Thoreau Photography shall from time-to-time review pieces of photographic equipment and techniques relevant to recording the world around us.
Cameras
Cameras are tools – nothing more, nothing less. They enable us to capture the images of Nature that so motivated Thoreau and his writing. Like all tools, the results are dependent upon the competency of the user. The "eye" of the photographer is an essential element in the production of a great photograph: there are many wondrous photos that have been taken with Box Brownies; equally there are literally thousands of lousy photographs taken with a Nikon D3 (you only have to search the web to confirm the veracity of that). The tools do not maketh the photographer.
However, it would be wrong to extrapolate from that and infer that good tools do not help good photographers. Of course they do. They can make the capture of the image the photographer has in mind easier, or – in some cases – simply possible. Just as Nigel Kennedy sounds better with a Stradivarius, when used as a means to an end, good photographic tools can help us too.
Hence, the concern and interest expressed on this site about the attributes of various cameras and how they may help us "enhance the beauty of the landscape" as Thoreau urged us to do.
Lenses
In photography, lenses are crucial for capturing the light from a scene and transmitting it onto a small piece of film or a digital sensor. It's a trick of physics and, as you might suppose, there is the potential for many aberrations to affect the quality of the image so derived. The quality of the lens, then, and how it bends/transmits light, will have a dramatic effect on the quality of photographs.
For this reason, you often hear seasoned photographers suggesting that one should invest in "good glass" in preference to a highly-spec'ed camera body. As the resolution of digital sensors has increased substantially in the megapixel race that seems to drive both camera manufacturers and sales, the need for excellent lenses that can keep up with the resolving power of the sensors has never been greater.
In terms of the images a lens may produce, there are a lot more factors than just sharpness to consider. Here at Thoreau Photography, then, it seems only reasonable that some space should be devoted to the lenses we use to look at the world.
