Bill wrote about choosing OM gear for his son-in-law to be :
"He has mentioned his interest in the 18mm a time or two. He is one who
enjoys travel, mountain climbing and ..."
" zoom ... probably be small enough for carry on a climb"
Bill,
I have carried OM gear for years while rock climbing and I find SLR
zooms too big and fragile. My favourite single lens is a 24mm. I seem to
remember the well known climber Chris Bonington who used OM gear, used to
carry a 24mm also. An 18mm can be good but you can't take too many
photographs before it's exagerated view becomes too much. The wides are
generally nice because you can take close ups of people showing their faces
and still show the (physical) exposure of the position. While climbing you
tend to take photographs from the side or looking down on the climber because
otherwise the perspective is flattened and the rock does not look steep
enough(!), so teles are not that useful. Also, the wides can be "tilted" to
exagerate perspective and "show how it really feels". For hiking or a
backcountry approach ,I often just take a 135mm,50mm macro
(flowers+bugs+general) and a 24mm (sometimes substitute a 21mm). Bonus, the
slower speed versions are relatively smaller and cheaper and use a 49mm
polarizer. When bouldering or on short climbs (Joshua Tree) I like the 16mm
fisheye but it would be expensive for a gift and the 17mm Tamaron you suggest
could substitute
Regards,
Tim Hughes
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