Cool, you both just don't get it do you? I think I am going to crawl under a rock now.
William Robb ----- Original Message ----- From: Mishka Subject: Re: Do zooms teach visual discipline? Was: Advice Needed For > Jonathan, > > I have to admit, I am too lazy to change lenses most of times. And I > still think that prime(s) help me take better pictures. In fact, I > found that swapping the lenses usually have negative effect, since it > distracts me from what I am trying to photograph: I am spending time > thinking "where the hell is that red dot?", rather than "which angle of > view works better?". > > My main problem with zooms is that they encourage my natural tendency > to slip into Point-And-Shoot mode. With primes, it's not just changing > the camera position that matters -- it's slowing me down and making me > think about the picture, since the first thing that pops in the > viewfinder is usually composed bad enough that it prevents me from > pushing the button exactly that instance. For very similar reason I > have a better percentage of pics I am not ashamed to show to people > other than my mother if I shoot with a fully-manual MF camera, be it a > 6x7 or 'cord -- I cannot P&S with them. > > By the way, I seriously doubt that there's "the right perspective and > the right focal length" as well as "the best shot", otherwise I would > open a business selling sticky tags with printed "right" solutions > tomorrow! <G> > > Mishka > > From: Jonathan Donald > > Subject: Re: Do zooms teach visual discipline? Was: Advice Needed For > > > Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 22:55:07 -0700 > > > > <...> > > > > Too many choices may overwhelm a beginner. > > This is my analysis as to why a novice photographer > > may make "blah" photographs with a zoom, not because > > it was a quick and dirty way out of spending time on > > the composition. With so many choices to make with the > > zoom, the novice simply makes a few more "wrong" > > choices (i.e. zooms instead of changing camera > > position). It is debatable whether ~forcing~ a > > photographer to ONLY change position is of value. It > > does teach a lesson I suppose, but places all the > > emphasis on perspective and virtually none on the > > effect of focal length. If a photographer is always > > lazy by zooming, he/she may just as likely be lazy by > > using only one focal length all of the time. A balance > > of the right perspective and the right focal length is > > required to obtain the best shot. Whether this is done > > with zooms or primes is irrelevant, and a matter of > > taste. Just my .02 - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .