Hi Josh
I have been lurking on the Olympus list for some time, and have been reading
some of your postings...
First, I am a professional photographer, a college level photography teacher,
and a long time Olympus fan (although I have many other cameras of many
different formats). I have been involved in many aspects of photography for 25
years, so perhaps I may offer you some useful advice.
Forget about Bokeh. You can read a lot about it on the web (and probably will),
but it is really pretty much a dangerous waste of time. It's true that some
lenses are "better" than others, but what matters is that great photographs can
be made with really garbage lenses. The Bokeh debate seems to grow out of the
conversations of some camera buffs that would rather debate the quality of
their lenses and equipment rather than take photographs with them. It's like
having a Porsche in your driveway that you don't drive, and a rusting out
Toyota Tercel from 1980 that you do. The Tercel gets you to the store just as
good as the Porsche, but since the Porsche never goes out, what good is it?
That may be an extreme analogy, but it kind of fits. There are camera lovers
that photograph test charts all day to prove to themselves that lens x at f8 is
better than lens y at f4. At the end of the day, they all have a bunch of
photographs that no one really wants to look at (although I am hap!
!
py that they are out there on the web somewhere, because then they are there
for all of us). But these tests will also make you believe that a "Bad" lens is
unusable. That's rubbish!
I had a Japanese student once. It seems that this Bokeh debate is hot in Japan.
Anyway, I forced him to shoot with an old, fungus crusty lens that was sitting
around the Photo Department of the University where I teach. I happened to know
that that lens, fungus and all, made pretty good images. He was amazed! He came
to the US thinking that one had to use the best quality equipment in order to
be a good photographer. In fact, many great photographs, ones that have moved
all of us, were made with old equipment, without the photographer worrying
about the Bokeh of the lens. Now he uses an old Olympus XA for everything that
he shoots. Remember, equipment is fun to play with and collect (I love
collecting too), but its really about the images. A lot of photo teachers have
their students use plastic toy cameras for a number of weeks to drive this
point home.
I guess that I would rather see you start looking at images, the ones that you
make, and ones in books, instead of worrying about equipment. Go to the
library, or search the web and look at photographs. Look at paintings too.
Composition and feeling and a disposable camera will blow away the dullest
photos from the "Best" cameras.
Now there are a lot of camera buffs that "Bokeh" means a lot to. I don't really
want to say that the thing that makes them happy in their hobby is a worthless
waste of time. Anything that makes one happy in this sometimes difficult life
is worthwhile, but I think that worrying about equipment too much gets in the
way of making photographs. Its easy to defeat yourself by thinking that your
equipment isn't good enough.
YOUR quality will eventually show through the worst of equipment. Don't worry
too much, buy the best you can, look at a LOT of photos, and SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!
I think that you should get out and start shooting with what you have. Then you
will know what you would need to suit the type of photography that you will do
most. A 28 is nice and wide while not too wide. A 100 would work well for
telephoto compression and portraits.
Theres a lot to learn, but don't worry! Thats the fun part. Like a musician
that needs to learn his instrument, a photographer needs to learn his
instrument too. The good thing is that we can make beautiful "music" while we
are learning!
Have Fun
Mike
-----------Original Message-------------------
From: Josh Lohuis [mailto:josh1@xxxxxxxxxx]
Subject: Re: [OM] Anybody have a 28mm?
Also, is there a BIG difference
between f/2.8 and f/2? I know its whole stop but is it that important to
have it?
Thanks,
JOSH
PS> What exactly is Bokeh.
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