Eloquent Images by Gary Hart
Insight, information, and inspiration for the inquisitive nature photographer
He Ain’t Heavy,…
… He’s My Sony 12-24 f/4 G
Snowstorm Reflection, El Capitan, Yosemite
Sony a7R III
Sony 12-24 f/4 G
1/50 second
F/10
ISO 100
(With apologies to The Hollies.)
The road is long, with many a winding turn…
But that’s no excuse to cut corners. Probably the question I am most asked on location is some variation of, “What lens should I use?” While I’m always happy to answer questions, this one always makes me cringe because the implicit question is, “Which lenses can I leave behind?”
What many photographers fail to realize is that the “proper” lens is determined by the photographer, not by the scene. While there is often a consensus on the primary composition at a location, that usually only means the first composition everyone sees. But if your goal is to capture something unique, those are just the compositions to avoid. And as every photographer knows, the best way to guarantee you’ll need a lens is to not pack it. I’m not suggesting that you lug Hermione’s purse to every shoot—just try to remember that your images will last far longer than your discomfort.
In my Canon life, my personal rule of thumb was to always carry lenses that cover 16-200mm, regardless of the scene, then add “specialty” lenses as my plans dictated: macro for wildflowers, fast and wide prime for night, and super telephoto for a moon. That meant the 16-35, 24-105, and 70-200 were permanent residents of my Canon bag, and my 100-400, 100 macro, or wide and fast prime came along when I needed them.
Shooting Sony mirrorless, with its more compact bodies and lenses, I now carry a much wider focal range in a lighter camera bag. My new baseline (always with me) lens lineup is the Sony 12-24 G, 24-105 G, and 100-400 GM, plus the Sony 2x teleconverter. My macro and night lenses still stay behind (but they’re usually in the car), but in my bag I always have lenses to cover 12-800mm, a significant advantage over my Canon 16-200 configuration.
It’s kind of a cliché in photography to say “It’s the photographer, not the equipment.” And as much as I agree in principle, sometimes the equipment does help. Wherever I am, I regularly find compositions beyond 200mm, compositions I never would have considered before. And the 12-24 lens has enabled me to approach familiar scenes with a completely fresh eye.
A recent example came on a snowy day in Yosemite early last month. Moving fast to keep up with the rapidly changing clouds and light, I stopped at El Capitan Bridge, directly beneath El Capitan. Having shot this scene for years (decades), I was quite familiar with the perspective. So wide is the top-to-bottom, left-to-right view of El Capitan here, even at 16mm I’ve always had to choose between all of El Capitan or all of the reflection, never both. I never dreamed I’d be able to get El Capitan and its reflection in a single frame. But guess what….
Standing above the river near the south side of the bridge, I framed up a vertical composition and saw that at 12mm I could indeed fit El Capitan and the reflection, top to bottom. Whoa. With very little margin for error on any side of the frame, I moved around a bit to get the scene balanced, eventually framing the right side with the snowy trees lining the Merced. My elevated perch above the river allowed me to shoot straight ahead (no up or down tilt of the camera) and avoid the extreme skewing of the trees that’s so common at wide focal lengths.
12mm provides so much depth of field that I could focus anywhere in the scene and get front-to-back sharpness; the flat light made exposure similarly simple. With composition, focus, and exposure set, all I had to do was watch the clouds and click the shutter, my heart filled with gladness….
A Sony 12-24 Gallery
Click an image for a closer look and slide show. Refresh the window to reorder the display.
Eloquent Images by Gary Hart 
Wow Gary That is gorgeous!
Beautiful, Gary! The whole scene is exquisite! Altho, I did shiver a little. It looks quite cold. :-). Really enjoyed your blog about lenses. Your base lenses (16-200) is great advice.
I love mine.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” Mark Twain Choose your leaders with wisdom and careful forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and all those you love into slavery. Unknown
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Gary—on my way back from 10 days in Patagonia. Brought my new 12-24mm
lens with me. It’s by far the best lens I’ve ever owned. Along with my 24-70, there’s no compromise.
Look forward to shooting with you in the Sierras.
Charlie
Love that image! I’m just wondering what kind of filters you use on the 12-24mm lens? I looked at it on B&H, and it looks like it has a curved glass on the front. Thanks, Nancy
Thanks, Nancy. No filters. I could get a filter system if I wanted to, but polarizer on something this wide creates problems, and I hardly ever need a GND with my Sony bodies.
Hi Gary,
Am considering buying that 12-24 Sony lens to kinda complete my bag, but, am wondering if it would be adequate for night photography. Actually don’t do much night stuff, but some star trails, etc. Have read, etc. etc. that a 2.8 lens is best – that the 4.0 will not do a decent job. Right now, I’m thinking that the A7RIII’s capabilities in low light and the 12-24 would work better than what those “opinions” are stating. Need some great advice here. Thanks much in advance.
Bill Hunt
An f/4 lens is fine for moonlight, but I want at least f/2.8 for the Milky Way and other moonless night photography, and ideally faster.
Truly beautiful photography throughout your site…inspired!
Thank you for always providing all the background information to your images. It’s great to see the beautiful end results, but the learning is in the descriptions.
You’re very welcome, Rob. Thanks for reading.