It’s been a little while since I really began to realise just how much more I favour I hold for a short telephoto lens. Over last summer though it went from being a vague preference to a particularly sticky habit and I found myself almost exclusively shooting an 85mm. In fact, I can trace this longer-lens-appreciation back quite a long way. I have for a long time found composition easier with a tighter frame. It’s just taken me a while to realise to what degree this preference has become a part of my photography.
To me, it feels almost like objective fact that short telephoto lenses are easier to frame with. Lenses wider than normal can take a bit more thinking to create an interesting image, and with anything wider than 28mm the sense of expanded perspective can make framing specifically difficult. If I try to shoot an ultra wide as a carry-everywhere, I can, and do, get shots I’m happy with, but too often I can find myself with big areas of empty stretched foreground or a background that sits too far away from the subject. Moving closer to the subject to remove the empty space doesn’t help either as perspective distortion starts to impact the subject. With a longer lens, the perspective compression has the opposite effect. With very long lenses it’s nigh on impossible to capture any foreground at all, and the background can appear very close to the subject. But, composing an image is arguably more simple as the tighter framing helps remove superfluous elements.
Of course, very long lenses can be just as hard to use for everyday purposes as ultra-wide angle lenses as including any context at all within the frame becomes more difficult. But, just as a moderately wide 35mm lens gives some of the advantages of a wide angle lens without bringing too many of the disadvantages, a short tele such as an 85mm can bring some of the benefits of a longer lens without being so long that the disadvantages have an impact too often.
Oddly – at least to me – 35mm lenses are arguably way more popular than 85s. I do have a feeling that I know why though. A while ago now – probably something like 15 years I’d guess – I had a load of Nikon cameras and was shooting a lot of film as part of my hobby as a photographer. I had a fair few lenses too, though I can’t remember exactly what I had as many of them are a long time sold. I did have a longer Nikon manual focus lens though – I think it might have been the 100mm series-e. Whatever it was, I went out one day with a mate to teach him some of the basics of photography. I’d loaned him one of my manual Nikon cameras and, I guess, whatever Nikon manual focus 50mm I had at the time. I’d put the longer lens on my camera deciding that I would challenge myself to use it exclusively. To my surprise, faced with no choice to shoot the longer lens, I actually found it really easy to work with. But, whilst I remember being aware of this positive experience, I can also remember feeling that despite it being easier, I was worried that given more frequent adoption of a longer lens, I would eventually be faced with the issue of not being able to get everything into the frame. That mindset turned out to be quite a difficult one to shake, and I’m certain I’m not the only one that’s been down that particular cognitive road.
I think it just comes down to the idea that with a 35mm, even if it’s slightly too wide, at least it will be possible to capture everything, or at very least more of the subject. That is to say, the 35mm field of view seems to offer a more versatile compromise as a carry-everywhere solution. And compromise is probably the operative word here, as seems to me that issue of not being able to get everything into the frame that’s perceived with longer lenses is just more of a pervasive concern than whatever issues people might have around the compromises attributed to shooting a 35mm.
In fact, over the years I’ve only really come across one commonly mentioned concern with the 35mm lens as a focal length, and that’s the idea that it’s not quite wide enough, or tight enough, to be useful. But, if you turn that idea on its head, you’re left with a lens that’s neither too wide or too tight. Which is, I guess, why it’s so much more popular as a focal length when compared to short tele lenses such as an 85mm.
I think I’ve previously bought into that consensus too, as despite so often loving my results from a short tele lens it’s also only been relatively recently that I’ve started to realise just how much of a fallacy the issue of not being able to get everything in to the frame is for me. In fact, despite very regularly shooting short telephoto lenses over the years – and always being enamoured with the results – it wasn’t really until I took my now-sold Pentax 77mm on holiday with me a few years ago did I realise just how much favour I held for the short tele, and indeed how much I would shoot one even when I had the option for a wider lens available to me. I took the 77mm and the 43mm and hardly used the 43mm at all.
A part of this, I think, is just how close – but at the same time subtlety different – a short tele is to a normal lens. If you read the review of the 77mm you’ll find the first handful of paragraphs to very much amount to the beginnings of the opinion I now hold. In fact, I make one particular comment that feels especially relevant here. To quote myself, “The more I used it though, the more it felt closer to a normal field of view.” I said that when comparing the 77mm to the 85mm Zeiss Batis lens I was (and still am) used to shooting a lot for work. What hadn’t occurred to me at the time was that this is also exactly how I feel about an 85mm lens too. Once mounted on the camera and up to my eye, I somehow feel like I barely notice the framing as being all that much tighter than a 50mm, but at the same time I find it easier compose, easier to isolate a subject, and easier to tell a story.
Of course it’s true that I sometimes need to take an extra couple of steps backwards for some shots, but what’s more relevant to the conversation here is that I have found that I less often have a need to take a few steps forward. And actually for all this waffle that’s all this really comes down to for me. With a short tele – probably anything between 60-90mm – I more often find myself at the right distance to get the shot I have in my head. Perhaps that’s the crux of all this. Maybe a short tele is just the right lens for me. Maybe my photographic eye just sees in that sort of framing more frequently than with any other field of view. Or maybe it’s just a preference I’ve developed through growing use and a personal subjective appreciation for the aesthetics of the results. I don’t suppose it matters either way, what does matter is me getting results I’m happy with, and more often than not – for the time being at least – it’s a short tele lens that gets me there.
Here’s some images from a variety of short tele lenses that I’ve really enjoyed shooting with
You might note that the last 3 images were taken with the Nikon 85mm 1.8 AFD – this lens is very possibly my favourite lens at the moment. I intend to review it at some point soon…
Thanks for reading
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Thorsten Wulff on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Simon on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Geoff Chaplin on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Nice article Hamish. With wider lenses it's too easy to fall into the trap of getting everything in and failing to identify the subject.
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Arthur Gottschalk on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Fer on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Lisa on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Eric on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Art Meripol on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Terry Allen on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Currently have the Zeiss Batis 85 on my A7. I've never given it a fair run so before I sell it, I will give it one last chance to thrill me.
My memory always goes back to the glorious photos I used to make with my Nikon D700 and Nikon 85 1.8...particularly around dusk.
Your article pushes me toward getting another Nikon 85 and seeing how it fits on my D750.
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Bob Janes on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Very impressive shots btw - that last one makes me strangely hunger for wholemeal bread and butter...
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Max Tiraquon on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Ibraar Hussain on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
I once was using a similar short telephoto with a Panasonic Lumix - or rather two - a 30mm and 60mm which both on M4/3 became 60 and 120 and thoroughly enjoyed them though I wasn't adventurous like you and stuck to people so fairly vanilla
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Wendell Cheek on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Today, I'm shooting film with the Nikon 28-200mm G lens, from the early 2000's. As an over 70 old fart, it is as light as a couple of primes, and as a mostly landscape guy, I use a tripod for lower light anyway.
One point that I notice with the zoom, is that I find my perspective by changing position, and then my composition cropping by changing focal length. Works for me.....
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
David Simmons on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/12/2023
Steve Boykin on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Swift on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Mark E. Kosmowski on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Frank on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Jalan on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
I am a telephoto guy!
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Sroyon on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
Now that we can use our phones for wide-angle photos, if we're carrying a dedicated camera, I feel a medium tele makes a lot of sense – perspective compression, bokeh and shooting from a slightly more discreet distance.
I really like the countryside shot with the 85/1.8 btw!
Comment posted: 12/12/2023
terry johnson on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 13/12/2023
Comment posted: 13/12/2023
Steve Cope on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 13/12/2023
I have the 60/2.8 Micro-Nikkor G ED, 85/1.8 Pre-Ai, 85/2 Ai, 85/1.8 AF, 100/2.8 E, 105/2.5 Pre-Ai and 105/2.5 Ai for Nikon. I also have 85mm lenses for Pentax K, Rollei QBM and Minolta AF. I have a Leitz R 90/2.8, Tamron AF 90mm lenses for Pentax and Minolta and Tamron SP Adaptall 2 90mm. I also have 100mm lenses for Contax, Minolta (Macro), Olympus, Pentax (AF Macro) & Macro-Takumar.
I've just received 3 rolls of the Phoenix film you reviewed recently and I'm trying to decide what combination to take out with me tomorrow.
Comment posted: 13/12/2023
Andrew L on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 13/12/2023
Comment posted: 13/12/2023
Aniello Del Sorbo on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 14/12/2023
I've shot my (few!) best images with it.
Same goes for the Olympus 45mm for M4/3
I agree that it boils down to our own photographic eyes and how our minds compose what they see. I, like, you compose (and appreciate) with a subject sharped away from the background. And I prefer the discreet distance of a short telephoto to moving closer.
Comment posted: 14/12/2023
Wouter Willemse on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 14/12/2023
If one insist on AF, the Tokina 100mm macro is a underrated choice too.
That all said, 35mm lens will stay in the bag too. On my FM2, the combination of the 105mm with a 35mm... perfect. Almost makes me not miss a 50mm. Almost.
P.S. the 180mm f/2.8 is great, but weight and size make it much more speciality lens to me - nowhere near as portable. I end up using it a lot less and it'll probably go somewhere soon.
Comment posted: 14/12/2023
Comment posted: 14/12/2023
Gil Aegerter on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 14/12/2023
I have owned AF-D and G versions, but I prefer to manual focus and sold them.
Hamish Gill on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 15/12/2023
gsfM on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 15/12/2023
I also see things with a mid-tele perspective it seems. I usually shoot with a 45mm on m43 (90mm in fullframe terms) and on film I mostly shoot with a 100mm. 135mm is also a really nice walkaround lens I've come to learn.
I sometimes try (and fail) to make interesting photos with a wide lens. The only time I feel slightly comfortable is when I can fill the entire frame with something up close and then its just so distorted that it leaves me thinking "what's the point?".
I'm not arguing that a tele lens is objectively better than any other type of lens though. Looking at work from some of my favorite photographers a lot of it was made with a wide lens. It's just another way of communicating I think.
Comment posted: 15/12/2023
Brad Newman on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 17/12/2023
John Duder on The Short Telephoto – My Preferred Carry-Everywhere Lens
Comment posted: 11/03/2024
But these days, an Alpha 7 with either the Sony 85/1.8, or the smaller, lighter, and lovely Samyang 75/1.8 will be on my shoulder. Really, I've learned to see in 85mm, which approximates the field of view that you see reasonably sharply.
Instead of trying to 'get it all in' one focusses on telling detail, and a half-length portrait often conveys much more character than a full length shot. No risk of a 'helicopter view' of feet, either!
Comment posted: 11/03/2024