Boid
All-Pro
- Location
- Bangalore, India
- Name
- Rajiv
I'm one of those people who like fixed lenses on cameras. I find it liberating to not have to worry about changing lenses, or modules (like the GXR). I love the fact that I don't have to debate the relative merits of various lenses for various situations. Picking a camera from a plethora of alternatives was hard enough in the first place. In fact I'm pretty sure that if I buy into an interchangable lens system, I'll ony ever have my favourite fixed lens on the camera, and ignore every other alternative out there.
A few years ago, if someone told me to shoot with a fixed focal length ONLY, I'd have shooed him out of the room. But I find my fixed lens cameras have shaped the way I take photographs. To get the right picture, I need to get close, to talk, to interact, to cajole a reaction at times. At times it means to intefere, not because I particularly want to, but because the camera demands it. At times it demands that I take a few steps back.
Doing all this, translates to better pictures somehow. Maybe it's because one isn't as passive as one would be with an option to zoom in. Maybe it's because one is a lot more aware that one needs to be at the right place to make the shot, and not spy or evesdrop into making an image. The camera sees what you see, so you'd better be at the right place or you miss it. So in some sense, you're operating yourself rather than the camera.
Do I miss having the ability to zoom at times? Sure. I can't shoot sporting events and wildlife for sure. But those are not images that I'm all that interested in making right now.
Given the current line-up of some really nice fixed lens cameras, here's what I'd like to have in my camera bag -
1. Portrait/low light - X100
2. Street/Documentary - GRD4, RX100 (set to 28mm? yep that's cheating it a bit)
3. Grainy BW - GRD1
4. Landscape - Sigma DP1M + tripod
What would be in your "fixed lens" camera bag?
A few years ago, if someone told me to shoot with a fixed focal length ONLY, I'd have shooed him out of the room. But I find my fixed lens cameras have shaped the way I take photographs. To get the right picture, I need to get close, to talk, to interact, to cajole a reaction at times. At times it means to intefere, not because I particularly want to, but because the camera demands it. At times it demands that I take a few steps back.
Doing all this, translates to better pictures somehow. Maybe it's because one isn't as passive as one would be with an option to zoom in. Maybe it's because one is a lot more aware that one needs to be at the right place to make the shot, and not spy or evesdrop into making an image. The camera sees what you see, so you'd better be at the right place or you miss it. So in some sense, you're operating yourself rather than the camera.
Do I miss having the ability to zoom at times? Sure. I can't shoot sporting events and wildlife for sure. But those are not images that I'm all that interested in making right now.
Given the current line-up of some really nice fixed lens cameras, here's what I'd like to have in my camera bag -
1. Portrait/low light - X100
2. Street/Documentary - GRD4, RX100 (set to 28mm? yep that's cheating it a bit)
3. Grainy BW - GRD1
4. Landscape - Sigma DP1M + tripod
What would be in your "fixed lens" camera bag?