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One zoom or two? (14-140mm mk 2)

Started Dec 29, 2015 | Discussions
brentbrent Veteran Member • Posts: 5,767
Re: One zoom or two? (14-140mm mk 2)
1

I went to Hawaii a couple of years ago, and on some daytime outings had the 14-42 v.II and 45-150 mounted on two different bodies. Carrying both and switching between them was a bit annoying.

I bought the 14-140 v.II, and sold the 45-150. So far I've kept the 14-42, figuring I couldn't get much for it and it might be useful for indoor flash shots at a party, etc. (so far I haven't used it much, might sell it the next time I sell a camera body).

I took the 14-140 to Puerto Rico this year and loved having it for daytime excursions. Soooooo convenient, to just carry one camera and one lens (maybe with a fast prime in my pocket) in a small case perfectly sized for this combo. And I think the image quality is quite good. Here are three shots from the same vantage point, at both focal length extremes and one somewhat in the middle (some cropping and size reduced, click to view full size):

40mm

140mm

14mm

Take the 14-140 and leave the other two zooms at home, is my advice.

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Brent

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(unknown member) Forum Pro • Posts: 11,837
Less is more
3

I have a 14-140 as well as three 2.8 zooms which obviously on paper give better results than the 14-140 from an image quality point of view.

But I find the 14-140 very useful when I want to travel light or when photography is not the main aim of an outing. I would go so far as to say that one can come back with better photographs from a compositional point of view with this lens compared to when one goes out with a bag full of kit as the “what lens do I need?” question is removed.

I have recently been exploring the River Po by bike and carrying just one camera and the 14-140 is quite liberating. I am thinking of applying this strategy to my mountain hiking too.

I think taking just this lens which will cover 90% of the things you want to photograph together with the lightweight 9-18 and a couple of little fast primes.

I visited a site of a photographer who posts here. He has done some fantastic travel photography using mostly the 14-140.

I think many of us worry too much about the technical quality of our photographs and too little about the composition and content of our pictures.

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