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No Zooms!

Not wanting to get religious, here. During my first Canon phase, with the excellent EOS 650, 50 and 3, I used to use zooms. I even had the wonderful 28-70 f/2.8 L. This lens was excellent, I only have good memories of it, save the weight. The bulk attracted too much attention too, but I felt the compromise was good.

Since then, I have moved to a Leica M6, then to a Rollei SL66 and then to a view camera. Of course, none of these cameras take zooms. It did wonders.

I have learned to look, seek and see with defined angles of view. More importantly, I have separated the angle selection from the triggering moment. With the Canon, my shots had most often nothing in it because I consistently missed what was interesting, or relevant or whatever. I was zooming. It really distracted me too much and with the Leica I was concentrating on what was in front of me instead of fiddling with the camera and the zoom.

This has been reinforced by the medium format experience.

I am sure zooms are a great asset for many photographers. I understand they save time to people able to use them well. I was not one of them. I cant see what changed since. But I am not getting any zoom for my new Canon. It might be worth it to try again, but I just don’t want to hold such a heavy thing again. Getting back hand-hold-ability with my main camera, I prefer to keep concentrating on what is in front of me than getting distracted by the weight, the bulk and that extra control that I don’t really need.

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