[Leica] More equipment than you need?

[telyt at earthlink.net (Douglas Herr)]

Ted Grant <tedgrant@shaw.ca> wrote:

> Mark Langer offered:
>
>> I too tend to use a 50mm lens the most, but that begs the question
>> "Which 50mm?"  It depends on the situation, and has much to do with
>> the characteristics of the lens, the body that I'm mounting it on, and
>> what I'm using it for.  I love the 50mm Summar for portraiture, the
>> compactness of the 50mm Elmar, the speed of the Jupiter 3, the image
>> rendering capability of the 4th gen. Summicron, the screwmount,
>> collapsibility and bokeh of the Summitar (to say nothing of the
>> bizarre "barn door" hood for it), the fact that my Nikkor 50/2 goes
>> nicely on my Niccas, the heft and build quality of the 50/1.5 Simlar,
>> etc.  I could go on and on.  The problem is that even by concentrating
>> on a 50mm lens, there are just so many appealing options for one to
>> take.<<<<
>
> Hi Mark,
> That's amazing you have such a range of same focal length lenses and have 
> to 
> make decisions on which one to use.

I don't know that I've used as many lenses in the 250mm to 300mm range as 
Mark has 50mm lenses but it might be close (9 at last count).  I haven't 
kept them all; some I've had to give back :-( while others haven't been 
entirely right for me.  For a focal length I depend on for a big portion of 
my photographs, I want a lens that suits me perfectly: image quality, 
handling, portability, minimum focus distance, and more are involved in the 
decision-making process.

I sell the less-suitable lenses mostly to pay for the next one which is 
probably a good thing 'cuz I'd have kept them all - except the loaners - and 
I'd have to go through the decision-making process every time I use the 
camera.  I'd want to take several and I'd be too bogged down with equipment 
to make any photographs.


Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com