Zoom With Your Feet

Anthony will be guest blogging for me for a few days. Enjoy the eccentric meanderings of Lisa V Lupo Photography’s most valued employee.
 

In the interest of providing unsolicited opinions on some of photography’s most futile debates, I present my collected thoughts on the prime vs. zoom lens debate. For those that have heard this debate many times over, I promise that I intend to spin this argument in a slightly different direction.

A prime lens is a lens that has a fixed focal length. It does not zoom in and out. A zoom lens is, obviously, a lens that can zoom in and out. As a general rule, a professional prime lens is usually cheaper than a professional zoom lens. Prime lenses typically have slightly better optics and larger maximum apertures. A good zoom lens, however, can replace the need to carry several primes; however, zoom lenses tend to be much heavier.

One can certainly buy both prime and zoom lenses, but this will likely result in some optical redundancy. For those that want to maximize bang-for-the-buck, the prime vs. zoom decision is usually more of an either/or issue. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the photographer in question is considering an entirely zoom or entirely prime lens collection for portraiture and wedding-type events. Obviously, bird-watchers will have different decision criteria— so take that into account.

Of course, both zoom and prime lenses are more than capable of capturing outstanding images. Portrait photographers will probably prefer the depth-of-field options available with f 1.4-and-below apertures (read: tiny depth-of-field and super-creamy bokeh). Zoom lenses come in handy at events, during which ‘being close’ to the subject can often be disruptive.

Those that have been reading the blog the past few days will notice that most of my posts share an underlying theme: your equipment will define your approach to photography without you even realizing it. Human beings are creatures that prefer the path of least resistance. The equipment we possess outlines the ways in which we can engage the subject with the camera. Combine these two facts and it becomes very likely that your equipment will be instrumental to your photographical habit-formation.

Here’s a thought for you. Imagine two photographers, both of which prefer the path of least resistance (or, the easiest solution to his/her compositional objective). Suppose Red Photographer gets a Nikkor 24-120mm (f4, I  believe) because he/she prefers the lens reach at 120mm. Green Photographer uses a Nikkor 50mm 1.4G. In order to achieve the same 4’x6’ composition, Green Photographer will have to stand 9ft away from the Subject, and Red Photographer (preferring to stay as far away as possible from the subject) will stand 20 ft from the Subject (@ 120mm, or full zoom extension). [I did the math on equivalent fields of view. We are ignoring foreshortening effects and other inherent compositional differences.]

 Using math to prove a point? Unheard of.

I think I did the math correctly on the diagram (no promises, as I never was a math guy). The interesting point of the diagram is that in order to recompose the picture, say, from a 90-degrees to the right, the Red Photographer needs to walk twice as far (we’re ignoring secants, or cutting across, for which there would still be a significant difference). Hence, for all re-compositions that require a change in perspective, with the exception of zooming in and out, it takes more effort to get the shot with the zoom lens.

There are several reasons why you shouldn’t take this argument too seriously. The only point I want to emphasize is that the further you are away from the subject, the less likely, in my opinion, you are to move around and get different and interesting perspectives. Simply put, your camera has enabled you to stay further from the subject to get your shots. Your camera has made you lazy and less dynamic.

A disciplined zoom photographer can ignore these problems by getting into the habit of operating within the middle of their zoom range whenever possible. This should give them the most compositional options. Of course, having a 24mm-to-whatever focal length range has the added advantage of enabling wide-angle shots on the fly. At any rate, always take into account the effects of your gear on your shooting technique.

Epilogue

Of course, Lisa and I are prime lens photographers, so we’re somewhat biased. The limitations of prime lenses can be worrisome if you do not have a second camera set-up and ready to go. Those with a back-up camera often mount a wide-angle lens on it in order to be prepared for spontaneous wide-angle opportunities. Again, I think prime lenses help hone one’s skills (for reasons mentioned in Thursday’s blog post), but there is no doubt that zoom lenses come in handy. Remember, pro-quality zoom lenses are very heavy and large—so think about how much weight you can comfortably carry around your neck for several hours. I find that I would rather prefer to carry more weight in my camera bag and less on my camera than vice versa. Camera bags tend to be more comfortable. To each his/her own.