Yesterday, on the way to see Robin and Emma, I stopped in B&H Photo in Manhattan, every photographer’s fantasy place. Someday, someone will give me $10,000 and drop me off outside.
Thousands of people scurrying around from all over the world, miles of lenses, cameras, video equipment, and the knowledgeable, grumpy and notoriously honest sales staff. They brook no fools, and have refused to sell me many things I thought I wanted and thought I needed.
Straight talkers, the sales staff a wild mix of clannish Hasidic Jews and professional photographers moonlighting in a vast block- long, multi-story (you cannot see the end of the sales floor) sensory, vast feast of digital and video and photographic equipment and countless thousands of people from all over the country and the world pore through. It is a madhouse.
It is a place of great yearning, as I am surrounded by so many wonderful things I can never have.
As soon as I saved up another $1,000, I was planning to buy a Zeiss Milvus 85 mm or a Canon 85 mm, both highly regarded portrait lenses, each costing around $2,000 plus tax, etc. I love my used Zeiss lens, but it is limited, I wanted a lens that was as good in color as it is in black and white.
The salesman suggested I look at the Canon 135 mm 1.2 L series lens, and I was doubtful.
It cost half of what the other two cost and I was bred to be careful of the cheapest option, it is rarely the best. Besides, I had barely even heard of this lens, it doesn’t show up on any of the portrait lens lists.
The salesman – his name was alleged to be Federico – brought out all three lenses and I attached them to my camera, and I took some photos of Maria and the people in line. I loved the lens right away, it is powerful, sharp and offers wonderful depth of field for portraits – see how the background is soft so that Maria’s face is highlighted. It is more versatile, faster, you just have to stand back from the subject a bi. (She, of course, started taking photos of me with the camera this morning as I tried to photograph her. It’s a war around here.)
The salesman suggested this was as good a portrait lens as the others, you just have to get back a bit, the lens is fast and powerful, super sharp and great for scenes, the kind of portraits I love to take. And it is $1,000 less, or more. I agonized about this a bit, I went online and pored through professional and amateur reviews, I called B&H several times from my daughter’s apartment in Brooklyn, I talked to three different people.
Each one recommended this lens – ones salesperson went on my blog to look at my photos and said it was the right lens for me. They said it was as good as the ones that cost twice as much, a tough idea to get my head around. And I couldn’t disregard the cost factor, for $1,500 more, the other lenses would have to be a great deal better, not just a little. Time to adjust my thinking.
I bought it, brought it home, took a photo of Maria this morning at the pasture gate as she was photographing me with her Iphone. I loved the detail in her face and hoodie, I loved the blurring of the background to highlight the face. I think it was a great deal for me, and also a lesson. The most expensive is not always the best choice. And it helps to listen.
I have so much to learn in life, I am grateful to be learning new things every day.