A philosophical question about the # of lenses in your pack

[E. von Hoegh]

#2. Carry wide and you can always crop in the darkroom.

No you can't 'always crop in the darkroom'. I make contact prints exclusively with 8x10; I compose to the corners and if the combination of lenses and framing with my feet won't give me a nice composition then I don't make that picture. I tend not to crop with smaller formats as well.

To answer Heroique's latest, I work with what I happen to have with me.

[jp]

Time limits what is possible more than lenses. I think 1 lens can be extremely productive and create good results (as I can do with a rolleiflex). But it has to be the right tool. Like you likely wouldn't choose a longish lens for architecture.

With LF I tend to go out with two lenses; one soft and one sharp, similar focal lengths. It's like two parallel worlds.

[DrTang]

if possible - one 'finds' the shot first..places the tripod, then picks a lens that makes it happen

[C_Remington]

No you can't 'always crop in the darkroom'

I can. I have an 8x10 enlarger.

[Greg Miller]

if possible - one 'finds' the shot first..places the tripod, then picks a lens that makes it happen

Yes!

[Shawn Dougherty]

For me it is #1 though I could certainly make due with just one lens.

I carry 4 lenses with my 4x5 kit. 90, 150, 210, 300. Wide, normal, long, longer. I figure that if I can't do it with one of those it's a vision problem I'm having not an equipment problem. I worked a year long project with only a 210 lens, that really helped me learn to see and make due with what I had. I added additional focal lengths one at a time and really learned to use each before I added another.

Sometimes when I'm feeling like there should be a photograph but I cannot find one on the ground glass simply changing the lens will change what I am seeing far more than I would except and create relationships I would not have otherwise noticed.

However, when I'm feeling particularly spartan I take my Rolleiflex TLR. Sometimes I wish I had a different lens but I always find something to photograph...

[MIke Sherck]

#2. It doesn't matter how many lenses you're carrying if you can't see what to point them at.

Mike

[Sean Chilibeck]

It doesn't matter how many lenses you're carrying if you can't see what to point them at.

...That's when I realize I left the rear element lens cap on...

[Leigh]

If the lens is not wide enough to capture the image, you're not going to capture it.

Sure, you can take multiple shots and stitch them in a computer, but that's computer art, not photography.

If you really want to learn how lenses influence your artistic vision, shoot MF slides using a Rolleiflex
or other TLR with a fixed lens and no auxiliary attachments.


- Leigh

[mdm]

For me the number of photos made is inversely proportional to the number of lenses. More lenses less pictures. Even when I take 2, I usually use 1 95% of the time. The more lenses in the closet, the less photos you make. As a raw beginner with a 210 tessar on a 5x7 B&J I did more (and better) than I ever have since.