AlanG Posted October 16, 2012 Share #21 Â Posted October 16, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Whilst I entirely agree with Alan, I did find in the old days when I used zooms that they could on occasion make me lazy. Â Â I've been shooting professionally for decades and I am pretty lazy now. (Consider that my old "carry around" bag had a Linhof 4x5 Technikardan S, 7 lenses, meter, 6x9 and 6x12 roll film holders, filters, Polaroid back, film, etc.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted October 17, 2012 Share #22 Â Posted October 17, 2012 Moving with a prime is definitely not the same as changing focal length. Â You will get the subject the same size in either case. What will be different is the relative difference between foreground and background objects. When you move in close, you make the foreground larger compared the background. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdriceman Posted October 17, 2012 Share #23  Posted October 17, 2012 I usually prefer primes. But in some situations a zoom lens is priceless! Just today when I was taking pictures at the side of the football pitch where my little son was playing' date=' I needed a tele zoom lens to get that FoV that I wanted. No chance to run onto the field to get closer. [/quote']  And, another way in which a zoom lens can be priceless . Maybe a bit too much "zoom with your feet"?  http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/french-man-survives-75-foot-fall-at-grand-canyon-42378 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
masjah Posted October 17, 2012 Share #24 Â Posted October 17, 2012 When (post retirement) I first took up photography as a serious recreational interest, with an R system, I deliberately avoided at first purchasing a zoom lens, precisely because I wanted to familiarise myself with the nature of the relationship between, say, foreground and background at different focal lengths. I was afraid I would simply use a zoom as "lazy legs" without considering issues of perspective in composition. Later on I bought zooms for travel convenience, and for flexibility, but I still prefer my primes when circumstances permit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted October 18, 2012 Share #25  Posted October 18, 2012 For me zooming with my feet starts before I leave home. I pack for the environment I will be shooting in. Sometimes my main lens will be 50mm, others it will be 35mm or 24mm. Then I pack one lens about half and one lens about double my main lens. When while shooting, I find a good subject, I try to pre-visualize various perspectives using the lens on the camera, then move to that viewpoint. If it works then great, if not time to change lenses. I am often surprised at how little I have to change lenses to tell the story I want.  An exception to this is when I am shooting in places like a lotus pond, where 200mm is the shortest I will use. So I pack my WATE and MATE (just in case) and pack everything from 135mm to 560mm. I could shoot it all with a 50mm but manual lenses are notorious for leaking water  I am a M shooter, so zooms (until next year) aren't an option. So I use my mind to compose. But as they say YMMV Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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