A friend asked me not long ago for some photo tips about lens selections for a digital camera â€" what to take along on her trip to the Pacific Rim. She was worried about not only weight but having to do too much changing of lenses while shooting.
Airline rules have made the chore of culling your carry-on gear into rocket science. It used to be that if you had the strength, you could drag the kitchen sink along if you could manage to lift it. No longer. While in America, the TSA will permit photographers a camera bag/pack in Addition to a purse/computer bag and a typical carry-on, many airlines pretend not to have heard this.
After you venture onto an overseas flight, it's still the Wild West â€" some airlines have liberal carry-on allowances, but others are significantly more suppressive. Thus it pays a photographer, whether newbie or professional, to carry the minimum amount of hardware important to get the task finished.
A typical error photographers make is to carry too many zoom lenses of overlapping focal lengths: for example, an 18-55, 70-300, and a 28-80. Ideally, you need as little overlap as possible so you are not always delving into the case for a new lens & therefore miss the photograph. I employ a Canon 24-105 lens as my main 'walking ' lens, shooting on either my Canon 5D MKII or 7D (the 7D has a sensor size similar to the Canon Rebel). My other wide angle zoom is a 16-35. If you require a telephoto to shoot wildlife, as an example, simply add a 100-400mm or similar-sized lens.
The point is to have a lens that covers 90% of the eventualities you'll encounter so you do not have to think about changing lenses or carry two cameras. That having been said, with less lenses, you may learn efficiently the best way to pre-visualize a shot with less options. It just means you have to be more clever at repositioning yourself prior to the shot!
Though having a digital camera with a non-interchangeable lens like the Nikon Coolpix can be an advantage size, weight and unobtrusive-wise, these smaller cameras lack the degree of control over the 'standard SLRs'. One thing that you have to keep an eye out for is shutter lag, where there is a delay (even of one or two tenths of a second) between tripping the shutter and the photo taken. This could kill any 'capture the moment ' type photos.
Most smaller camera do not have through the lens viewing or even any viewfinder at all, but rather depend on employing an LCD screen to compose & shoot. This kills any chance of accurate composition or capturing subtle movements or expressions, as you simply can't see the details clearly enough. If you're in bright sunlight, this is particularly true.
An SLR permits an undistracted, clear view of the subject. It also, properly operated, allows for much more advanced control over where you focus in the scene â€" important for 'street ' photography of locals (& wildlife, for that matter).
As you can see, I am a fan of the SLR as a digital camera for significant photo work, though come to think of it, I have had plenty of fun with my iPhone camera recently! Talk about traveling light!
Airline rules have made the chore of culling your carry-on gear into rocket science. It used to be that if you had the strength, you could drag the kitchen sink along if you could manage to lift it. No longer. While in America, the TSA will permit photographers a camera bag/pack in Addition to a purse/computer bag and a typical carry-on, many airlines pretend not to have heard this.
After you venture onto an overseas flight, it's still the Wild West â€" some airlines have liberal carry-on allowances, but others are significantly more suppressive. Thus it pays a photographer, whether newbie or professional, to carry the minimum amount of hardware important to get the task finished.
A typical error photographers make is to carry too many zoom lenses of overlapping focal lengths: for example, an 18-55, 70-300, and a 28-80. Ideally, you need as little overlap as possible so you are not always delving into the case for a new lens & therefore miss the photograph. I employ a Canon 24-105 lens as my main 'walking ' lens, shooting on either my Canon 5D MKII or 7D (the 7D has a sensor size similar to the Canon Rebel). My other wide angle zoom is a 16-35. If you require a telephoto to shoot wildlife, as an example, simply add a 100-400mm or similar-sized lens.
The point is to have a lens that covers 90% of the eventualities you'll encounter so you do not have to think about changing lenses or carry two cameras. That having been said, with less lenses, you may learn efficiently the best way to pre-visualize a shot with less options. It just means you have to be more clever at repositioning yourself prior to the shot!
Though having a digital camera with a non-interchangeable lens like the Nikon Coolpix can be an advantage size, weight and unobtrusive-wise, these smaller cameras lack the degree of control over the 'standard SLRs'. One thing that you have to keep an eye out for is shutter lag, where there is a delay (even of one or two tenths of a second) between tripping the shutter and the photo taken. This could kill any 'capture the moment ' type photos.
Most smaller camera do not have through the lens viewing or even any viewfinder at all, but rather depend on employing an LCD screen to compose & shoot. This kills any chance of accurate composition or capturing subtle movements or expressions, as you simply can't see the details clearly enough. If you're in bright sunlight, this is particularly true.
An SLR permits an undistracted, clear view of the subject. It also, properly operated, allows for much more advanced control over where you focus in the scene â€" important for 'street ' photography of locals (& wildlife, for that matter).
As you can see, I am a fan of the SLR as a digital camera for significant photo work, though come to think of it, I have had plenty of fun with my iPhone camera recently! Talk about traveling light!
About the Author:
Randy Green is a photographer and naturalist who leads wildlife tours around the world. He enjoys sharing photography tips in the field.
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