Using a zoom lens might seem straightforward, but there are a few strategies that can significantly improve your experience. This video covers essential tips that will help you get the most out of your zoom lens, turning it from a simple tool into a versatile extension of your creative vision.
Coming to you from Roman Fox, this insightful video focuses on treating your zoom lens as a set of prime lenses. By using the specific focal length markings on the barrel, you can lock in at, say, 35mm or 50mm and shoot as if you’re using a prime lens. This approach encourages you to be more deliberate with your composition, rather than constantly adjusting the zoom. This technique is particularly useful in fast-paced environments like street or travel photography, where being prepared with a pre-set focal length can mean the difference between capturing a fleeting moment and missing it entirely.
Fox emphasizes the importance of starting wide if you’re unsure about the focal length to use. Setting your lens to its widest setting, such as 24mm, gives you the flexibility to zoom in if needed. This method ensures that you can quickly adapt to the scene without the risk of cutting off important elements that might occur if you start zoomed in. This strategy is particularly useful when you’re dealing with unpredictable scenes or when you need to react quickly to changing environments. By zooming in gradually, you maintain better control over your composition and can decide on the optimal framing as you go.
Another valuable piece of advice from Fox is to avoid standing still and relying solely on the zoom function. While it’s tempting to zoom in and out without moving, this can limit your creativity. By physically moving around, you explore different angles and perspectives that might not be apparent from a single position. Even with a zoom lens, treating it like a prime lens and moving through the scene can lead to more dynamic and interesting compositions. This practice encourages you to engage more deeply with your surroundings, leading to shots that are more thoughtful and well-composed. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Fox.
I do understand that years ago prime lenses were better built than telephotos as optics go and with the need or desire for bokeh balls or depth of field where you got blur in front and back of a subject and also the lenses were classified as fast glass with the f/2.8 or faster allowed for faster shutter speed even in daylight day time captures for the ever present moving people or things in the frame. In the film days "fast glass" or low f/ numbers were desired for the hand holding shots for having a heavy or big tripod was not easy.
There are in the digital world today ways that hand holding is made easier with lenses with OSS/IS and now cameras come with IBIS and of course high ISO's higher even than the DSLR with 3200 or 6400 was a limit, yes could be made higher but with noise. Where as computer SW now gets rid of it.
For travel you want light weight gear in a small bag and that will rule out primes. Back in the early DSLR days Canon made a 50-600mm and a 60-600mm real bazooka's but filled may magazines with images for the near and far images showing ease of getting many images on a trip. When digital cameras first came out they were very small but with long zoom ranges great for a trip to Alaska where you could be many yards from a big Grizzly or get close ups or salmon on there runs but a cameras that fit in a coat pocket. But the DSLR's allowed lens changes and you could plan shot and have a set mm lens meaning a better constructed lens with less glass problems.
All the mirrorless camera makers today have filled all normal mm ranges but now use magnetic rails for faster AF on the primes lenses and many are getting really small, pocket small, even zooms are now in lens zooming and some of the very new have the magnetic rails and updates are II models. Zoom lens are getting narrower mm like 24-50mm or 16-27mm all internal zoom with the faster AF.
In my early days of Sony I got the FE 24-240mm and the option to just press a button and get 36-360mm APS-C, the reviews showed very bad sharpness and other problems BUT I never saw those reviews but with modern SW getting better year after year I never saw the bad in the lens either. It is like i was into Astro MW and wide primes were the ones to get then came the telephoto super ultra wide astro first 16-35mm then 12-24mm but again the super fast glass primes of f/1.8 and a f/1.4. but back in 2015 my favorite and most used at night was the E 10-18mm (15-27mm) f/4 OSS that could be used the full frame mode from 12-18mm (18 if you removed the light shield) it took two more years for a 12-24mm f/4 to come out and another few years for a f/2.8 but they have a large bulb front needing an external filter holder as well as the 14mm f/1.8, you needed the filters to get rid of amber lights of the cities or for those day captures of moving water. Well a filter maker made in rear filters. Back to the favorite E 10-18 it has treads for filters up front and is OSS the KEY is smaller than any prime today and a normal front lens and being a "slow glass" of f/4 you can go as slow as 30s for a MW or way faster in a night city capture. The option with mirrorless cameras to use either Full Frame or APS-C and upsizing SW also for those cropped images.
I will have to take an image but I have my day bag and night bag that are teardrop bags with a camera with telephoto but a prime and smaller telephoto with extras supplies not even looking like a big camera bag the joy of modern great lenses and Software!
A note about rear filters you can do a panorama or use a super ultra wide with a selected one and not have the upside-down hump that a front CPL gives.
1. E 10-18mm //f4 at 12mm FF 2. 12-24mm f/4 3. Voigtlander 10mm e mount 4. 24-240mm no filters
I pretty much do that with my 35-150 lens. I would decide which focal length I want the shot, then zoom with my feet as needed. I was shooting with primes for so long this just feels natural.