Essential
F
Lenses
or every photography tour I lead, I send out a color eBooklet with pictures and text describing what participants can expect during the trip. I always include a list of recommended equipment and, of course, I itemize the ideal lenses I feel would produce the best images based on where the tour goes and the subjects we’ll encounter. Invariably, clients write me asking if they can ‘get away with’ carrying a lens or two less than my recommendations. As we age, weight becomes an important issue. At some point, it’s just not possible, without a lot of back, neck, shoulder, or hip pain, to carry a lot of gear. Therefore, I certainly understand
4
the questions I get about how to minimize the lenses we carry without, hopefully, compromising our picture taking ability. If I were writing this article 10 years ago, the conclusions I would draw from what’s available to photographers would be different than today. As technology gives us more and better options, we have to re-examine how we approach photography. Option 1: The easy approach When smart phones were first released with a built-in camera, serious photographers recognized that the quality of the images just