The above shows two very shy painted turtles in the pond.  I haven’t been using my 55 – 300mm lens as much lately and have wondered whether I really need it.  I generally only go out with one lens and sometimes when using this one I find that it is heavier and longer than I like and not ideal for what I wish to photograph.  At other times, like when I took this picture yesterday, it wasn’t long enough.  The turtles are very shy and jumped into the water when I got closer.  As it is, I had to crop quite a bit even with the 300mm lens to get the above picture.

While I go through periods of using a long zoom lens almost continuously I still prefer to use higher quality, lighter weight prime lenses of a shorter focal length; but it obviously depends upon what I’m making pictures of.  The bottom line is that I can’t live with it or without it so I’ll continue being selective and heading out with or without it depending upon what I’m planning to photograph.  Will I miss shots?  Yes I will, but that is the nature of being an opportunistic photographer who dislikes carrying a heavy bag full of lenses.