Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa

Skip reading the write-up and just enjoy the lovely scenery in the photographs!

In contrast with my time on Ben Nevis, I had more than 10ft of visibility while on Snowdon – which allowed me to enjoy the Snowdonia scenery.  I can now really appreciate why 35mm full-frame landscape photographers worship the 50mm prime lens – I used a Nikkor 35mm DX (~50mm full-frame equivalent) for the entire day, and really enjoyed the results!

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A friend who is just getting into the world of digital photography used a 18-105mm Nikkor to capture the next set of photos.

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…And here’s a load of mine through the 35mm/1.8 prime.

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Prime lenses seem to be a bit of a grey area with some beginners, due to the absence of a zoom wheel on the lens. Contrary to popular opinion, it is possible to zoom* while using a prime: walk forwards to zoom in, walk backwards to zoom out.  A bonus of this is that “zooming” a prime preserves the perspective of the scene… but with the slight downside that you may accidentally walk into a pond while you’re busy “zooming”.  During my walk, I was eyeing up the scenery and deciding in advance where the “ideal” locations on my route would be for me to stop and take photos.

Sunset from Llanberis