I am asked repeatedly, “If you had to choose one lens…”, “Which was your first lens…”, or, “If you had to sacrifice one lens from your kit…”, which are all indirect ways of asking, “I don’t know what I’m doing yet, toss me a bone here, where do I start?”

Time to spill the beans. The cosmic answer is just around the corner.

First consider what you want to shoot with your camera. If you’re not shopping at a bargain outlet, then the shop staff may ask you this, be ready! If you quickly answer, “everything”, then any kit lens will suffice. Nikon kit lens are superb. If you have a more specific subject you want to chase after, like cats under moonlight or musicians at rock concerts, then that’s a better starting point. Deciding on a lens purchase comes from an event or experience that puts you in a challenging situation. It is during that situation that you realize what it is you need, and then it’s a matter of either just going out and buying it, or saving up for it if it’s a huge, expensive lens.

When it comes to lenses, it is well worth it to buy the absolute best, or seek the most unique, limited edition model, even if it takes some time to get it. If I can’t find something particular, I will buy it second-hand after scrutinizing dozens of copies in second-hand shops. Then I pay the money to Nikon to overhaul it, regrease it and shine up all the glass. If I had no financial means to do this, I would shoot with the kit lens until I had enough saved to buy one excellent lens. Clue!

I joined Flickr years ago, which I rank up there as one of the best things I have ever done, and started posting. It was after I stumbled onto Jon Yongfook’s magnificent HDR photos of Hong Kong that I made my decision to make my first lens purchase a wide angle. I recall sending him a short message asking him the same question I’m now getting asked, something along the lines of, “What lens would you recommend to get this same effect?” He kindly replied suggesting I try out a wide angle lens. I went over to Yodobashi Camera, tried every wide angle in the shop, and settled on the Sigma 10-20 which I absolutely loved. So for a long time after, I was shooting with only my kit lens and the Sigma 10-20.

These two lenses, the Sigma and the Nikon kit lens, fit my lifestyle very well, and served the purposes I needed them for. I learned on these two lenses, and after meeting many different photographers over the years, and asking lots of questions, did I slowly build my kit of primes around these two. I also learned how to ask better questions. The experiences I had traveling, meeting people, and constantly shooting, guided my selection of lens purchases. Obvious stuff, right?

Know your subject. Ask better questions.

It’s absurd to ask me to choose one lens, or ritually sacrifice one lens from my kit. What was my first lens? My first lens was the kit lens, just like your first lens! The other questions are just beating around the bush. If I lived in a bizarre parallel reality where I was forced at gunpoint to glue a single lens to my camera body and permanently shoot with only that lens, what would it be? The answer to this will get you no where. The real question should be something like, “I have a limited budget, I want to shoot portraits, I like your portraits, what would you suggest?”, or, “You shoot handheld in low light, how are you getting these shots?” To which I have fun, unusual and zen-like answers for! It took me time as well to figure out what I wanted out of my camera, and how to ask the right questions to get the right answers. Ultimately you will know exactly what lens you need after spending lots of time getting to fully know your camera and finding the subject you enjoy shooting the most. The culmination of answers you receive by asking lots of good questions to other photographers along the way will tie it all together.

All said, you’d have to severe my hands before you get me to let go of my 50mm and my 85mm. They are my babies.

The second half of my interview on Flickr is now up, please check it out!

Click here to read it!

Huge thank you to Kay and the Flickr team!!!

My interview is up over on Flickr, please have a read! ^_____^

Big thanks to Kay and the Flickr team!

Click here to read…

Rented the Nikkor 24mm F1.4 G last weekend from the fine folks over at http://sg.camerarental.biz for a late night shoot. Without revealing any more details, the shoot was for a band, and the image they were after was along the lines of Wong Kar-wai style cinematography. Since I would be working discreetly in tight, darkly lit spaces, I picked up the 24mm and brought along my 50mm F1.2 ais. I am not going to write about rolling around deeply in love with the 24mm, but what I am going to write is how incredibly reliable this lens was under some fairly tough conditions.

Being a very busy city, it’s not likely that you’re going to find a bar that will welcome a photo shoot at late hours with open arms. I spent some time searching for good locations, asked politely, and received, I would say, a 90% rejection rate. We were not going to set up expensive equipment, not going to take up any more space than a few chairs in the corner, and there would be no flash. Only two models, casual, hanging around while I shoot them. This, oddly enough, was a huge turnoff to almost every bar owner. So we decided, rather than ask, to simply be *very* discreet, make sure the depth of field was such that there would be nothing distinct about the location that could be traced back, and be good about giving the bar some business by buying drinks. If we were kicked out, so be it. Through this I determined the only lens I could really work with would be a very fast, wide prime. I had just met my friend Danny a week before and he was showing me his Nikkor 24mm F1.4 G. Yeah, that super lens that costs almost more than a pro camera body. That was the lens I would need for this shoot.

I had rented a 70-200 2.8 VR from those lens rental guys a year ago to shoot a ballet, so I went back over there to see if they had a 24mm in stock and with luck, they did. That night the shoot went super smooth, and super discreet. We drank quite a bit, bothered no one, and I was able to shoot hand held on my D700 with no flash in very low light and got consistently terrific results. To be quite honest, not using autofocus at all is sort of my thing, but there were a few occasions that night where I leaned heavily on it and it performed admirably, in situations with barely any light. Spot focus held by my hip, aimed up at the model while drinking a beer and it nailed the shot every time.

For cinematographic shots, this is a fine lens, although really cinematographic shots can generally be achieved with any lens. For low light, tight spots, quick decisions and sturdy build, this is a great lens. WANT.

Will update this entry after I’ve managed to gather my thoughts and my internal organs.