3608 - A Mock Window


This is what happens when I use a manual lens for a week: I invariably switch lenses for the next week.

In this case it was again 25 mm, but this time it is the Olympus 25/1.8, one of my favorite lenses. It’s small, light, ultra-sharp, and it focuses instantly.

It’s been some time ago, but I remember my relief: Wow, back to automatic again!

It’s interesting, some people enjoy the slow-down induced by manual lenses, but in general I don’t. I see something that catches my eye, I want to take an image quickly, and while doing so, I want to concentrate on framing only.

Slowing the process down does not make my images better. It does not cause me to spend more time thinking about the image and its intended composition. It just distracts me. How’s it for you?


There are 2 comments

Cedric Canard   (2016-09-06)

I like figuring out aperture, shutter speed and ISO manually but as for manual focusing, I'm with you, it's distracting more than anything else. interestingly though if I'm shooting a film camera which is entirely manual then for some reason I don't find it as annoying. Still, I appreciate it when I go back to an auto-focus camera.

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andreas   (2016-09-06)

Fun fact: this was the first comment in a long, long time, that I got via email again. It's been configured that way, it worked for many years, it stopped maybe a year ago, and now it works again. Of course I didn't change a thing in all that time 🙂

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