How do you feel about prime lenses?

Yemble said:

How much kit do you want to lug around?

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Obviously I'd need a few equipment bearers to "lug around" my entire kit. Normally I pick and choose based upon the weather, lighting conditions and subject matter and go from there. There are times when it will just be the camera with a lens mounted to more often, a small bag with camera / lens and perhaps two other lenses inside. These are like tools, you pick the best ones for the job at hand. You don't bring along the entire tool chest. A prime can do just as much as any zoom can, it just requires the photographer to be more mobile and "think" about his composition rather then let the lens think for him. In general, I usually have at least one fast prime with me most times. Remember too that primes are generally smaller and lighter then most zooms too, so that is another carry advantage. Unless you're talking long telephoto primes with fast apetures, they are easy to keep one with you. I'm not the kind of person to use / appreciate a "wonder" zoom. I'd rather have quality of photo IQ then all that simple convenience. But that's just me..

Try to force yourself to just take one lens for the day, preferrably a good prime and learn to use it well. You'll be suprised just how much you learn to appreciate it and how creative you will become with composition etc. It will make you a better photographer and you will gain a new appreciation for a good prime lens.
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Ken
Sony Alpha Seventy Seven

harleydavidson said:

Yemble said:

How much kit do you want to lug around?

Click to expand...

Obviously I'd need a few equipment bearers to "lug around" my entire kit. Normally I pick and choose based upon the weather, lighting conditions and subject matter and go from there. There are times when it will just be the camera with a lens mounted to more often, a small bag with camera / lens and perhaps two other lenses inside. These are like tools, you pick the best ones for the job at hand. You don't bring along the entire tool chest. A prime can do just as much as any zoom can, it just requires the photographer to be more mobile and "think" about his composition rather then let the lens think for him. In general, I usually have at least one fast prime with me most times. Remember too that primes are generally smaller and lighter then most zooms too, so that is another carry advantage. Unless you're talking long telephoto primes with fast apetures, they are easy to keep one with you. I'm not the kind of person to use / appreciate a "wonder" zoom. I'd rather have quality of photo IQ then all that simple convenience. But that's just me..
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How can you possibly anticipate in advance what your lens selection should be for, say, a ramble in the countryside? Sod's law states that whichever lens you leave behind is the one that you wish you had with you. Please note that I am not disagreeing with any of your points about prime lens, I have a few myself.

Yemble said:

harleydavidson said:

Yemble said:

How much kit do you want to lug around?

Click to expand...

Obviously I'd need a few equipment bearers to "lug around" my entire kit. Normally I pick and choose based upon the weather, lighting conditions and subject matter and go from there. There are times when it will just be the camera with a lens mounted to more often, a small bag with camera / lens and perhaps two other lenses inside. These are like tools, you pick the best ones for the job at hand. You don't bring along the entire tool chest. A prime can do just as much as any zoom can, it just requires the photographer to be more mobile and "think" about his composition rather then let the lens think for him. In general, I usually have at least one fast prime with me most times. Remember too that primes are generally smaller and lighter then most zooms too, so that is another carry advantage. Unless you're talking long telephoto primes with fast apetures, they are easy to keep one with you. I'm not the kind of person to use / appreciate a "wonder" zoom. I'd rather have quality of photo IQ then all that simple convenience. But that's just me..
--

Click to expand...

How can you possibly anticipate in advance what your lens selection should be for, say, a ramble in the countryside? Sod's law states that whichever lens you leave behind is the one that you wish you had with you. Please note that I am not disagreeing with any of your points about prime lens, I have a few myself.

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But that's just the point. It forces you to use (and master) the tools you have at hand, the ones you brought with you. It makes you think and overcome, to be creative, to adapt. Dont get me wrong, I have always owned and used zooms too but I tend to stay away from "all in one" super zooms because I know the IQ is sacrificed. One of my favorite zooms regardless of system is the 70-200 f2.8 which I recently purchased for my coming A77. (Tamron version) Zooms have their place and their uses. But I also can and do appreciate a good prime lens as well and I make them work regardless of the environment I may be in. Trying to carry "your entire kit" as you put it in the way of a couple of (one or two) super zooms may work for some, but you have to remember you are sacrificing something else in doing so. When I do carry those three lenses, one is generally always a zoom.
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Ken
Sony Alpha Seventy Seven

Another thing that I forget to mention is that having a bigger aperture (example F2.8 vs F3.5) don't necessarily means that the lens has better photo quality or better resolution. It just means that can open allow more light to go in, which is very helpful in low light situations. But most lenses perform better around F8 or F11, and sometimes even F16. So sometimes a lens with a smaller aperture aside from being smaller and more affordable can have better photo quality than the big, heavy and expensive one.

El Profe said:

Another thing that I forget to mention is that having a bigger aperture (example F2.8 vs F3.5) don't necessarily means that the lens has better photo quality or better resolution. It just means that can open allow more light to go in, which is very helpful in low light situations. But most lenses perform better around F8 or F11, and sometimes even F16. So sometimes a lens with a smaller aperture aside from being smaller and more affordable can have better photo quality than the big, heavy and expensive one.

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I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. While I do agree that many lenses perform better stopped down, the simple fact is that "big, heavy & expensive" lenses usually equate to great performance not equaled by slower, smaller, less expensive counter parts. Those big heavy fast lenses wouldn't fetch thousands of dollars if it weren't so.
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Ken
Sony Alpha Seventy Seven

Makes some nice lenses, you get value for money...though you will have to judge if its enough value, its plenty of money in any case (about $3.3K)

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091705schneiderkrueznachtslens.asp

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Shamelessly promoting my favourite painters website (my wife's )
http://EdithsArt.nl

Hugo600si said:

Makes some nice lenses, you get value for money...though you will have to judge if its enough value, its plenty of money in any case (about $3.3K)

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091705schneiderkrueznachtslens.asp

--
Shamelessly promoting my favourite painters website (my wife's )
http://EdithsArt.nl

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Great optics, and one of the reasons I use and prefer B+W filters. B+W is owned by Schneider-Kreuznach.

https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/catalogsubcategorydisplay.aspx?cid=57
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Ken
Sony Alpha Seventy Seven

For family and products photography, as well as for general hobby photography, I would suggest going for high quality primes. If you do not need zoom for documentary type of photos of moving subjects, primes can teach you more about composition by "forcing" you to walk and finding the best angle. And this is seriously fun, at least for me. As a bonus the exif of your photos would no longer show weired focal lengths like 64 mm

Just avoid inexpensive primes such as Minolta 20mm, Minolta 135mm. These lenses are not worth it. Once you discover the beauty of top class primes like Minolta 200mm APO, Minolta 85mm (or Zeiss 85) or Zeiss 24/2, you won't be able to look back. I did the jump and I'm lost now. The quality of imagery from such lenses including bokeh from the first two is outstanding. Beware of Minolta/Sony 50mm F/1.4 as well. The lens is nice and small and sharp, but tends to cripple bokeh too often, which is inherent to its design. You may think the bokeh quality does not matter much to you, but it will, trust me. You can save one IQ evolution step and extra expenses by skipping this lens.

On my film cameras I used them exclusively. Now that I have a digital however, I've been had to deal with the kit lens since I can't afford new lenses for the moment, and while it's not that bad it's still a far cry from my good ol' 50/1.4. That's why I'm saving up for the 35/1.8 and 85/2.8 primes, roughly equivalent to a 50mm and 135mm lenses on a film SLR, the perfect lenses for casual shooting and portraits respectively.

Some people claim primes are less flexible than zooms, but personally I find that the f/1.8 aperture gives me far more freedom than the need for "zooming with your feet" takes away, and being locked into a single angle of view helps me previsualize the image before raising the camera to my eye, always a helpful ability to have.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/Draek

Not sure your level of proficiency or your desired level, but I found prime lenses to be a real benefit to my shooting. Zooms can make you lazy, and with a prime (typically normal to slightly wide) I really pushed myself to get the creative shot.

A prime made me work the image and explore all that I could get out of it versus zoom in to the easy and obvious shot, capture the uninspiring, and move on.

chad

This is an interesting reading comparing a 300mm prime against a 300mm zoom. Same brand. Both constant F2.8 aperture.

http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2008/12/telephoto-shootout-sigma-vs-sigma?page=0,1

Another interesting one: "How to pick the right lens"

http://www.popphoto.com/news/2010/11/how-pick-right-lens