« If I have any word of advice to give, it is that a photographer should learn to work with the minimum amount of equipment. The more you are able to forget your equipment, the more time you have to concentrate on the subject and on the composition. The camera should become an extension of your eye, nothing else.” Ernst Haas
Valuable words and so true. I can remember taking some really cool images with a Brownie Hawkeye at age 12. I even developed them myself and then made a contact print. Course I will say that the SLR has made life a lot easier; albeit, expensive.
There was a period where I was doing a lot of test with film, developers, papers, cameras, tripods, etc and my sister who made her fine arts told me to stop playing with the tools and start doing pictures.
These are indeed wise words. As of late I've been minimalizing my kit as I realized that I often were carrying glass that I did not even use. My back and shoulders appreciate that after a long day. My minimalist kit is the 24-85mm AF-S Nikkor and a D70, a polarizing filter, the CF-D70 soft case, and 2GB of memory. For times when I need to carry the 70-300mm ED Nikkor, I take the Tamrac Expedition 3 backpack. My back sweats though on hot days like today for example with the backpack on. Anyway, choosing the right lenses for the job is a good idea. Why waste energy carrying more than you need? Kind Regards, Przemek
I try to decide what I am going out to shoot in advance and take camera and one lens. Well I'm in trouble if something else comes along. :>))) Till next time anyway.
You know what though, the only way to learn what the minimum amount of lenses or equipment is for a situation, or how to minimize your gear, is to buy, play with, and use a TON of gear (esp. in real situations, ie for $, or with time constraints, etc.). Then after 100 mistakes, or 'next time I know not to bring the... cause it never left my bag' or 'the 50/1.8 would have been a hell of a lot lighter' or 'never forget your CP again' So while I totally agree with the quote, I find the path to getting there is just the opposite.
I agree with you. You have to find the tools that fit your style. Once that is done things can be minimized.
Since I don't have to earn my money with photography, I am using one lens at a time, most of the times. More so, when I recently got a 24mm f1.8 prime, I spent about 2-3 weeks using this lens only. It's a very nice experience, having to cope with fixed focal lenght. It makes one think more about the right position, distance, composition - the picture itself - instead of changing and zooming and so on. It also made me walk more, which I really need. Cheers,
After coming from a Nikon Coolpix 5700 with a teleconverter, I'm so used to being able to shoot macro to 420mm with just one camera that I really had to do a LOT of research to figure out which two lenses would fill the most of my shooting. In the warm months, I do 99% of my shooting from a kayak where space is at a premium and fighting against the bag with lunch, snacks, etc, the water bottles, the emergency kits, the extra clothing in case I dump in, etc etc. I've become very adept at packing that kayak perfectly and keeping everything in grabbable order during a 12 hour day out on the water. I HAVE to keep equipment to a minimum just because there's no room! *LOL* Going from 17mm to 400mm with just two lenses, and macro with the 500D works. I do like Heiko's method though. When I learned to golf, my husband made me play the whole round with just two clubs, so I could get a feel for the range each club would produce. Works with lenses too.
A longer explanation is given here http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm @ Ken Rockwell's site.
