In December of 2024 I purchased a Prime Lens. A prime lens is a camera lens with a fixed focal length, meaning it cannot zoom in or out. This contrasts with zoom lenses, which offer a range of focal lengths.

Prime lenses are often favored for their superior image quality, wider apertures which allows for better low-light performance and shallower depth of field, and generally smaller size and weight…..except for the one I purchased which is heavy and made of metal and glass, no plastic parts. The Prime Lens I purchased is Manual Focus Only, no auto-focus anything. Manual Focus is a skill that after much practice can be achieved.

When you are taking photos of fast moving subjects like a Roadrunner, an auto-focus lens is usually faster. But I like the challenge of manual focus.

Recently there have been many Roadrunners in my neighborhood and when I hear them calling for one another I usually go outside to try and capture images of them with my camera, like the one on this page. If you are able to zoom in on the Roadrunner, do so to see more detail.

For manual focus photography you need to be extremely patient as not every single image you try to capture will come out perfectly, no matter how much sharpness you try to add successfully in post processing.

It is very hard to capture excellent images of fast moving subjects. Usually you would use a tripod, but I hand hold my camera and keep it very steady while taking photos of Roadrunners or hummingbirds. I use my tripod when I am shooting in extremely low light, like when I am taking photos of the Milky Way at night.