It is a known fact that people associate grey hair with experience and who am I to disagree as my own grey hair has been well-earned, over the years. I like everybody else learnt from my mistakes least of all in photography. Long gone are the day when I’d shoot a picture of somebody with a tree or some plant or other appearing to grow out of the subjects head. Experience and mistakes help you to learn in life and even more so in photography, mistakes and I should know I have made hundreds of them, show a photographer how to improve his work.
The digital camera has made the art of learning from your mistakes a lot easier as you can see them straight away. Another plus is you can take as many shots as you like and if you don’t like them you can delete them straight away and take more. Gone are the days you were limited to 12, 24 or 36 on a roll of film or for that matter bulk film tanks you could shoot 250 frames with. No taking the film into the darkroom or the local D&P shop, not at all in the 21st Century things are instant.
Exposure, focus or framing can all be corrected straight away, always providing you haven’t missed the shot in the first place. Then after seeing your mistakes you can rectify what went wrong the next time you look through the viewfinder or so the theory goes. Those mistakes that you see can be corrected easily if you see them that is. Those corrections may even make you better photographer they may even help you a better “Artist” however; that is something I have never claimed to be.
Another huge mistake I see made time and time again I see equipment sold or worse put in a draw or a cupboard just because a new model lens or camera has come out. The introduction of mirrorless cameras saw an increase in the trend to rid of older and now less fashionable equipment even though that equipment is still very much serviceable. An older DSLR that has a lower Megapixel sensor than the latest model but if it still works why not keep it if only for a spare. A lens is another matter altogether provided you have look after them. I have to admit to being somebody who has placed lens in draws mostly fixed length manual focus and not taken them out for years. I like so many thought autofocus cameras had made manual lenses worthless.
I did not see the light so to speak until I found myself looking for a new lens for portraiture as in looking online to buy one. I used to use a 135mm fixed focal length lens at one point and I was looking for a lens of between 90mm & 135mm for this job. Then a moment of inspiration it dawned on me, somewhere in the dark distant past I had 135mm 2.8 lens which was laying in a draw. So I went in search and there it was together with a 24mm AF, 28-80mm AF, 70-200mm, 200mm fixed focal and not one but two 50mm 1.4 lenses.
I think the introduction of smaller zoom lenses added to the fixed length lenses relegation to the draw. My “standard” on camera lens these days is a 55-200mm zoom for my full frame and a 18-250mm for my cropped sensor camera. The 135mm I am glad to say is back in use as is the 24mm lens. The pair saved me a small fortune and yes it is true one is a manual lens and not AF (Auto Focus) but then again how often am I going to use it? As for the 24mm lens is small compact, AF and can slip into any camera bag or my pocket. Both are pin sharp and they like their owner maybe old but still working well.