Don’t listen to the smartarses!

I recently shared a photograph on my Facebook group and somebody asked me about the EXIF data, which I don’t routinely share but I’m happy to if somebody wants to know and feels it will help them out with their own photography.

Here’s the photograph they were asking about. And here is the data: OM-5ii, MZ 12-45 f/4 Pro @ 45mm, f/22, ISO 200, 1/30s.

As I was typing this it occurred to me that there is a reasonable point to be made here.

You will almost certainly have seen countless YouTube videos and photography articles telling you that using lenses at their extremes is a very very bad idea. In this instance I was using both of the bad ideas at the same time!

Not only did I have the focal length dialed in to the longest available, in this instance 45mm, but I also had the aperture as small as it would go. Right down at f/22.

If I shared this information in more open “forums”, no doubt some smartarse would be banging away at his keyboard to tell me how foolish I am.

But as it happens I have many images in my catalogue which take advantage of either or both of these extremes. Because that’s what’s called for to make the image.

I don’t dispute there is a trade-off here, but I consider it to be extremely minimal when considered against the impact of the image that I’m achieving by using these options. Plus, it has always seemed stupid to me that manufacturers create something which has the ability to zoom to a certain focal length or to close to a certain aperture. And yet, we’re not supposed to use those options. In which case, I have to ask what is the point in manufacturing them?

My point here is to reassure you that if you have some equipment which will do a job for you, don’t be afraid to take advantage of it. Even if there is a slight downside, that very often is as slight as is completely undetectable. But you will get the image you were trying to get by using the equipment in a way which it is designed to be used.

Don’t listen to the smartarses 😊👍