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What made you miss more potential keepers?

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I'm taking mostly family candids these days. The problem is that I like manual focus cameras, which causes me to miss a lot more moments than I do with AF.

I can't really complain about lack of focal lengths or wrong rendering. Those things to me are "nice to have" but don't cause me to miss shots. I've got focal lengths from 17 mm to 300 mm covered in full frame, and even more than that (eq) in MFT. Nothing exotic, either. All my lenses together probably are worth less than $3k.
 
Smaug01 said:
  1. Smaug01 wrote:
I'm taking mostly family candids these days. The problem is that I like manual focus cameras, which causes me to miss a lot more moments than I do with AF.

I can't really complain about lack of focal lengths or wrong rendering. Those things to me are "nice to have" but don't cause me to miss shots. I've got focal lengths from 17 mm to 300 mm covered in full frame, and even more than that (eq) in MFT. Nothing exotic, either. All my lenses together probably are worth less than $3k.
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Well now, i see you are wise beyond your years and my comments in the other post were not necessary. :)
 
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jaggedhorizon said:
1. You didn't have the right focal length on you

2. You had the right focal length but the lens did not offer the right rendering / quality / aperture

I'm pretty sure that we all miss more strong images because of other factors. But between the ones above, which one do you regret most often?
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Not in focus.
 
Moti said:
WiltshireMoonraker59 said:
Whilst out on a walk with my wife I am sometimes rushed in taking a shot which I then regret and wished I had taken more time. When I am on my own, this is not a problem 😂
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It is the opposite for me. My wife is a fellow of the royal photography society and an excellent photographer. I usually get more keepers when we are out shooting together as she is a great source for inspiration.

moti
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I'd guess that most photo enthusiasts who drag along their families on trips find themselves at the receiving end of impatience and intolerance as a result.

I'd also guess that the number of DPR members who's wives are fellows of the Royal Photography Society is minimal, perhaps there is only one.

:)
 
Impatience, indecisiveness, and unpreparedness.

I can't recall a single time that a 'keeper' was lost on account of focal length availability.
 
jaggedhorizon said:
1. You didn't have the right focal length on you
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Since I mostly shoot now with a Nikon P1000, not having the right focal length is rarely a problem.
jaggedhorizon said:
2. You had the right focal length but the lens did not offer the right rendering / quality / aperture
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With what I shoot, this is very rarely an issue either, so none of the above.

The keepers I regret missing were those I saw while driving the car and was unable to pull over and stop in time.
 
Gordon W said:
jaggedhorizon said:
1. You didn't have the right focal length on you
Click to expand...
Since I mostly shoot now with a Nikon P1000, not having the right focal length is rarely a problem.
Gordon W said:
2. You had the right focal length but the lens did not offer the right rendering / quality / aperture
Click to expand...
With what I shoot, this is very rarely an issue either, so none of the above.

The keepers I regret missing were those I saw while driving the car and was unable to pull over and stop in time.
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Gordon, I think you're among the few who answered the question directly, thanks! (Smaug01 and bobthearch also commented in the same vein).

However, the others are also very interesting answers. It seems that, no matter how much time people spend here discussing details of gear, or how much money they spend on that gear (and I'm very guilty of the latter, too!), or how much they insist that lenses are more important than camera bodies, hardly anyone feels like they miss great shots due to not having the right lens, either in FL or in rendering / quality.

Now of course, this may be because everyone either found exactly the lenses they love, or because they adapted to what they have and are less interested to "see" and execute other potential images. Both of these would be very good, healthy reasons. But they still suggest that the gear discussions are overblown.

Perhaps I should ask the same question in a couple of the specific camera / lens subforums, to see if I get another distribution of answers?

--
http://cedricpopa.zenfolio.com/
https://1x.com/member/cedricpopp
 
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I miss most keepers because I don't 'see' them.

A friend and I for a laugh decided to go spend one hour in the same local area at at the same time, and shoot independently. We then compared images afterwards.

She had some great shots and some of mine were OK too, but none of them were the same. We both saw and missed different things. One of her images was really good, and could not believe I missed it.

A few years ago, she went to a place I like in Portugal, and the images she posted were totally different to mine from a previous visit, in similar weather.

Not everything we see that looks nice makes a good image, and things that make a good image are not always easy to spot amongst the noise of our surroundings. We all have particular blind spots, and although it's possible to retrain the eye, it takes some effort.

I probably have missed shots for technical reasons, but I would not be able to say whether any shot would be a keeper or not until I review it on a big screen. There are a few times I wish I had a 300 or 500mm lens, but I would never carry one around all day just in case. My 'vision' sees best at 28-80 mm, so that's where 90% of my keepers are.
 
jaggedhorizon said:
Gordon W said:
jaggedhorizon said:
1. You didn't have the right focal length on you
Click to expand...
Since I mostly shoot now with a Nikon P1000, not having the right focal length is rarely a problem.
jaggedhorizon said:
2. You had the right focal length but the lens did not offer the right rendering / quality / aperture
Click to expand...
With what I shoot, this is very rarely an issue either, so none of the above.

The keepers I regret missing were those I saw while driving the car and was unable to pull over and stop in time.
Click to expand...
Gordon, I think you're among the few who answered the question directly, thanks! (Smaug01 and bobthearch also commented in the same vein).

However, the others are also very interesting answers. It seems that, no matter how much time people spend here discussing details of gear, or how much money they spend on that gear (and I'm very guilty of the latter, too!), or how much they insist that lenses are more important than camera bodies, hardly anyone feels like they miss great shots due to not having the right lens, either in FL or in rendering / quality.

Now of course, this may be because everyone either found exactly the lenses they love, or because they adapted to what they have and are less interested to "see" and execute other potential images. Both of these would be very good, healthy reasons. But they still suggest that the gear discussions are overblown.

Perhaps I should ask the same question in a couple of the specific camera / lens subforums, to see if I get another distribution of answers?
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Actually, back when I was shooting with DSLRs (nature and wildlife being my preferences), #1 was once a serious problem for me and caused me to carry two cameras, one with an 18-200mm and the other with a 100-400mm, but as age became another issue, carrying that much gear on the daily walks became literally painful, hence switching to superzooms and living with their own set of limitations. The P1000 is simply an amazing camera and with Topaz Denoise AI, image noise is now seldom an issue.
 
jaggedhorizon said:
Gordon W said:
jaggedhorizon said:
1. You didn't have the right focal length on you
Click to expand...
Since I mostly shoot now with a Nikon P1000, not having the right focal length is rarely a problem.
jaggedhorizon said:
2. You had the right focal length but the lens did not offer the right rendering / quality / aperture
Click to expand...
With what I shoot, this is very rarely an issue either, so none of the above.

The keepers I regret missing were those I saw while driving the car and was unable to pull over and stop in time.
Click to expand...
Gordon, I think you're among the few who answered the question directly, thanks! (Smaug01 and bobthearch also commented in the same vein).

However, the others are also very interesting answers. It seems that, no matter how much time people spend here discussing details of gear, or how much money they spend on that gear (and I'm very guilty of the latter, too!), or how much they insist that lenses are more important than camera bodies, hardly anyone feels like they miss great shots due to not having the right lens, either in FL or in rendering / quality.

Now of course, this may be because everyone either found exactly the lenses they love, or because they adapted to what they have and are less interested to "see" and execute other potential images. Both of these would be very good, healthy reasons. But they still suggest that the gear discussions are overblown.

Perhaps I should ask the same question in a couple of the specific camera / lens subforums, to see if I get another distribution of answers?
Click to expand...
 
None one of those two. I have other reasons like being somewhere at the wrong time or I missed an opportunity due to bad timing (especially with my kids). It’s never the gear.
 
Running out of time, ideas, energy, or light.
 
Lack of preparation.
jaggedhorizon said:
1. You didn't have the right focal length on you

2. You had the right focal length but the lens did not offer the right rendering / quality / aperture

I'm pretty sure that we all miss more strong images because of other factors. But between the ones above, which one do you regret most often?
Click to expand...
If you're worried about #1 to the exclusion of #2 then just get a high resolution camera with a wide angle lens (it can be a zoom or a prime) and crop to your desired framing -- "problem" solved.

It seems to me that this supposed question is a set-up for a zoom versus prime argument. My most used zooms are all about having top-performing AF and they go with my D500 because I'm preparing to push the shooting envelope and the quality of the lens' AF becomes paramount.

When I'm toting around my D800 I carry landscape lenses and a tripod, and my D500 has an AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G lens attached to it and slung over my shoulder -- with both cameras and typical scenarios I come across #2 is an essential part of the equation.

If I'm walking around looking for something to photograph or want to do a candid portrait then I find a prime delivers the best results because it focuses my mind and I start to see things from a perspective that is appropriate to the lens I have put on my camera.
 
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