Why shooting with just a 3. WILL improve your photography Steve Huff Photo. Why shooting with just a 3. WILL improve your photography. By Steve Huff. I originally wrote this article to end my Fuji X1. When the X1. 00 and even the Leica X1 were announced and released, many people were complaining that it did not have a Zoom lens, or have the capability of adding another lens. Adobe Pdf Printing Preferences Registry Editor. I heard things like Who wants a fixed 3. The Ricoh GR series of cameras are great, but what are the differences This is something that I get asked an awful lot, so I thought I would put together. The Nikon Coolpix A makes it super fast and easy to get technically great photos. Its a fantastic little camera that handles superfast and just shoots, just like a. These cameras are useless with just a 3. To me, this kind of thinking is borderline nonsense as the 3. THE most useful focal lengths you can use I truly believe that if you shoot with just a 3. By that I mean, the way you see things in relation to photography. Yes, Its true. You can not add a zoom lens to cameras like the X1. Leica X1 nor do they have a built in zoom lens. When you invest in these types of cameras, you are investing in a 3. Just like the old days with the classic fixed lens film cameras. Concept 2.6 Keygen. But I see this as a good thing and is why I also adore the Leica X1 and X1. Leica M9 with a simple 3. For me, its all about simplicity and knowing what to expect from the camera. After a couple of weeks shooting with just your camera and one 3. When I go out and spot a scene I want to photograph, I instantly envision in my head what the image will look like. I can visualize what it would look like at f2 or f8, I  can see how I want it framed and what my final image will look like, even with processing I see all of this before I take the shot. I can do this because I have been shooting with prime lenses only for so many years, and the 3. I use along with my 5. Some Images using only the 3. The house below was shot with a Leica M9 and 3. Summarit, which is a GREAT lens for this type of photo. Its funny because the Summarit has better Bokeh than the 3. Summicron ASPH, and is about half the price and a smaller lens True If you click on the house image below, you can see the quality of the lens better as the detail is also there. The image below of the old and what I thought was an abandoned motorhome is one of my favorites of recent times. I remember driving down a rural road and I spotted this scene from the corner of my eye. I immediately turned around and pulled up to this dirty, worn down, flat tired motor home. Right when I stepped out of my car I knew exactly what angle I wanted because of the tarp that was flowing towards my lens. I knew this would look amazing in black and white and when I processed the image, it was exactly what I had hoped for. It was shot with the Leica M9 and 3. Summicron ASPH lens. For at least a year I traveled around with my M9 and 3. It was almost an obsession of mine, finding these long forgotten houses, shops, cars. For this project, the 3. A 2. 8 was always a bit too wide, and the 5. This old service station was captured deep in the mountains of Kentucky, once again with the Leica 3. Summarit. For full detail and color, click on the image. So OK, so far all I have shown you is old buildings and a motorhome, which are all perfect subjects for a 3. What about peopleSometimes with a 3. I find the 3. 5mm focal length great for portraits IF you want to include the surroundings as well, and IMO, this makes for a much nicer portrait. A few years ago I started finding the typical 8. I like to see more of what is going on in the surroundingsthe persons environment, which is why you have probably heard the term Environmental Portrait before. In my opinion, the 3. IMO. Why Because you see the environment along with the person. You see what is going on in the scene which I find much more interesting than just a plain head shot most of the time. Below is a fire breather who was walking the streets of Vegas and anytime someone gave him a dollar or two he would breath fire on the street, stopping traffic an all. With the M9 and 3. Summilux ASPH II, this shot was easy, and i love itThe next shot of my son Brandon was taken over a year ago with the M9 and 3. Summarit. We were sitting down to eat and I wanted to get a picture of him browsing the menu but instead he looked up at me with the are you taking a picture AGAIN look. Added a Sepia tone in Color Efex which looks better when you click on the image. This shot, when viewed at the larger size, reminds me of how great this little Summarit is. A little bit classic, a little bit modern, and the lowest price Leica 3. Even the little Olympus E PL1 with the 1. I shot with that exact combo I really like this one as you see the environment in which the Auctioneer works. This was at an auction on a hot sweaty summer day and he was standing in the back of his truck from where he auctioned off a house and belongings. It was in Illinois and probably close to 1. IT WAS HOT and HUMID. When I shot the last Seal tour I also experimented with the 3. I managed to capture with it. Shooting concerts with a 3. Seems like it would be much too short, but with a performer such as Seal, using a 3. ESSENTIAL as there is so much audience participation going on. Once again, getting the subject and his surroundings is key to a really great photo. This one is with the M9 and 3. Summicron ASPH. Using the Leica X1 which has just about a 3. Here is one more Environmental Portrait I shot a year ago with the M9 and 3. Summilux ASPH II. You can see that this guy is a street performer. It tells more of a story than just a headshot would. So as you can see, the 3. In fact, after always going back and forth over which focal length I prefer between a 3. I always go back to the 3. It just seems natural. After shooting a camera and one lens like a 3. Zoom Lens mindset, which IMO, makes you lazy. There, I said it and I mean it Zoom lenses make you lazy. Sure it is nice to have that huge and pricey 7. Zoo that is what everyone else has with them, and I used to be guilty of the same thing many years ago. Once I started shooting with a 3. I realized that 9. These days when I look back at my zoom shots they look flat and lifeless and it LOOKS like I zoomed in on my subject. But sometimes there will be a subject that is farther away and without a Zoom you cant get close. Maybe you can not walk up to your subject to get closer. When this happens, I change my whole approach to the shot. Instead of worrying about the subject I look around and see what I can capture within the shot WITH the subject, and this usually makes it much more interesting. Now of course, sports shooters and wildlife guys need powerful zooms or primes but for most of us, including the hobbyists, it could be a great experience to just shoot with one lens and one lens only for a while, and believe me, it will improve your photography. I could get by day to day with either a 3. My favorite lens in the world is actually a 5. The Leica Noctilux for its gorgeous rendering. Right behind that the new 3. Summilux ASPH. I have shot with a 3. Did my photography suffer because of it NO, in fact, it had the opposite effect. It IMPROVED it. My wrap upShooting ONLY a 3. You will not just aim, zoom and shoot but you will look around, think and ask yourself how you can get the best shot with what you have. Shooting at 3. 5mm seems natural. You can get great environmental portraits and even normal portraits if you step back a bit. It kind of sucks you in to the image at times and is not too wide like a 2. In many ways, in my opinion, the 3. The things around you, the people around you, and the daily grind in general. If you have the chance, put a 3. ONLY using that lens.