Been struggling with burnout recently, and needed to get some motivation to get out and do something, in the half day or day off that I get a week recently. It's easy when you're tired to just sleep in and do nothing, and that's not very healthy.

I needed something to have some fun again. So how about a fast 35mm prime lens?

When you're on a tight budget, for equipment, you tend to go for something as practical and as versatile as possible. My camera equipment reflects that. Hybrid camera for photos and videos, and my 18-105mm F4 lens also does everything. So taking photos just feels like work with this lens. Need something to mix it up.

It still has to be practical though, so I did a lot of research on what would complement my current workhorse lens while also encouraging some creativity and fun.

A 35mm full frame equivalent fast prime was probably what I needed. Still versatile, much faster and lighter. Useful for fun, but also for work.

The choices came down to new FE 24mm F2.8 Sony full frame lens, new 23mm F1.4 Sigma APS-C or second hand 24mm F1.8 Sony Zeiss APS-C.

The Sigma was a bit too big and heavy. Sony FE 24mm was more compact and newer but slower. While the 24mm F1.8 was older, but faster and also had a very short minimal focus length for closeups.

In the end I opted for the second hand 24mm F1.8 Sony Zeiss. And it looks like it was the right choice, from the shots I've been able to take from recent work trip to Dili, East Timor. It was fast, for indoor photos for workshop, it could do landscapes and it can also do closeups.

I also get why 35mm was popular choice of photo journalists. It captures what you see in front of you when you're focusing on a subject. I did notice though that, when I'm focusing on a scene, that my field of view was more like 24mm. In that way, it works for me, to look for a subject and shoot, and I'll get a photo that is close to what I perceive as seeing.

It was also a challenge to get creative, and in a way that was also fun. I tend to get lazy with a zoom and just stand somewhere. With a prime lens, I had to move to find the shot. I also had to get a lot closer for portraits of people and that meant being more comfortable with approaching people, and also having genuine interesting and friendly interactions with strangers. Which was actually positive and enjoyable.

While getting used to it, I did end up initially overexposing a lot of photos. Never having shot anything faster than F4, my shutter speeds were too slow for bright sunlight. Luckily the dynamic range of modern camera sensors, allowed me to salvage many of them in post.

Addition of this second lens at 225g didn't make much of a dent for my total luggage weight. I can still bring both lenses and stay at around the ~7kg limit for carry on luggage, which is the only luggage I bring with me. (See my traveling light guide)

For now the 35mm (24mm on my APS-C camera) has allowed me to temporarily hold off burnout, by enjoying and making the most of the rare brief breaks I get these days.

Photos