The next step – more lenses

I am not convinced that the 50mm lens that came with the Promaster camera I bought initially is the world’s greatest quality lens but it is pretty fast (F 1.7) and the pictures I have taken with it so far look reasonably good. I suspect that as my ability to focus manually and use the aperture and shutter settings to properly manipulate the depth of field improves my pictures will improve also. Although I shot mainly all manual 35mm SLR’s for 30 years or more I have been away from it for at least several years. Like nearly everyone else I have been spoiled by digital cameras with autofocus lenses and multiple automatic program modes so it will probably take a few rolls of film to get my “manual photographer’s edge” back.

Assuming for now that I can live with the 50mm lens I have my next quest is to find a suitable short telephoto or portrait lens. Now some of you are no doubt thinking, “What about a good zoom lens.” After all, that’s what all the DSLR’s are coming with these days and even the “Point & Shoot’s” are competing to see who can get the widest range of zoom crammed into the smallest camera.

Maybe I am just old fashioned or maybe I know a thing or two about lenses that isn’t common knowledge anymore but it has always seemed to me that zoom lenses are bigger and heavier than almost anything else you can attach to a camera. It is also a certainty that any zoom lens you buy will be slower than a comparable fixed focal length lens.

Of course with fixed focal length lenses you lose the ability to quickly zoom in or out and shoot on the fly so that you must do a little thinking and planning before you take your shots. I suspect that is also one of the reasons I like shooting film better than digital. It forces you to slow down and think about what you’re doing. The older I get the better I get at slowing down and thinking about things so that kind of suits me these days. That said, I readily acknowledge that there are times and situations where you are forced to shoot on the fly and for those situations a good digital camera with a zoom lens can’t be beat. I just haven’t found one I like yet but I haven’t given up on that quest yet either.

I mentioned in an earlier post that the camera bag that I put together back in the 1970’s included my Olympus OM-1N 35mm SLR with a 50mm, F1.4 lens, a 135mm F2.8 lens, and a 35mm F2.8 lens. This combination of camera and lenses took care of my every photographic need for 30 years. A comparable zoom would have only been a 35 to 105 at F3.5 to 4.5; not as much range, a lot slower, and much bigger and heavier than even the 135mm fixed focal length lens.

Needless to say, a great many arguments can be made for a good zoom, and I may even consider getting one eventually but for now I will stick with the formula that worked so well for me for all those years so the next thing I need is a good fast 135mm lens.