Exp: 1/50s @ f/5.6, ISO250
Gear: Olympus E-P1, Leica 50mm f/2.0

A lot of people write about “zooming with your feet” and tell you to go out an buy prime lenses.  Instead of doing this I thought I’d explain my experience using prime lenses.  The major advantage I get with using prime lenses is visualization.  I know that at a certain distance from a subject it is a certain size.  From experience I know how the frame will drop around that subject when I bring the viewfinder up to my eye.  This makes for a much more fluid process of making images.  There isn’t any fiddling around with the zoom ring to try to include or exclude portions of the image to frame it like you saw it.  So when I see the image its very easy to adjust the exposure and capture the frame.  I didn’t have to look around the viewfinder to look for things sneaking in on an edge or for some funny merger ruining the image.  I’ve captured what I saw and can bring that back the viewer.

My other thought is that it feels much more natural to shoot with a prime lens.  Which makes sense because our eyes are fixed focal length.  As we move around the world we change our perspective on an object.  Shouldn’t we do the same when we are photographing?

Here’s a little activity just to see how you’re really using your zoom lenses.  Go through your images and see what focal lengths you are actually using.  This may surpise you, it was a surpise to me.  Even though I have an infinite number of choices along the zoom range of a lens most of my shots were taken at either the widest setting or the most telephoto setting.  How is this for you?

Exp: 1/125 sec, f/8.0, ISO 100
Gear: Olympus E-P1, 14-42mm @ 19mm

Well I’m back relaxing in the hotel after a 3 day kayaking trip on the lakes around Saranac Lake, NY.  Since we were kayaking I wanted to keep my photography equipment to a minimum, at least that what I’m telling myself, it was just an excuse to put the E-P1 through it’s paces.  So I threw the E-P1 in a medium sized SealLine Padded Storm Sack dry bag that I picked up at the outfitter and start paddling.

The E-P1 takes some getting use to after using a DSLR.  I probably need both hands to count the number of times I tried to put it up to my eye to find there wasn’t a viewfinder.  Do I miss the viewfinder? Not really the live histogram more than makes up for it.  It really allows me to nail the exposure.  I was going through the images in Lightroom and I’m expecting my normal test shots for a given subject as I’m dialing in the exposure and I find only one perfectly exposed image in it’s place.

The above image is no exception I had the camera set to manual mode and framed it how I wanted and just dialed the shutter speed up until the bright part of the clouds just kissed the red highlight section of the histogram.

All and all it was a great trip I got some good shots but also missed some shots. Mostly due to a combination of shooting from a bobbing kayak and learning how to use a new camera.  The E-P1 is a winner in my book, it has good image quality, handling, and features in compact package.  I’m pretty sure it will become my camera of choice on future kayak/backpack/or other assorted outdoor adventures.

Exp: 1/160sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, Post processing in Lightroom
Gear: Sigma DP1… yep that’s it.

I got a new camera this week and had a chance to go out and do some shooting with it yesterday. The camera I got is a Sigma DP1 it is a point and shoot sized camera with a DSLR sized sensor and an excellent lens. One advantage of having a DSLR sized sensor is that fact that you have control over depth of field. On all other P&S cams the sensor is so small that even with an f/2.8 lens you can’t get a shallow DOF. The DP1 isn’t for everyone though, I’m still getting use to the fixed 28mm equivalent lens. I’m use to the telephoto lenses I use for shooting wildlife. With the wide angle you have to get pretty close to small things to make them a reasonable size in the frame. I’ve posted a few more shots on Flickr so you can check them out. I’m looking forward to shooting a lot more with this camera and seeing what it can do. Hit up the link below for a wallpaper sized image.

Widescreen

Exp: 1/25 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 400
Gear: Canon 40D, 50mmF1.8

If you’ve been reading the blog you probably would have seen this photo already on my flickr stream but in this version I did a little bit different post process to bring out some more tonal range.

I haven’t posted much about gear but I wanted to recommend a lens to those that are starting out or those that want a lens that has a fast aperture without a large price tag.  The Canon 50mm F1.8 runs about $90 from online retailers.  It is money well spent the consensus of most people that use it and have reviewed it that it is sharp, fast, and a great value.  On a 1.6x crop camera it becomes a 80mm F1.8 perfect for portraits.  One tip for anyone that has not used a prime lens before is “zoom with your feet”