Trouble , as I understood later, can come in all shapes and forms. My trouble took the form of a dream, a dream filled with pieces of glasses. Just that, those glass pieces in my dreams were made by Nikon :)
So about a year ago, I bought a Nikon SLR and a 18-70mm zoom lens. At-least half-bought. Part of the dough came from my bro who works and lives in the US. That is what family is for I guess :)
The day my Nikon arrived, I shot a few pictures. I shot some more on the weekend that followed. I was very impressed with what I now possessed. Soon I started reviewing other people’s work on the net. Now I wanted to shoot things up-close. By this time, I knew what I had was not a do-all lens. So, what I wanted was a 105mm lens for portrait and macro work and a good tripod. And a flash, of course. I do have a Sigma 105mm now. But then the lenses I have are not exactly for available light shooting – A 50mm/1.8D will perfectly fit the bill. I do have very a strong feeling that if I had *that* one more lens, I’d start making amazing pictures. I just KNOW it. But, thankfully here I observe the pattern. Months from now, it would be that one more telephoto. It does’nt take a very smart person to realize. The That-One-More-Lens syndrome is incurable.
Sometime ago, I chanced upon this essay on a website (interestingly the guy who quoted the essay was running a never-ending race with his career). I’m not much of an inspirational book reader; have never been religious or spiritual. But this one essay seemed to sum up my Lens Acquisition Syndrome very well.
Read on: The Station
PS: Neither the realization nor the essay did absolutely anything to stop me from deciding to buy the lens. Jayesh (Fotocircle) is busy this weekend with some exhibition – So , it will happen next weekend I guess. Or over the week, if I can’t wait :)
6 responses so far ↓
1 Ramjee // Jul 19, 2007 at 5:45 am
You will always feel like having that one more lens.! I guess it’s ingrained human nature. (To want something better).
Keep shooting.!
2 Anu // Jul 20, 2007 at 7:20 am
I liked the name you have given to the post :) Always all of us will crave for “THAT one more thing” Something that we keep asking and attracting to our life …qt profound!!
Beautiful essay …
Btw, new look to your blog space is qt nice bt I guess you may replace one of the b/w photo(3rd from left) with a “color” photo :))
3 Shree // Jul 20, 2007 at 11:52 am
Well said ! I have a D80, a 18-200, a 50/1.8 and Tamron 90mm, and trying to fight off the itch to buy the next lens :) I need to constantly remind myself that I have to start taking more pics and forget about the lens…
4 Arun Pillai // Jul 20, 2007 at 4:51 pm
50mm f/1.8 is one classic nikon lens which you get very cheap. check up jayesh’s store - you might get it for less than 5k. And having a 105mm macro, which is proved positive for portraits, going for a 50mm is worth ?
I use 50mm for city photography and portraits - given the fact that i don’t have any 105mm
5 Lavanya // Jul 20, 2007 at 5:41 pm
@Arun: 105 is good. However from the few shots I took on a loaned 50mm, it seems to be the best option [within my budget] for available-light shooting. Ofcourse, very sharp images.
Wutz been your experience with it(50mm) ?
6 Radhika // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:14 pm
The Nikon 50 mm 1.8 is simply put awesome :) Extremely value for money and its just lovely for low lights and portraits.
I have had it for a few months now and have not regretted picking it up. The only problem I have is that I do not have a D70 or D80, mine is a D40 for which the 50 mm is not auto focus. But that aside, manual focus is not too bad. Let me know if you need to see sample pix.
Like Arun said, should not be that expensive and am sure you will enjoy it immensely!
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