Lens Envy

It’s not about the size; it’s how you use the lens that matters.

It may have started out as a joke, but truly I did have a bit of lens envy as I watched this guy from a far. He walked across the street and stood just a few feet away from me. I watching him and admired his lens until I was over taken with interest.

In a sense, the size of his lens was my opening line. He didn’t shoo me away; he was happy to provide me with a his measurements (mm, zoom, aperture, etc) and capabilities. I was SO impressed.

After hearing a bit about freezing the shot, photographing weddings, bears, and sporting events, he turned his attention to my equipment. I showed him my Sony digital SLR and admitted that I really didn’t know much about how to make it perform for me. He gave me a bit of advice and then returned his focus to setting up his shot.

Within just a few minutes, the peloton was due to arrive for their final three laps of Stage One in the Amgen Tour of California and there I was changing out my lens. I figured that I’d use one lens for the first two passes and the other for the final two.

Sporting my biggest and badest lens, I began setting up my shot and waited…

Here are just a few of my favorite shots from my zoom: