The Importance of Having a Long Lens Available
Sometimes having a long lens in the bag can make the full page lead shot for a magazine story. Sometimes it can produce a picture that couldn't have been gotten otherwise due to distance or obstacles in the way. Sometimes, as here, it gets the shot of the day, serving to spice up a series of snowy landscapes. I learned long ago that having some kind of a long lens available was a good plan whenever possible.
This article is in particular praise of Leica's 180mm f/2.8 R lenses -- any one of the three versions produced. The 180 has been a favorite ever since the first one by providing that great combination of length and speed while still being very handholdable. This picture is a typical example of the 180's capability in the difficult circumstances it was designed for.
The opportunity arose when driving past a local NH domestic and wild animal farm where in the summer months they have animals on display. This day was just at the end of winter, with a little sleet falling, the farm not yet open. As I was passing I saw this pair of fallow deer wandering over the top of a small rise in one of the pastures. I stopped and quickly grabbed an SLR with 180 from the back seat, shot out the window and over the fence and got two exposures before they took off.
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My usual small shoulder bag has two M6 Leicas in it, with four or five focal lengths varying from 21 to 90 or 135. They can handle most of what I usually need, and the bag is not too heavy to carry all day. If the 135 had been the only long lens present it could have gotten a version of this shot. But when traveling in a car I can bring a second heavier bag along in the back seat with a reflex camera and superwide, macro, and one or two tele lenses in it. Once in a while there has also been a 400mm f/6.8 Telyt as well, although not so often these days as I get older. On this occasion a loaded Leicaflex SL with 180mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R already on it could be quickly grabbed. The shot was made on Kodachrome 64 film with the lens wide open -- a fast enough lens speed even for slow film in that poor light. A zoom lens might be more convenient sometimes, but zooms are apt to be heavier, or slower, or both. The prime 180 gets the long shot with no limitations or distractions.
Still a film user, since the demise of Kodachrome films I have switched to medium speed color negative. Both films are easily scanned to CD to make digital prints up to 8x12 or so. This is a typical print from a CD in the file. But I have found one continuing advantage of film is that by pulling the original transparency or negative from the file it is possible to have an exhibition size enlargement made using the most recent high-resolution scanning technology in use at the time, rather than relying on whatever digital resolution was stored in a computer file or CD at the time the photo was made.
So the moral of the story is to have some sort of longer lens available whenever possible when out looking for pictures. You never can tell what might be right around the next corner.