[Butler]

Quote:

Creativity has nothing to do with whether you use a zoom or a prime. Having to step a few steps forward or back doesnt make better pictures. Its just as possible to previsualize with a zoom as it is a prime. Any lens you use enough to become second nature to you will serve you.

Primes are good for shooting in low light. They also can help create narrow slivers of focus for portraits. They're generally a little lighter and more compact than zooms. That is their advantage. Most photographers would be well served at having both zooms and primes. It isn't an either/or thing.

I'm just saying what I heard from my multiple photography teachers throughout college. But hey, what do they know- they're paid to teach photography and have years of field experience. 
 

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

I'm just saying what I heard from my multiple photography teachers throughout college. But hey, what do they know- they're paid to teach photography and have years of field experience. 
 

My sarcasm meter went off the scale with this post.
 

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

I'm just saying what I heard from my multiple photography teachers throughout college. But hey, what do they know- they're paid to teach photography and have years of field experience. 

The reason high school and entry level college photography courses limit students to a single prime is to reduce the number of variables so a student can focus on the fundamental techniques. It isn't because shooting with a prime makes students "more creative". When you master those fundamentals, you can move on from shooting with a single prime and start using a wider range of tools. Different tools have different applications. Glass doesn't make you creative. Your brain does.
 

 

[music_man]

maybe someone could help me please. i got a couple of very fine scratches on my camera screen. i don't like screen protectors. is there any way to remove the scratches that is not risky?

thanks

oh btw, it is a nikon!

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

maybe someone could help me please. i got a couple of very fine scratches on my camera screen. i don't like screen protectors. is there any way to remove the scratches that is not risky?

thanks

oh btw, it is a nikon!

If the scratches bother you a lot, you can ship your camera into nikon and they will repair it.
If not, I would say just be careful and try and avoid any more scratches. 
 

 

[xkRoWx]

Quote:

Creativity has nothing to do with whether you use a zoom or a prime. Having to step a few steps forward or back doesnt make better pictures. Its just as possible to previsualize with a zoom as it is a prime. Any lens you use enough to become second nature to you will serve you.

Primes are good for shooting in low light. They also can help create narrow slivers of focus for portraits. They're generally a little lighter and more compact than zooms. That is their advantage. Most photographers would be well served at having both zooms and primes. It isn't an either/or thing.

Shooting at 24mm 3 feet away is not the same as shooting 200mm from 20 feet. I bet 90% of the people with zoom wouldn't even bother walking that extra 17 feet, when a full twist of the zoom ring can "bring you there".
 
Perspective can make or break the photograph.
 

 

[Butler]

 
[size=medium]

Quote:

Quote:

Shooting at 24mm 3 feet away is not the same as shooting 200mm from 20 feet. I bet 90% of the people with zoom wouldn't even bother walking that extra 17 feet, when a full twist of the zoom ring can "bring you there".
 
Perspective can make or break the photograph.
 

 
 
Exactly. Compression can be quite this killer. "Oh is that 10 feet between the boy and the house or is he leaning against it?".
 
​

[/size]

 


Quote:

Quote:

The reason high school and entry level college photography courses limit students to a single prime is to reduce the number of variables so a student can focus on the fundamental techniques. It isn't because shooting with a prime makes students "more creative". When you master those fundamentals, you can move on from shooting with a single prime and start using a wider range of tools. Different tools have different applications. Glass doesn't make you creative. Your brain does.
 

 
 
I agree with you on all of this.
 
These are senior level courses. I'm not saying zoom lenses dont have their place, but at comparable focal lengths it's usually the better decision, weather is be a faster lens or whatever. Primes are the best lenses to learn on, that's all I'm saying. It keeps one variable static in the many elements that go into a composition and exposure. One you understand those two things, among others, then it's appropriate to introduce zoom lenses. But it's always important to make sure that that zoom isn't a creativity crutch.
My best shots are with primes, hands down, because the situations I'm put in with them are the most creative and require extra forethought.
 
 

 

[bigshot]

Shooting at 24mm 3 feet away is not the same as shooting 200mm from 20 feet. I bet 90% of the people with zoom wouldn't even bother walking that extra 17 feet, when a full twist of the zoom ring can "bring you there".

And I bet someone who just put a 200mm prime on their camera wouldn't be bothered to switch to a 24mm to get one shot... Particularly if the 24 was in the car in their bag instead of being in their pocket.

The best way to get the shot is to have the proper tool. A lens is just a tool. If you're shooting candids of people or fast changing action, having the right focal length on the camera is the only way to get the shot. The action won't stop for you to switch lenses. Primes have their place, but they aren't a substitute for a good zoom.

If you can't be creatiVe with a zoom, that's your weakness. It isn't the fault of the lens.

 

[Redcarmoose]

There are no rules in photography...........none!
 
There are laws which we have leaned from science and there are the values of art they teach in collage and we are exposed to in the media.
 
 
Towert7 is taking pictures with a first generation 198? zoom and enjoying the effect it gives his photos. You could use the lens out of the center of your front door that you use to see people knocking. The results might be cool. Towert7 has a whole collection of modern equipment but enjoys a LO/FI effect you can't create in Photo Shop.
 
 
 
It's up to each photographer to explore their own style. Chromatic distortion, uneven light falloff, all end up being cool after the trend of years and years of perfect photographs.
 
 
The trick is to be inventive and use the tools at hand to create new styles or effects which have not been seen before as long as they help communicate the message that the photographer is trying to tell. At times the trick is for the viewer to say "Wow" "How did he do that?" Facts are that there are effects that will be invented in Photo Shop which will be released in the next 20 years never seen by man. Facts are someone will take a photograph out the window of a car going 40mph reflected off a mirror and get another effect never seen by man. These are some of the photographs which win contests because they cause us to pause for a moment and realize that life still holds mysteries that we have yet to experience. By the way photographers, that's our job!
 
 
 
I own a zoom lens but I am learning to see things another way. Using one prime would never get someone a company yearly report portfolio as there is a mission and a larger story to tell which justifies the use of many different perspectives in photography. There is a story to tell and a job to do to tell the story.
 
Walking around with a single prime lens could almost get a person to loose the one great photograph they have a chance to take in their life. No one walks around with one lens. Early news paper photographers would go out for the day with one medium format camera and photograph stuff to print in the paper. They could take the negative into the dark room and enlarge the focal perspective in the printing process and pull the telephoto photograph straight out of the wide angle shot. We can also do this today with cropping. To be printed in the newspaper the quality was really not that important as long as the photograph told the other half of the story the printed letters fell short on.
 
The cool part is all of us when using photography as a hobby have the freedom to play.

 

[Redcarmoose]

 
 
Some old junk I'm into.
FM,FE,FE2 This stuff was expensive to purchase when I was in my 20s. Now almost the price of a night in a hotel room.

 

[Redcarmoose]

 

[Redcarmoose]

 

[Redcarmoose]

 

[Redcarmoose]

 
 
 
The great part about the N90s are that you can pick one up for $30 or $40 bucks and they take AA batteries! A 1000.00 usd when they came out, one of the finest Nikons ever made.  

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

Primes are the best lenses to learn on, that's all I'm saying.

Again, maybe I'm different, but I never had trouble learning on a zoom lens (18-55mm and 70-300mm at first, then an 18-200mm).  There really are not that many variables to control.  Perspective, zoom, f-stop, shutter speed, subject, lighting...  For me, the zoom aspect never complicated things and likewise never took away from my creativity...  Trust me, learning how to use an oscilloscope was much harder than learning the basic concepts of photography. 
Now with Digital photography, learning photography has never been easier.
 
I am a self taught photographer (never had a formal course).  Perhaps the teachers are the ones that like to break photography down into it's components?
I also find myself not bound to these 'rules' or guidelines that so many people talk about.  I just take the photographs I like.
 
Now, video and video editing I'm having a MUCH harder time picking up, despite already having knowledge of things like shutter speed, f-stop, focal length.  Time and audio sure do complicate things!!!!!!!!!!!!!