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Composition with primes and zooms.

Started Jan 12, 2016 | Discussions thread
diness Veteran Member • Posts: 3,758
Re: Composition with primes and zooms.

I keep flipping back and forth on this. I think my conclusion is that primes are great when you have a bit more time to work and the leeway to change position. They are also great when I need more light or compactness. The 35mm f2 IS and 100mm L IS macro are great examples. I like the little 24mm IS almost as much as my FD 24mm. I miss the metal and the DOF scale though.

I used to run around with EF 24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 USM and 100mm f2.8 USM macro, all with 58mm filters. Nice compact little kit gave up nothing to expensive lenses, worked in the dark, added closer focusing at the wide end and 1:1 macro long. I still got f2.8 or better with nice bokeh in portraits with some of Canon's sharpest lenses in a neat little bag.

Zooms work better when I haven't much time to shoot and/or my ability to move around is limited. I like them for the way I can precisely frame a composition. They're also good when I don't want to switch lenses for dust/moisture reasons i.e. the 24-105mm.

So I guess I like them all. Thoughts?

I feel exactly the same way, and unlike some people on this forum, I don't have endless supplies of money, so its always tought to decide which trade off you're gonna take! My latest hope is to make my kit the 24-105 f4L and 70-200 f4L with the 85mm 1.8 and 35mm f2 is as a small prime set up as well.

 diness's gear list:diness's gear list
Canon EOS R Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon RF 35mm F1.8 IS STM Macro Canon RF 24-105mm F4L IS USM
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