Lately I've been taking along just one lens on photo walks, a 35mm f/1.8 prime lens, which is roughly the equivalent of a traditional 50mm standard lens with my crop sensor camera. Over the years, I've become somewhat addicted to zoom lenses that offer a range of focal lengths. However, I'm rediscovering that sticking to one focal length can have some real benefits. The 50mm standard or "normal" lens has a field of view similar to that of the human eye, plus it exhibits very little distortion. This makes framing and composition less complicated than with wide angle and telephoto lenses. Also, the wide maximum aperture allows for the use of lower ISO settings, and the shallow depth of field is helpful for blurring backgrounds. Perhaps best of all is that walking around with a single lens means fewer equipment-related decisions to make and more time for relaxed photographing.
