Zooming With Your Lens Versus Changing Your Position

Rich colors dominate this adobe home in Taos Pueblo, Taos, New Mexico (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 29mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

I think, by now, we all know just how good zoom lenses are.  I'm talking about the ones that are well constructed, optically superior and cover a useful range of focal lengths.  I'm mainly referring to "pro level" zooms and even a choice few "kit" zoom lenses.  When I started in photography, no person who called him or herself a serious  "photographer" would use a zoom lens.  Almost all were really mediocre at best.

A Little Zoom History 

The first "zoom" lenses that I can recall that were considered good were not made by Nikon, Canon or Pentax, etc.  They were branded Vivitar, the name used by the American Distributor Ponder and Best, who employed the reputable Japanese optical company, Kino, to design and manufacture lenses for them*.  There were some French (Angenieux?) zooms made for the movie industry that I remember as being good (I read) but they were prohibitively expensive and exotic by the standards of the 1970s.  I clearly remember I couldn't afford one.  When the Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 Macro zoom lens was introduced in 1972, I think it was a game changer.  Not only was it very good (maybe even good by today's standards), but the lens had a macro function.  As I recall, it was quite revolutionary.  

Vivitar now is a house brand for Sakar International, which I believe, purchased the name.  In other words, today's Vivitar is not the same company.  I bought the 70-210mm f/3.5 and as I recall I was thrilled with it.  It was a push/pull zoom, large, heavy but produced really nice negatives and slides.  The convenience was well worth the size, weight and cost.

In 1974, Vivitar introduced a second "zoom" lens.  It was the 35-85mm f/2.8 lens, but that lens was not a true zoom.  It was a vari-focal lens, which means each time you change focal lengths, you had to refocus.  That lens was a twist lens, not push/pull to zoom.  It was another really sharp lens.  The point being, I got my first taste of "zoom" lenses in the early 1970s and I immediately liked their versatility and convenience.  Since then, I've always owned at least one zoom lens.

(I'm mostly writing from memory so if any of the above is incorrect, please leave a comment and correct me.)

I'm sure most of us today are zoom lens users.  Primarily, I use zoom lenses but when the occasion warrants, I do use prime or single focal length lenses.  That is usually when I need a very fast aperture—f/2, f/1.4, for example.  I find zoom lenses give me the versatility that a series of prime lenses don't.  I can carry fewer lenses which translates to less bulk, less weight and, for the most part, less cost.  In the good zooms that I buy, Image quality is pretty much the same as primes.  But there is a danger to using zoom lenses as well.

Is Using Zoom Lenses Working Against You? 

The danger in using a zoom lens when composing an image is 1) a lack of understanding the difference between changing the focal length of your lens (zooming) without changing your physical position versus changing the place you actually stand to make your image and b) knowing the difference between the two but being too lazy to do the right thing, which is to physically move when the composition calls for it.  In other words, when composing an image you need to know when it is appropriate to just zoom in or out and when it is best to physically walk to a different spot for best composition.

There are several things I deem important when composing an image, three of which are germane to this post.  One is I examine all of the edges and corners of my frame to ensure that there is nothing extraneous or distracting sticking in from the sides.  Usually new or inexperienced photographers don't look at the edges because they have tunnel vision and only see their center of interest. Their focus is on their subject and not the entire frame.  It takes time to remember to look at all the edges and corners every time.  

Second, I look at the relationships among the various elements within my frame and, if at all possible, I like to have "space" or "separation" between any two elements so they don't merge and potentially confuse a viewer.

Third, I look at my main subject and determine how I want the background rendered in relationship to it.  Think of a lone tree in front of some mountains.  Do I want the tree to look small and the mountains to loom large behind it (the mountains become the prominent object) or do I want the tree to stand out and the mountains to look small and far into the background.  Focal length and my physical position relative to the two will determine who they look in relation to each other.

Zooming may be appropriate for eliminating stuff intruding into the edges of your frame but moving my physical position is appropriate for the proper perspective, relationship among objects and keeping that separation between objects that I feel is important to me.  Zooming won't help in that situation.

The proper relationships among the objects in your photograph can make or break the image.  The wrong relationships between objects can make a potentially really good photo an ordinary one.  Vice versa, as well.  Those proper relationships can the the small aspect that really makes an image evoke an emotion.  When you zoom in to compose your subject you are merely cropping.  That's it.  I'll repeat that.  When you zoom in you are only cropping your image.  Nothing more.  You are not changing the perspective of your image nor changing the relationships among subjects within your image.  This is to what I referred in a previous paragraph about the dangers of using a zoom lens.  You know you need to move so the proper relationships exist within your frame but your zoom lens has allowed you to become lazy over time and it is much more expedient and easier just to zoom in for your final composition.  Bad idea.

Here is something to try sometime.  If you take a 100mm lens (FF FOV) and make an image, then take a 24mm lens (FF FOV) and not change the camera's position (i.e., the center of the frame is in the exact same spot), when you crop the 24mm image in to replicate the field of view (FOV) 100mm image, it will look identical.  Of course, it will not be as high quality and have some additional noise, etc., from the severe cropping.  The point being that the relationships among the objects in both final images will be the same—same size, same proportion, same relationship to each other, etc.  You just don't see the relationships as well in the 24mm image because those distant objects are very small in the photo as compared to them in the 100mm version.  Zooming is just cropping.

Zooming with your lens is not a substitute for moving your camera position.  

I'm very fastidious when it comes to composition.  I might move the camera up just an inch or over two inches or forward a foot, etc. so I can get the exact composition, with the exact relationships among the objects in my frame.  As I mentioned, I don't like two objects touching, if I can help it.  I want that space in between them.  I don't like any object touching the horizon.  I want space between the horizon and another element of my image or I want the object clearly way above the horizon.  If I want a compressed look from using a telephoto lens, I will move to the place where the compression compliments the objects in the frame.  If I want a "wide-angle lead your eyes into the frame" look, I will move the camera down, right, left, etc. to get just the composition I am after.  I only use the zoom function to crop when I cannot physically get to where I want to be and not to determine relationships.

Go out and experiment and see for yourself if you are not aware of what I have written.  Your vision will sharpen and you will become a better photographer.  Just don't become lazy with your art.

*from Wikipedia

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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