Monday, June 21, 2010

Zooming with the feet

I was rethinking my earlier post What's going on with the Hasselblad? I speculated that the reasons I'm shooting fewer frames was due to slower capture rates and write/review speeds (on the digital back).

Well, I kind of neglected the biggest difference and reason for shooting fewer frames. I'm zooming with my feet.

On the D3, I'm shooting either the 24-70mm f/2.8G or the 70-200mm f/2.8G both of which allow me to move "in and out" of the frame with the turn of a ring. For Kaley's most recent image, I remember climbing over rocks and having to rebalance myself simply to move in and out of the frame.

If you haven't figured by now, this has nothing to do with Hasselblad vs. Nikon. It's simply lens selection. I only have the HC 80(mm) 2.8.

Upon further review however, I foresee a lot of "zooming with the feet" to come because Hasselblad's lens lineup does not include many zoom options. In fact to my knowledge there are only 2 zoom lenses (50-110, 35-90) for the H bodies. Both of these options overlap with the 80mm length and offer slower apertures.

In a way, this makes me more selective because I can't waste too much time walking in and out to get different length captures. Only time will tell how it really affects my ability to shoot with fixed focal length lenses.

2 comments:

  1. I agree although I only shoot with a Nikon D200 I have been using my primes a lot more and I am the zoom and with a recovering Achilles Tendon I am very selective of my shots. I typically find a position and shoot as much as I can then move and reposition. I do not own the 24-70 but I do have a zoom but like you mentioned it is a slower aperture so the 50mm f1.8 is my main lens.
    I guess the objective is the get the best shots so do what ever it takes to get it.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Wayne

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  2. I think a recovering Achilles Tendon would be a perfect reason for buying some new zooms ;P

    I agree with doing whatever it takes to get the shot ;)

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