I had a similar experience with the 35mm and 50mm. I shot nearly a decade thinking I disliked the 50mm focal length and I shot pretty much exclusively with the 35mm. I found myself slowly cropping more and more as the years passed until I realized I was basically shooting a 35 cropped down to 50.
The fear of missing out works both ways for me, I fear I won’t get everything in frame, but I also fear I won’t get close enough to the thing I want to capture (even with a crop) So I don’t go anywhere without a 50mm, I find i rarely I would ever put anything wider than that on my camera. With the 50 you get natural lens compression so it feels more like a human eye. You can get nice and close to things to get detail but it’s also wide enough to generally get a photo that tells a story with the wider context In frame.
Was in the same boat. I went on vacation last month and accidentally left my 28mm at home. Only had my 50mm on me and haven’t taken it off since. Always fun to try something new!
Very good point(s). Since buying the 35mm for my Fuji X-T20 (i.e. 50mm equivalent) it is the default lens if I go for a walk. I have the 13mm Viltrox and the tele zoom (50-230) if I want variety, And I do use them: the 13mm because it can focus very close - so it's not really about the panoramic views; the long lens for macro (with extension tubes) and for details (architecture).
Another great video Goughie! Throughout the years I settled with the 24mm (16mm f/1.4 Fujinon in specific). Because of the love of landscape and as you mentioned getting all in frame. My recent travel limited me to carrying only the X100V, and it got me out of my comfort zone and gave me a bit more reach. Cheers mate!
It's always a great thing to break habits and experiment! It's been kind of the opposite for me: the 35mm focal length has been my go to for years, but I recently got the 18mm f2 along with the X-Pro1 as my everyday fun setup, and the 18mm has been forcing me to really embrace a wider FoV. I've always preferred the slightly tighter 35 or 40 look because I felt that 24 or 28 would include too much in the frame and make it hard for me to focus on what I want to shoot. While that is still true, the 28mm FoV has forced me to be more aware of my surroundings and get closer to what I'm photographing, and the wider look makes things look just a bit closer and more personal. While I still love the 35mm look, the experience so far has been very fun :)
I've a Q, but I don't use it often. It's a backup camera, to be honest. My favourite local length is still the 50 (LUX) followed by the 90 (Summarit). For dramatic landscapes or very tight spaces, I use the Elmar-M 24/3.8. Humans are focusing on an object a bit far away, and your sight is 'zooming' in. Therefore, it's logical to have focal length between 50 and 100 mm. The famous Danish photographer Mogens Gunnar Stryhn (1936-2019) preferred the 135 mm focal length and often used a 400 mm for portraits. It's the way how you want to bring the motive to live in your photos, that direct the choice of the focal length. Keep on rolling!
I have two lenses for my Fuji X-S10, a Fuji 18-55mm and a Viltrox 75mm. Interestingly, I also experienced something similar. The 18-55mm is my comfort lens and spent the better part of 11 years with that focal length. It is as familiar as an old pair of shoes. However, while the 75mm isn't as familiar and is far more compositionally demanding, the discomfort pushes me to put in more effort both conciously and subconciously. This has led to far more keeper shots per hundred photos (from a handful to a dozen). Discomfort can prevent complacency.
Fixed 35mm for me is the ultimate experience on my Hasselblad. Why, because I know what to expect ! I have just purchased a 18 - 55 Fuji for my X-T5 for the times I don't know what to expect........Mmmmm? I have the 10 - 24 Fuji but I sort of know what I will use it for..........My 3 primes are Leica 28mm, Hassy 35mm and a Fuji 50mm (equivalent). The morel to my story is, I have to make my primes work my scene. The zooms are a luxury for versatility. DoF, low light F stops, ND filters, Polarization, tripod required all have an effect on my choice, IF I have a choice. If I do, I hopefully will make a good choice. Food for thought video, thank you. For me, take as many lenses as you think you will need or the one you love the most. Hassy is coming with me to the studio later. Fuji will be there for back up. The Fuji 10-24 & 18-55 will be with me at Ockham this morning for an outdoor model shoot. However I know the 35mm (equivalent) Hassy will be leaping into my hand at every opportunity. There is no one stop shot shop..........IMHO.
I love using wider lenses (16 & 23 for Fuji), but oftentimes I don't love the bokeh or I have to crop to get a framing I like. Lately I've been using 33 & 56 and doing Panorama stitching so that it mimics the wider focal lengths, but it doesn't always turn out right... probably because I've been making the mistake of rotating the camera at the sensor which causes parallax, when the rotating point should've been somewhere on the lens. 😅🤦♂
I own a 85 mm and a 24 mm and i agree, the shots taken from a tele lens are much more intimate, sometimes looking moren"purposeful" and they are also wonderful portrait lenses
Very interesting transmission... Im have something similar going on with 50 and 40 mm. Every year i make an excel sheet of the focal length i used. Its very interesting to see how my preference change along my journey
I used to love doing wide angle stuff like 35mm for street photography, and never tried 50mm. But after finally trying out 50mm, it seems like 50 is more my cup of tea! Switching to 50 gave me a different perspective on how to frame things, and overal pushed me out of the comfort zone. It gave me inspiration to shoot more! Nice pictures goughie!
I'm mainly a travel/street/occasional landscape photographer. I've been using the Fuji X system cameras since their inception. I prefer using "primes", but over the last 5 months with my new X-H2, I've gravitated to using the 16-80mm f/4 zoom. However I began to resent lugging this larger heavier kit around for my "walk-abouts", and again looked towards using my primes. I then had your dilemma, as I had been contemplating, selling at least 2 or 3 of my then retained lenses - 60/f2.4, 35/f1.4, 23/f1.4, 18/f2 & 14/f2.8. However having put them on eBay and having sold the 35/f1.4 I got cold feet, & withdrew the other lenses from sale. Like you I went back to the drawing board & looked at the photos taken and reviewed the exif data. Most, 70% were within the 18-27mm range, weighted more to the shorter focal length. About 10%, were below 18mm, but again the mean was probably closer to the 16mm range, so an 18mm would probably have done in most cars. The remaining 20% were taken above 27mm with most bulking out at 80mm. During these deliberations I had done relatively little cropping except at the 80mm lens, where latterly I had discovered that the "sports-finder" of the X-H2 gave me greater reach, albeit with a "M" pixel reduction from "L" size. Could I therefore make do with retaining just the 23/1.4, one of my all-time favourite lenses, much lighter/smaller (& cheaper) than the MK2, & perhaps also retain the 14/2.8 for the wider shots. However carrying both these lenses somewhat defeated the downsizing exercise. Together they would weigh more than the 16-80 zoom, & would be less convenient to boot? So 2 weeks ago I went out with just the lightweight 18mm pancake lens. Joy of joys, I remembered how & why, it was one of my favourite original Fuji X lenses. Yes I wasn't getting close enough in some instances, but I found, either cropping within the camera or in post production worked satisfactorily for me in most cases. The next day I was out taking more photos, and this time I had the 60mm, as well as the 18mm lens with me. This combination weighs slightly more than the 23/f1.4 but significantly less than the zoom. Also as only one lens is attached to the camera at a time, this combination imposes less stress on my (aging?) wrists! Have I found the perfect solution! I would still like to retain the 23/f1.4 for use with the X-H2, but perhaps I should repurchase an X-Pro2 to go with the 18mm? Decisions decisions... Thanks for your video; it puts another perspective on my lens choice ...as I remain more confused than ever! John Greenwood
I carry three focal lengths for any photo jobs. 28/50/75. Favourite is still 28 1.4 but I do have favourites in 50 and 75. For professional jobs - it’s on three leica M bodies so I dont have to swap lenses.
One of the reasons I recently picked up a Leica 28-35-50 tri-Elmer no decision needed which lens to take!! It’s f4 but I rarely shoot wide open therefore f5.6 f8 are my go to aperture settings.
I recently discovered the perfect coverage “FOR ME” 28mm & 50mm like you said when using the 16-55 I would appreciate the far end of the photos. I like using 28mm as my establishing shot and get the fine details with the 50mm/90mm. Great video.
Good stuff! I just spent the afternoon with my 16-55mm art Brighton today. But I'll be honest - in the heat, everyone was so half-dressed that I mostly kept my lens cap on. Couldn't find many places to point my camera without potentially getting a black eye! XD On a positive, it was my first ever day using a shoulder strap (rather than a hand strap and sling bag) and I LOVE it.
Hi @Goughie. I'm new to your channel and love your photography, but I'm a bot confused with the gear issue: did you sell all your leica kit and stay only with Fujifilm? I thought you loved your Elmarit and even more your CV Ultron, just to mention a couple of 28mm lenses.
Firstly the ultron was sold and replaced with the Elmarit! Then more recently I had a plan for a while to sell pretty much all my Leica gear to fund an M11 and couple other bits, advertised it all and the 28mm sold immediately, over a couple weeks I decided to actually stick with my M10, I personally know too many people with M11 issues. So this left me without a 28mm… Hence having to use something else, either 35mm or 50mm. I am now a little torn over buying another elmarit, or using this as a chance to try some other 28mm alternatives like the newer voigtlanders Hopefully helps describe what happened a little
@@Goughie I own an M11 and after a couple of firmwares and knowing another couple of tricks, the camera works fine. Regarding the 28mm topic, I also shoot 35-50, but find that 28 FL very intriguing and will try one of the numerous options there are available for the M mount. The Elmarit sounds nice, but I'd rather go for the summicron or the ultron for an extra stop and more bokeh, even admitting that your portraits with the elmarit are more than good enough and show the strengths of that mighty lens. What are your thoughts about the ultron? Is it on par with the elmarit IQ wise? I've heard other photographers pointing out that maybe is way too contrasty.
@@fededuran2523 I had the V1 ultron I haven’t tried the new one, it’s definitely not worth the extra money buying the elmarit but then it never is! The elmarit is however the sharpest lens I think I’ve ever used, and I’d like one again
You’re going to love the 18 1.4 by Fujii! It has become one of my favorite lenses. I recently started photographing the last year with the 33 1.4 and that’s an outstanding lens too. There are a few other lenses I also like, but they’re even more compressed.
I used to be this confused as well, till I discovered what focal length to use in what situations. In Urland Landscapes I do; 28mm for city/landscapes (not for me) 35mm for people and their immediate surroundings for context. 35mm is my every day carry, mostly for story telling. But I hardly use it for landscapes. 50mm for isolating people and their actions ONLY without any need of context. 100mm for isolating things, but a 50mm can do as well. I just move in. In rural or open field landscapes; 50mm for landscapes. I never go wider than this. 100mm for isolating subjects It’s not clear cut science but you get the point. Edited; When in the cities, I would mostly use the 50mm horizontally while the 35mm will almost always be used vertically. I don’t like having a lot of things in my frames.
Interesting! I’ve moved from 50 to 35 to 28 on my Leica. Only to realize that the 28 is only great sometimes. When you really nail that focal lenght. And on film it’s too expensive to use it all the time! Not all 36 are bangers… So I think I will start treat the 28 more like a special purpose lens rather than being on the camera full time. But it’s a constant battle what lens to bring😅
ohh you sell all your Leica gear. will you stay with Fuji or do you have other plans? :D 50mm is also my favorite focal length even though i usually shoot with 35mm because i usually don't have enough space to use 50mm. you shoot with 28 and 50mm so much the same though that your style is quite recognizable no matter what focal length you have.
I shoot a Fuji XPro-3 with Fuji 35mm 1.4 (and their 35mm f2 for inclement weather). I love the 50mm equivalent, and I prefer zeroing in on specific things as opposed to capturing everything. It served me well all,over Europe. And I’ve always got 28mm on my iPhone if I really need a wide capture.
I shot with the RX1 exclusively for 10 years and committed to a capture-and-crop-in-post workflow. My photography has been absolutely unhindered by that. There have been times where I see an opportunity at a wider than 35mm or at the "too far to reasonably crop" distance that I skip out on, but for the most part, wide is fine with me as long as I have the pixels to make my composition. While shooting with a wider lens and cropping later to compose has its compromises, it also means I'm indifferent to focal lengths from having to carry and swap lenses.
I used to have the 35mm 1.4 from fuji and ended up selling it cause i always found it too narrow, but it is true that some pictures you can’t get them with a 28 or 24mm equivalent. Sometimes i think my 23mm 1.4 gives the sweet spot between subject separation and wideness but other times i do wish when traveling to have something wider so i don’t really know what i want. It’s so hard picking between focal lengths and not feel the fomo
It’s tough isn’t it! It’s been a great experience that might have just further pushed me to understanding that 28mm + 50mm is my ultimate preference! And that if I just take a 28mm that I should have 50mm fomo! 😂
I have never enjoyed using wide angle lenses. Over many years I have almost always used a 50mm on full frame or a 35mm on APS-C. When I am without a camera I use my iPhone 13 Pro and almost always feel the need to switch from its standard lens (medium wide around 27mm FF) to its long lens even though is is the equivalent of around 75mm FF - I preferred the long lens on the earlier iPhones which was around 55mm FF. My only possible explanation matches yours - I like to focus on people and moments and rarely find a wide scene interesting.
If you have been doing photography long enough, your personality just sees in a certain way. I've found I like prefer 35 and 40mm. But I realized I had never tried a ultra wide lens so I've ordered a 6mm rectilinear lens for my om5. With a 122 angle of view I'm kinda wanting to try that xpan look.
I’ve found the longer I do it the more my style changes and adapts, for the best part of 10 years landscapes was all I did, the last couple years I think I’ve started to find a new style to my work
Maybe you like the zoomed photos more because they are not common to you and psychologically it give you the amazed wow feeling to appear in your album? Vice versa for those who used to zoom but forced themselves use wiser lenses?
I love 50mm as my default walk-around lens when I'm by myself, but when I'm with family and friends and want to photograph them, 50mm creates too much physical distance between us. I dislike physically stepping back from our group to snap photos, I want to be part of the group while also documenting it. Maybe that's why 28mm is such a popular focal length for phones.
Shrewd of you to search LR images by focal length, Goughie. Part of style is preferred field of view for given type of composition - something that comes close to your eye’s preferred field of attention/view. It’s personal. Too easy to get sucked into lens f/l choice from marketing campaigns. Agree? (For my own street festival genre 18-50mm zoom APS-C works well.) Still, as your talents grow you will find and shoot terrific compositions in just about any lens/composition situation. Great images are there for the taking. Don’t fret about missing out shots - think about what is possible with gear at hand. How long were you shooting the preferred 28mm. Cheers!
28mm has been my preference for the best part of 8 or so years, but it’s over the last 2 years that my style has found more of a rhythm, especially in the last 12 months I’ve taken things a little more seriously I personally wouldn’t say marketing has effected my focal length choice a little too experienced for that now I think. I imagine it has for some people though especially people new to the hobby!
I also like 28mm. Not as a choice above all others, but rather my definite choice as a "normal wide" vs. 24mm. 24mm feels very awkward to me, whereas 28mm is super intuitive. If/when I want wider than 28, then give me a 17 or 18, please (or at least a 21). I'm talking FF equivalent, of course. I suppose I may learn something if I forced myself to use a 24. I dunno. I was visiting London recently and all I brought was a 27mm/2.8 pancake on my X-T30II (~40mm). I learned that there is plenty in London that you cannot fit in that FOV, but plenty that does fit, too. Next trip (at the end of June) I'll be bringing the 15-45mm (~22-67mm).
"If your pictures [of people] aren't good, you aren't close enough." And, in my view, 'being close enough' works best with a 35mm lens (full frame). I would add that it is best to avoid shooting people from behind (except when there is a compelling photographic reason to do so); it can very easily become a bad habit
@@bernardlesperance742 not really sure what you’d call it, probably leans closer to travel photography than street. Capturing people with a scene, they are part of the image but not the main subject. There must be a term for it, it just can’t think of it
I have only one camera with it fixed lens, it is a Panaosonic LX100.....after 60 years of photography , and I never ask myself "what focal lenght am I using" ! And that as to see with the fact that I come from film photography and at that time you had to fill your frame, cropping wasn't an option (....and I think still isn't). Focal lenght is all about perspective and I see a subject because of its perspective and it constantly varies. The subject requires wide, I do wide, it requires tele, and I can't be bother to know if it is 35 or 45mm, I frame the subjcet "in full", as usual and that's all what matter.
The beauty of a focal lens is once you get comfortable of a focal length, you can put another focal length to re-adapt. There is a reason that you always end up with one focal length when you use zoom lens. That's because it's where you feel comfortable! Unfortunately, I don't agree with you about to improve photography by ditch a particular focal length. You fell comfortable doesn't mean you are mastering it. The way that I believe to improve is use the same focal length, in your case 28mm, for other type of photography such as portray, product, food and etc rather than landscape or cityscape.
50mm worked pretty well for HCB and street photography. So there is that. A lot of it has to do with isolating your subject which creates a definite mood, especially for street.
50mm is the king of all lenses. The other thing about 50mm is if you are a shit photographer you can’t hide behind a 50mm. You can always muddy it up with a bunch of wide angle distortion baloney or get a very fast lens and blur the shit out of everything, but you get a 50mm and close the aperture there is nowhere to hide..
28mm is a joke. I'll shoot 27.5 or 28.5 - NEVER 28mm like a rookie. LOL! Just kidding. Great video man. Love your perspective and your fantastic photography, as always!
I had a similar experience with the 35mm and 50mm. I shot nearly a decade thinking I disliked the 50mm focal length and I shot pretty much exclusively with the 35mm. I found myself slowly cropping more and more as the years passed until I realized I was basically shooting a 35 cropped down to 50.
The fear of missing out works both ways for me, I fear I won’t get everything in frame, but I also fear I won’t get close enough to the thing I want to capture (even with a crop)
So I don’t go anywhere without a 50mm, I find i rarely I would ever put anything wider than that on my camera. With the 50 you get natural lens compression so it feels more like a human eye. You can get nice and close to things to get detail but it’s also wide enough to generally get a photo that tells a story with the wider context In frame.
Was in the same boat. I went on vacation last month and accidentally left my 28mm at home. Only had my 50mm on me and haven’t taken it off since. Always fun to try something new!
Yup, 28mm is very comfortable.
Very good point(s). Since buying the 35mm for my Fuji X-T20 (i.e. 50mm equivalent) it is the default lens if I go for a walk. I have the 13mm Viltrox and the tele zoom (50-230) if I want variety, And I do use them: the 13mm because it can focus very close - so it's not really about the panoramic views; the long lens for macro (with extension tubes) and for details (architecture).
Another great video Goughie!
Throughout the years I settled with the 24mm (16mm f/1.4 Fujinon in specific). Because of the love of landscape and as you mentioned getting all in frame. My recent travel limited me to carrying only the X100V, and it got me out of my comfort zone and gave me a bit more reach.
Cheers mate!
It's always a great thing to break habits and experiment! It's been kind of the opposite for me: the 35mm focal length has been my go to for years, but I recently got the 18mm f2 along with the X-Pro1 as my everyday fun setup, and the 18mm has been forcing me to really embrace a wider FoV. I've always preferred the slightly tighter 35 or 40 look because I felt that 24 or 28 would include too much in the frame and make it hard for me to focus on what I want to shoot. While that is still true, the 28mm FoV has forced me to be more aware of my surroundings and get closer to what I'm photographing, and the wider look makes things look just a bit closer and more personal. While I still love the 35mm look, the experience so far has been very fun :)
I've a Q, but I don't use it often. It's a backup camera, to be honest. My favourite local length is still the 50 (LUX) followed by the 90 (Summarit). For dramatic landscapes or very tight spaces, I use the Elmar-M 24/3.8. Humans are focusing on an object a bit far away, and your sight is 'zooming' in. Therefore, it's logical to have focal length between 50 and 100 mm. The famous Danish photographer Mogens Gunnar Stryhn (1936-2019) preferred the 135 mm focal length and often used a 400 mm for portraits. It's the way how you want to bring the motive to live in your photos, that direct the choice of the focal length. Keep on rolling!
Been on a similar journey. I now find it extremely challenging when I go out with just a 28mm prime...... Great vid.
The "I can always crop" attitude is what I'm trying to get away from.
This really forced me out of it!
Cropping can become a crutch real fast.
I have two lenses for my Fuji X-S10, a Fuji 18-55mm and a Viltrox 75mm. Interestingly, I also experienced something similar.
The 18-55mm is my comfort lens and spent the better part of 11 years with that focal length. It is as familiar as an old pair of shoes. However, while the 75mm isn't as familiar and is far more compositionally demanding, the discomfort pushes me to put in more effort both conciously and subconciously. This has led to far more keeper shots per hundred photos (from a handful to a dozen).
Discomfort can prevent complacency.
That last sentence 👌🏻👌🏻
Fixed 35mm for me is the ultimate experience on my Hasselblad. Why, because I know what to expect ! I have just purchased a 18 - 55 Fuji for my X-T5 for the times I don't know what to expect........Mmmmm? I have the 10 - 24 Fuji but I sort of know what I will use it for..........My 3 primes are Leica 28mm, Hassy 35mm and a Fuji 50mm (equivalent). The morel to my story is, I have to make my primes work my scene. The zooms are a luxury for versatility. DoF, low light F stops, ND filters, Polarization, tripod required all have an effect on my choice, IF I have a choice. If I do, I hopefully will make a good choice. Food for thought video, thank you. For me, take as many lenses as you think you will need or the one you love the most. Hassy is coming with me to the studio later. Fuji will be there for back up. The Fuji 10-24 & 18-55 will be with me at Ockham this morning for an outdoor model shoot. However I know the 35mm (equivalent) Hassy will be leaping into my hand at every opportunity. There is no one stop shot shop..........IMHO.
I love using wider lenses (16 & 23 for Fuji), but oftentimes I don't love the bokeh or I have to crop to get a framing I like.
Lately I've been using 33 & 56 and doing Panorama stitching so that it mimics the wider focal lengths, but it doesn't always turn out right... probably because I've been making the mistake of rotating the camera at the sensor which causes parallax, when the rotating point should've been somewhere on the lens. 😅🤦♂
I own a 85 mm and a 24 mm and i agree, the shots taken from a tele lens are much more intimate, sometimes looking moren"purposeful" and they are also wonderful portrait lenses
Very interesting transmission... Im have something similar going on with 50 and 40 mm. Every year i make an excel sheet of the focal length i used. Its very interesting to see how my preference change along my journey
i have the Fuji 18mm f1.4 which is a great lens but often prefer the even wider 13mm f1.4 by Viltrox.
I used to love doing wide angle stuff like 35mm for street photography, and never tried 50mm. But after finally trying out 50mm, it seems like 50 is more my cup of tea! Switching to 50 gave me a different perspective on how to frame things, and overal pushed me out of the comfort zone. It gave me inspiration to shoot more! Nice pictures goughie!
I'm mainly a travel/street/occasional landscape photographer.
I've been using the Fuji X system cameras since their inception.
I prefer using "primes", but over the last 5 months with my new X-H2, I've gravitated to using the 16-80mm f/4 zoom. However I began to resent lugging this larger heavier kit around for my "walk-abouts", and again looked towards using my primes.
I then had your dilemma, as I had been contemplating, selling at least 2 or 3 of my then retained lenses - 60/f2.4, 35/f1.4, 23/f1.4, 18/f2 & 14/f2.8. However having put them on eBay and having sold the 35/f1.4 I got cold feet, & withdrew the other lenses from sale.
Like you I went back to the drawing board & looked at the photos taken and reviewed the exif data.
Most, 70% were within the 18-27mm range, weighted more to the shorter focal length. About 10%, were below 18mm, but again the mean was probably closer to the 16mm range, so an 18mm would probably have done in most cars. The remaining 20% were taken above 27mm with most bulking out at 80mm.
During these deliberations I had done relatively little cropping except at the 80mm lens, where latterly I had discovered that the "sports-finder" of the X-H2 gave me greater reach, albeit with a "M" pixel reduction from "L" size.
Could I therefore make do with retaining just the 23/1.4, one of my all-time favourite lenses, much lighter/smaller (& cheaper) than the MK2, & perhaps also retain the 14/2.8 for the wider shots. However carrying both these lenses somewhat defeated the downsizing exercise. Together they would weigh more than the 16-80 zoom, & would be less convenient to boot?
So 2 weeks ago I went out with just the lightweight 18mm pancake lens. Joy of joys, I remembered how & why, it was one of my favourite original Fuji X lenses. Yes I wasn't getting close enough in some instances, but I found, either cropping within the camera or in post production worked satisfactorily for me in most cases. The next day I was out taking more photos, and this time I had the 60mm, as well as the 18mm lens with me. This combination weighs slightly more than the 23/f1.4 but significantly less than the zoom. Also as only one lens is attached to the camera at a time, this combination imposes less stress on my (aging?) wrists!
Have I found the perfect solution!
I would still like to retain the 23/f1.4 for use with the X-H2, but perhaps I should repurchase an X-Pro2 to go with the 18mm? Decisions decisions...
Thanks for your video; it puts another perspective on my lens choice ...as I remain more confused than ever!
John Greenwood
Love this! It’s so interesting isnt it how we find our way!
great video, as someone who shoots predominately on the 28 and 50mm I have to remind myself to grab longer lenses
I carry three focal lengths for any photo jobs. 28/50/75. Favourite is still 28 1.4 but I do have favourites in 50 and 75. For professional jobs - it’s on three leica M bodies so I dont have to swap lenses.
One of the reasons I recently picked up a Leica 28-35-50 tri-Elmer no decision needed which lens to take!! It’s f4 but I rarely shoot wide open therefore f5.6 f8 are my go to aperture settings.
How is the quality of this tri-elmar in comparaison with a 28mm summilux? Have you compared this?
I recently discovered the perfect coverage “FOR ME” 28mm & 50mm like you said when using the 16-55 I would appreciate the far end of the photos. I like using 28mm as my establishing shot and get the fine details with the 50mm/90mm. Great video.
Cheers mate! I think 28+50mm is my perfect combo too!
Good stuff! I just spent the afternoon with my 16-55mm art Brighton today. But I'll be honest - in the heat, everyone was so half-dressed that I mostly kept my lens cap on. Couldn't find many places to point my camera without potentially getting a black eye! XD On a positive, it was my first ever day using a shoulder strap (rather than a hand strap and sling bag) and I LOVE it.
Ahaha! I know what you mean! I felt that way in Mykonos!
@@Goughie The 16-55mm is pretty conspicuous too! But I think that's ok, as I like to be a sort-of 'open and transparent' snapper.
Hi @Goughie. I'm new to your channel and love your photography, but I'm a bot confused with the gear issue: did you sell all your leica kit and stay only with Fujifilm? I thought you loved your Elmarit and even more your CV Ultron, just to mention a couple of 28mm lenses.
Firstly the ultron was sold and replaced with the Elmarit!
Then more recently I had a plan for a while to sell pretty much all my Leica gear to fund an M11 and couple other bits, advertised it all and the 28mm sold immediately, over a couple weeks I decided to actually stick with my M10, I personally know too many people with M11 issues. So this left me without a 28mm…
Hence having to use something else, either 35mm or 50mm.
I am now a little torn over buying another elmarit, or using this as a chance to try some other 28mm alternatives like the newer voigtlanders
Hopefully helps describe what happened a little
@@Goughie I own an M11 and after a couple of firmwares and knowing another couple of tricks, the camera works fine.
Regarding the 28mm topic, I also shoot 35-50, but find that 28 FL very intriguing and will try one of the numerous options there are available for the M mount. The Elmarit sounds nice, but I'd rather go for the summicron or the ultron for an extra stop and more bokeh, even admitting that your portraits with the elmarit are more than good enough and show the strengths of that mighty lens.
What are your thoughts about the ultron? Is it on par with the elmarit IQ wise? I've heard other photographers pointing out that maybe is way too contrasty.
@@fededuran2523 I had the V1 ultron I haven’t tried the new one, it’s definitely not worth the extra money buying the elmarit but then it never is! The elmarit is however the sharpest lens I think I’ve ever used, and I’d like one again
Thank you 🙏
You’re going to love the 18 1.4 by Fujii! It has become one of my favorite lenses. I recently started photographing the last year with the 33 1.4 and that’s an outstanding lens too. There are a few other lenses I also like, but they’re even more compressed.
They are the two primes I’m picking up for Fuji! The 18mm + 33mm! 👌🏻
I used to be this confused as well, till I discovered what focal length to use in what situations.
In Urland Landscapes I do;
28mm for city/landscapes (not for me)
35mm for people and their immediate surroundings for context. 35mm is my every day carry, mostly for story telling. But I hardly use it for landscapes.
50mm for isolating people and their actions ONLY without any need of context.
100mm for isolating things, but a 50mm can do as well. I just move in.
In rural or open field landscapes;
50mm for landscapes. I never go wider than this.
100mm for isolating subjects
It’s not clear cut science but you get the point.
Edited;
When in the cities, I would mostly use the 50mm horizontally while the 35mm will almost always be used vertically. I don’t like having a lot of things in my frames.
Interesting! I’ve moved from 50 to 35 to 28 on my Leica. Only to realize that the 28 is only great sometimes. When you really nail that focal lenght. And on film it’s too expensive to use it all the time! Not all 36 are bangers… So I think I will start treat the 28 more like a special purpose lens rather than being on the camera full time. But it’s a constant battle what lens to bring😅
ohh you sell all your Leica gear. will you stay with Fuji or do you have other plans? :D 50mm is also my favorite focal length even though i usually shoot with 35mm because i usually don't have enough space to use 50mm. you shoot with 28 and 50mm so much the same though that your style is quite recognizable no matter what focal length you have.
There was a bit of text saying don’t worry! It’s not for sale now! 😂 it’s interesting actually! I think I’ve found my style a little more recently!
I’ve gone the other way from 50mm being wide or my 70-200 to now using 24, 28 or 35mm.
this channel deserves more subs!
You never let me down with this comment! At the point you stop commenting I’ll know I’ve hit the right amount 😉😂
I shoot a Fuji XPro-3 with Fuji 35mm 1.4 (and their 35mm f2 for inclement weather). I love the 50mm equivalent, and I prefer zeroing in on specific things as opposed to capturing everything. It served me well all,over Europe. And I’ve always got 28mm on my iPhone if I really need a wide capture.
28 is magic
85 is vastly underrated for non portrait work.
I shot with the RX1 exclusively for 10 years and committed to a capture-and-crop-in-post workflow. My photography has been absolutely unhindered by that.
There have been times where I see an opportunity at a wider than 35mm or at the "too far to reasonably crop" distance that I skip out on, but for the most part, wide is fine with me as long as I have the pixels to make my composition.
While shooting with a wider lens and cropping later to compose has its compromises, it also means I'm indifferent to focal lengths from having to carry and swap lenses.
Great take! You’ve found what works for you!
@@Goughie absolutely! We all find what works for us along the way of our own journey. Thanks for sharing yours! 🙌
I cannot get away from my 28, pry it out of my dead hands 😅. Great video as always man.
Ahah! Cheers mate
Could you please please publish your presets for Capture One too? I would instantly buy that…
I’ve never used capture one! So I’m not sure how well I’d be able to transfer them over hence not doing it, maybe something for the future!
I used to have the 35mm 1.4 from fuji and ended up selling it cause i always found it too narrow, but it is true that some pictures you can’t get them with a 28 or 24mm equivalent.
Sometimes i think my 23mm 1.4 gives the sweet spot between subject separation and wideness but other times i do wish when traveling to have something wider so i don’t really know what i want. It’s so hard picking between focal lengths and not feel the fomo
It’s tough isn’t it! It’s been a great experience that might have just further pushed me to understanding that 28mm + 50mm is my ultimate preference! And that if I just take a 28mm that I should have 50mm fomo! 😂
I have never enjoyed using wide angle lenses. Over many years I have almost always used a 50mm on full frame or a 35mm on APS-C. When I am without a camera I use my iPhone 13 Pro and almost always feel the need to switch from its standard lens (medium wide around 27mm FF) to its long lens even though is is the equivalent of around 75mm FF - I preferred the long lens on the earlier iPhones which was around 55mm FF. My only possible explanation matches yours - I like to focus on people and moments and rarely find a wide scene interesting.
Sounds a very similar experience!
If you have been doing photography long enough, your personality just sees in a certain way. I've found I like prefer 35 and 40mm. But I realized I had never tried a ultra wide lens so I've ordered a 6mm rectilinear lens for my om5. With a 122 angle of view I'm kinda wanting to try that xpan look.
I’ve found the longer I do it the more my style changes and adapts, for the best part of 10 years landscapes was all I did, the last couple years I think I’ve started to find a new style to my work
Maybe you like the zoomed photos more because they are not common to you and psychologically it give you the amazed wow feeling to appear in your album? Vice versa for those who used to zoom but forced themselves use wiser lenses?
I love 50mm as my default walk-around lens when I'm by myself, but when I'm with family and friends and want to photograph them, 50mm creates too much physical distance between us. I dislike physically stepping back from our group to snap photos, I want to be part of the group while also documenting it. Maybe that's why 28mm is such a popular focal length for phones.
Shrewd of you to search LR images by focal length, Goughie. Part of style is preferred field of view for given type of composition - something that comes close to your eye’s preferred field of attention/view. It’s personal. Too easy to get sucked into lens f/l choice from marketing campaigns. Agree? (For my own street festival genre 18-50mm zoom APS-C works well.)
Still, as your talents grow you will find and shoot terrific compositions in just about any lens/composition situation. Great images are there for the taking. Don’t fret about missing out shots - think about what is possible with gear at hand. How long were you shooting the preferred 28mm. Cheers!
28mm has been my preference for the best part of 8 or so years, but it’s over the last 2 years that my style has found more of a rhythm, especially in the last 12 months I’ve taken things a little more seriously
I personally wouldn’t say marketing has effected my focal length choice a little too experienced for that now I think. I imagine it has for some people though especially people new to the hobby!
I also like 28mm. Not as a choice above all others, but rather my definite choice as a "normal wide" vs. 24mm. 24mm feels very awkward to me, whereas 28mm is super intuitive. If/when I want wider than 28, then give me a 17 or 18, please (or at least a 21). I'm talking FF equivalent, of course. I suppose I may learn something if I forced myself to use a 24. I dunno. I was visiting London recently and all I brought was a 27mm/2.8 pancake on my X-T30II (~40mm). I learned that there is plenty in London that you cannot fit in that FOV, but plenty that does fit, too. Next trip (at the end of June) I'll be bringing the 15-45mm (~22-67mm).
I also find 24mm awkward, you tend to get a lot more added distortion over 28mm. For me it’s that tipping point for portraits too!
love my 28 summicron and 50 lux😁
The best combo! 👌🏻
"If your pictures [of people] aren't good, you aren't close enough." And, in my view, 'being close enough' works best with a 35mm lens (full frame). I would add that it is best to avoid shooting people from behind (except when there is a compelling photographic reason to do so); it can very easily become a bad habit
I’ll agree to disagree, what you’re describing isn’t a style of photography I enjoy! “Street photography” isn’t really my aim
@@Goughie And your aim is?
@@bernardlesperance742 not really sure what you’d call it, probably leans closer to travel photography than street.
Capturing people with a scene, they are part of the image but not the main subject. There must be a term for it, it just can’t think of it
@@Goughie I'd say that falls within the street photography genre.
So how did you get 83mm shots with the 16-50mm zoom?
16-55mm zoom! 55mm on a crop so arguably it’s 82.5mm I rounded up
Even on the print behind, the deer is taken with a longer focal lens 😂
Ahaha! That’s a 400mm shot cropped massively too 😂😂
@@Goughie can’t get longer ahah
I have only one camera with it fixed lens, it is a Panaosonic LX100.....after 60 years of photography , and I never ask myself "what focal lenght am I using" ! And that as to see with the fact that I come from film photography and at that time you had to fill your frame, cropping wasn't an option (....and I think still isn't). Focal lenght is all about perspective and I see a subject because of its perspective and it constantly varies. The subject requires wide, I do wide, it requires tele, and I can't be bother to know if it is 35 or 45mm, I frame the subjcet "in full", as usual and that's all what matter.
The beauty of a focal lens is once you get comfortable of a focal length, you can put another focal length to re-adapt. There is a reason that you always end up with one focal length when you use zoom lens. That's because it's where you feel comfortable! Unfortunately, I don't agree with you about to improve photography by ditch a particular focal length. You fell comfortable doesn't mean you are mastering it. The way that I believe to improve is use the same focal length, in your case 28mm, for other type of photography such as portray, product, food and etc rather than landscape or cityscape.
Are you still selling your M10?
Only to upgrade to an M11
50mm worked pretty well for HCB and street photography. So there is that.
A lot of it has to do with isolating your subject which creates a definite mood, especially for street.
That added compression 👌🏻
28mm is a lot like what “everybody” is using on their Iphone, making it an average focal lenth. Sort of what you see most these days.
I prefer the Fuji xf56mm
Coooor! That is on the long side! Great lens!
@@Goughie I’ve got every Fuji prime and zoom but some how I love framing shots with the 56 as it produces magical bokeh
50mm is the king of all lenses. The other thing about 50mm is if you are a shit photographer you can’t hide behind a 50mm. You can always muddy it up with a bunch of wide angle distortion baloney or get a very fast lens and blur the shit out of everything, but you get a 50mm and close the aperture there is nowhere to hide..
Mate, you need an iPhone 14 pro! 13mm, 24mm, 48mm and 77mm all in one 😂
next week: Why the Leica Q3 is my favorite camera ;-)
Hahaha that was the original plan on selling the M10 etc, but plans have changed! I have something else in mind!
@@Goughie it's a journey - happy shooting
@@lamaludwig1470 as long as we’re enjoying the journey no one’s stopping us! 💪🏻
28mm is a joke. I'll shoot 27.5 or 28.5 - NEVER 28mm like a rookie. LOL! Just kidding. Great video man. Love your perspective and your fantastic photography, as always!
I was just gonna say. Get a griiix
🤗 'Promo SM'
A number of your images might have been more compelling with a 24. No best focal length.