Kit lenses vs pro lenses;

Are pro lenses "better" ? of course they are; they cost more, that have better materials, they're just "made better"; all of which does't mean that so called "kit lenses" are "bad";

I think everyone who's been taking picture more than a week, realizes that there more things causing unsharpness than which lens you have mounted on your camera; by FAR the BIGGEST cause of unsharpness is camera movement / slow shutter speed; but still, everyone wants to shoot hand held; ( with 300 and 400mm lenses yet ! )

I like old KR, and I think he's a very smart kid, "most" of the time; but every time I hear his now famous, " I don't NEED no stinkin tripod".........he instantly rejoins the ranks of idiots ! ( Sorry Ken !)

You shoot hand held with your $1,000 pro lens, modest shutter speed, I'll shoot the same thing with a $200 kit lens, with my camera on my gitzo with Arca Swiss B-1 ball head, my pics will probably be sharper than yours. Hey...no got a heavy tripod and fancy head ? Improvise ! A Wal-Mart bag full of damp sand will help almost as much ! (Just not quite as convenient) I'm pretty sure just about ANY modern Nikon or Canon lens is capable of making an acceptable image; maybe not for some fancy, schmancy fashion mag, but plenty good enough for most purposes, assuming it's used to it's full advantage.

Here's a true story that illustrates my point; I hang a lot on a particular forum; one of the regulars shoots lots of cute little birdies with a brand new D-4, brand new 400mm/ f2.8 AF S, VR II, brand new HEAVY tripod with a great gimbal head, and gets a lot of beautiful, sharp birds; ( with about a 15k investment in great equipment ). I shot this pretty little reddish house finch, with my D-300s, my 30 yr old, manual focus, 300mm / f4 Nikkor, ( $125 on eBay), and a 20 yr old 2X Nikon TC, on my 25 year old Gitzo 340, (180 "pounds" from a guy in the U.K. on eBay), and my used AS B-1 ball head........my bird looks as sharp as the other bird; ( and I forgot to mention, the bird was "outside", in zero weather, and I was "inside", shooting thru 2 panes of window glass.) I should also probably mention, when I first learned to focus lenses, AF was about 35 years in the "future". ( I call my shot, "Doing telephoto on the cheap". ) Anything you do that's better than "good enough", is probably un-necessarily expensive.

I forgot to mention desicant; (silica gel) anytime the camera or lenses are stored, especially if the relative humidity is very high, always keep camera, lenses, camera bags INSIDE a big plastic bag, with a few small packets of DRY silica gel; SG WILL protect against what moisture is present in the indoor air, but ONLY if all the equipment is at the indoor ambient temperature; it WILL NOT protect against sudden condensation cause by taking cold equipment into indoor , moisture laden air; SG absorbs moisture much much more slowly than rapid condensation produces condensate. If you ever forget any of this, just ask any weather man; they all know it by heart.

Best way to avoid condensation when shooting in cold weather;

First, you need to understand a little basic physics; when your camera gets cold, try to keep it underneath a heavy garment, to keep it as warm as possible from your body heat; the problem starts when you take a cold camera indoors; the inside is much warmer, and the indoor air very moisture laden; warm air will always hold more moisture than colder air; when you first go indoors, it's NOT the warm temp that bothers the camera, it's all that moisture that's IN that warm air; I shoot outdoors a lot in the winter; two things I always have with me; a few heavy duty plastic freezer bags, big enough that they will hold the camera and mounted lens, and the zip lock will close;

Just before going from the cold outside, stick the camera with lens inside the plastic bag, zip, it up, getting as much air as possible OUT before closing it completely, and put some big, wide, heavy duty rubber bands around the outside of the bag, the better to keep the plastic as snug against the camera as possible; ( the more air out of the bag, the better )


Then go inside, park the bagged camera anywhere it's safe, and leave it, still tightly bagged, for 2 or 3 hours, or long enough for the camera and lens to warm up to the inside temp; Then remove them from the bag; when the camera
reaches the inside temp, you won't see a trace of condensation when you remove the bag.

All you're really doing, is isolating the camera, with it's vulnerable optics and electronics, from all the moisture that's in the warm inside air. It's really just basic, 9th grade science; it's easy, it's relatively quick, it costs almost nothing, and it can save you untold expense and grief.

Keeping the equipment as warm as possible keeps the batteries working much better; speaking of batteries, ALWAYS use lithium cells in cold weather; they are affected less by cold temps than any other type cells. Always remember when you camera is cold.......cold metal and cold glass ALWAYS cause moisture in warm air to condense, (and it happens almost instantly when you go inside.) ALL pro wildlife guys having been using this simple trick longer than I've been taking pictures; ( and I started in the early 1950's; so there's nothing new going on here.