the first question. When out and travelling light, with medium format which is a relatively heavy option, it's just the standard lens. With 35mm, I follow the tip Kevin Macdonnell gave years ago, and take a 21mm and either a 90mm macro or 85mm f/2. Large format with one lens:
5x4 210mm (90mm if two lenses)
5x7 240mm, add 450mm if two, or depending on circumstances 110mm
10x8 300mm and 450mm. My longer lenses that cover 10x8 are NOT light.
 
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StephenM said:
I just realised I didn't answer the first question. When out and travelling light, with medium format which is a relatively heavy option, it's just the standard lens. With 35mm, I follow the tip Keven Macdonnell gave years ago, and take a 21mm and either a 90mm macro or 85mm f/2. Large format with one lens:
5x4 210mm (90mm if two lenses)
5x7 240mm, add 450mm if two, or depending on circumstances 110mm
10x8 300mm and 450mm. My longer lenses that cover 10x8 are NOT light.
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210mm on 5x4 :)

A lovely combination. Just reading this makes me want to dig out the 5x4. Except, I no longer have a 210, or a 135 (my favourite focal length), just not very good, but adequate,150 and 90 lenses.. One day I might actually dig it out, but I fear it would need a fair bit of effort, and money I don't have, to get it together.
 
Clive K said:
Buy cheap, buy again, and again, and again.........

:D
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Some of the cheap ones are very high quality, and yes it means I can buy again & again. Just as well given the number of camera systems I use.
I have to admit some have just been because I don't have anything in that mount yet. GAS can be excessive here
 
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Petrochemist said:
Some of the cheap ones are very high quality, and yes it means I can buy again & again. Just as well given the number of camera systems I use.
I have to admit some have just been because I don't have anything in that mount yet. GAS can be excessive here
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I’ve had positive experiences with Viltrox and Laowa, both mf and auto.
 
Petrochemist said:
Not many at all then, even ignoring single elements I have over two hundred :oops: :$
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I have nowhere near that many but I do have too many film era MF lenses. I've sold a few here and most of the rest will go to a dearer when I get around to it. I will keep a some including a 50MM macro, a 28, a 35 and maybe a couple or three 50mm's. I also have four modern Voiglanders, a film era one and a couple of modern Chinese primes.
 
Chipper said:
‘one camera, one lens’ - does it work for you? As usual, I sit and ponder what kit I will take on an upcoming trip.

I was wondering what that set up is for those of you who actually do this.

I am also curious what you would chose if you could only have one camera and one lens. I’m aware that it depends on what you shoot etc etc. so please just play along.
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Of course this depends what I'm going to shoot. Sometimes I'll go out with just one lens, sometimes multiple. On trips/holidays I tend to just go out with one lens.
 
woof woof said:
Until recently I'd have said FF and a 35mm but since I got a 40mm f2.5 it's been welded to my camera so I'll hope for a 35mm as good and as compact as that 40mm :D
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Interesting. I’ve been in the market for a single camera, single lens setup (I don’t shoot much these days but would prefer to have something decent should I need it).

I was looking at the Leica Q3 but I used to take my A9 + 24mm F2.8 everywhere. Maybe an A1 + 40mm f2.5 might do the trick.
 
JohnBradbury said:
Interesting. I’ve been in the market for a single camera, single lens setup (I don’t shoot much these days but would prefer to have something decent should I need it).

I was looking at the Leica Q3 but I used to take my A9 + 24mm F2.8 everywhere. Maybe an A1 + 40mm f2.5 might do the trick.
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The advantage of higher resolution bodies now, is that you can shoot wider & crop [or shoot in crop mode!] and still have plenty of those megapixel thingys left for a good quality image :)

It's almost like have two focal lengths in one lens anyway. And if you can shoot in compressed RAW storage space is less of an issue too. And yes, when I got the A7Riii I shot compressed & uncompressed to wildly edit on purpose & there was no noticeable difference.
 
LeeRatters said:
The advantage of higher resolution bodies now, is that you can shoot wider & crop [or shoot in crop mode!] and still have plenty of those megapixel thingys left for a good quality image :)
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I must be an old stick-in-the-mud because, although granted that I don't do wildlife or sport, I stay wedded to the discipline of framing in camera.
 
droj said:
I must be an old stick-in-the-mud because, although granted that I don't do wildlife or sport, I stay wedded to the discipline of framing in camera.
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Stick it in crop mode and you are framing in camera ;)

I sometimes frame loose because (firstly I've got the megapixels and) I often present my images as 4:5 or 4:3 :) It's surprising how easy it is to learn to judge the different aspect ratios from a standard 3:2 with ⅓ grid lines switched on.
 
droj said:
I must be an old stick-in-the-mud because, although granted that I don't do wildlife or sport, I stay wedded to the discipline of framing in camera.
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If can, I do. If I can't then I'll see how a crop looks.
 
ancient_mariner said:
If can, I do. If I can't then I'll see how a crop looks.
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I try, but sometimes when I get it on the computer I see a different framing could be better.
 
That is an easy one to answer for me as I use every weekend my R3 with a EF 300mm 2.8 L II USM. Good for football and cricket but if the boundary is big I put on the 1.4 to give me that extra reach.
If I'm just out and about I like my Fuji X-Pro 2 with the 23mm lens it is a great little camera for street shooting although I'm not always brave enough to get close to people.
 
OM-5 and 12-100mm does most of what I need. I sometimes take an 8-25mm as well but usually can't be bothered to change to it.
 
Another option for "one camera, one lens" is this Nikon D600 and Tamron 28-300mm combination...

Camera Nikon D600 Tamron 28-300mm A65 DSC00155.JPG

A portable full frame "bridge camera"! ;)
 
I think one camera one lens would work great, if, it enhances the type photography you do. If your into street photography and landscapes will it work? How about landscapes and portraits? Could maybe go with something like an 18-400, covers a lot of range! I'm about into one camera one lens with my D7000 and 18-200mm Tamron. But I do like to do wild animals even though I'm not good at it! 200 mm I think is simply a bit to short. Obviously I have more than one lens even though I don't use them a lot. But two come close. That would be my 18-200mm and my 150-500mm. Quite sure if I were a pro I'd choose different lens, But the only person I need to make happy is me so haven't spent a ton of money on lens's I simply don't understand!
 
Don Fischer said:
I think one camera one lens would work great, if, it enhances the type photography you do. If your into street photography and landscapes will it work? How about landscapes and portraits? Could maybe go with something like an 18-400, covers a lot of range! I'm about into one camera one lens with my D7000 and 18-200mm Tamron. But I do like to do wild animals even though I'm not good at it! 200 mm I think is simply a bit to short. Obviously I have more than one lens even though I don't use them a lot. But two come close. That would be my 18-200mm and my 150-500mm. Quite sure if I were a pro I'd choose different lens, But the only person I need to make happy is me so haven't spent a ton of money on lens's I simply don't understand!
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I do quite a bit of landscape and street - 35mm full frame ;)
 
Fuji xe1 + 27/2.8 for most things. Pop the 18/2 on if I need something a bit wider, like this week in old towns around Italy & Malta
 
I'm not clued up on lens technicalities but the lens that is more often than nor attached to my Cannon M3 is the Cannon EFS 18-135mm.
 
Until I sold it, I had a great fondness of my D610 and the 50mm D lens. 50mm pretty useful and for wider angle stuff I just did panos.

Now, my OM1 and I suspect the recently recieved 40-150 F4. I do like the 300mm but it's always gonna be that.
 
Depends totally on what I'm doing.
90% of the time I go out with just the R3 and the RF100-300 2.8. BUT if on holiday and having a landscape day it's the R3 and the RF 24-70 2.8
 
Either my Fujifilm X-H1 or my X-T4 with the Fujinon 16-55.
 
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