It’s Not About the F-Stop

Sometimes It Is the Lens

For the last few years, I have pared down all my equipment to one lens and one camera. I have been walking around with this for the last three years. The camera is, of course, a Nikon D3s; the lens, a 28–300mm zoom.

I am unashamed of my love for this lens. It has saved me from walking around with 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, 90mm, 135mm, 180mm, and 300mm lenses.

I used to use a 70–300mm and carried a 24–70mm lens in a little belly bag. My daughter said, “You look like a huge dork with that belly bag.” In point of fact, the belly bag prevented me from using the 24–70mm. It was a matter of inertia and the fact that I basically think in telephoto terms most of the time.

When Nikon came out with a 28–300mm, I thought, “This probably ...