One of my favourite things to do when I am looking to improve my photography skills is the single lens challenge. What is the single lens challenge?
Choose one lens and only use that lens when you capture photos. If you have a zoom lens, then choose one focal length of that zoom and only capture photos with that focal length. For example, if you have an 18-140mm lens, choose one part of that zoom (like the 140mm focal length) and only use that focal length to take pictures. It doesn’t matter which focal length you use.
One of the biggest benefits that you will gain from this challenge is that you will get very familiar with that specific lens. You will learn about what the lens can and can’t do and you may get frustrated. But that frustration may lead to a better understanding and allow you to get creative with how you use that lens to capture photos.
For this challenge, I chose the Nikon 300mm F4 PF lens. A telephoto lens is great for capturing images of subjects far away but I also wanted to try to capture images of things that were close to me. This lens has a minimum focusing distance (how close I can be to my subject and still get my subject in focus) of 1.4 meters (4.6 feet). I love the size and weight of this lens which makes it easy carry it around.
Check out how things went for me for the 300mm F4 PF single lens challenge.
One important thing to remember is that different lenses will give you different experiences even if they are the same focal lengths. I used the 300mm F4 PF lens which is very different to other 300mm Nikon lenses. The older Nikon’s previous 300mm F4 AF lens lens was pretty big and weighed almost twice as much! The Nikon 300mm F2.8 lens has a minimum focusing distance of 2.2 meters (7.22 ft) and weighs almost 4 times as much!
This is a great challenge for any focal length of lens. I am definitely going to try this again with other lenses. The challenge really helps me to get to know a specific lens really well.
So why is understanding a lens and knowing what it can and can’t do important?
When I am faced with a new situation, it is much easier for me to choose a lens and know how I can compose my image when I have deep knowledge of all my lenses. When I know what you can and can’t do, you will know what lens to use and where to position yourself.
Simply put, the single lens challenge will make you a better photographer.
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