Canon General Purpose/Event Lens

Rexgig0 wrote:

I think a prime lens can help a beginner learn some principles of photography more quickly. Whether a prime lens is a "better" choice than a zoom for one's primary lens is not so easy to answer. I believe a Tokina 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, and then a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens, really helped me understand photography. Part of it was that both were of better optical performance than the "kit" lens. The Tokina macro lens was part of the bag of pre-owned gear my wife bought from a co-worker, and I bought the 50mm f/1.8 soon afterward.

That's interesting, I'd definitely agree that a prime lens would help me develop my understanding of and techniques in photography. The 50mm does seem to be going up on my list simply because of how frequently it's used and recommended (also it's bargain price). I've previously used it for a video and I remember being mesmerised by my first encounter with an extremely wide aperture lens and I found myself moving around to grab some beautiful shots, something I think I rather.

A zoom lens tends to be a compromise, optically, except perhaps at one 'sweet' spot. This is true of my zooms. Some have broader areas of high image quality than others. A fixed-focal-length lens, a.k.a. prime lens can, probably, therefore be "sharper" than a zoom with equal-quality glass elements, except perhaps at the zoom's best setting. To be clear, I may be saying this in overly-simple terms, perhaps to the point of error. I am not an optical engineer, or any kind of expert.

There is, also, more to image quality than "sharpness," and a skilled photographer can produce amazing images with a rather mundane lens.

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I wear a badge and pistol, and make evidentiary images at night, which incorporates elements of portrait, macro, still life, landscape, architecture, and PJ. I enjoy using both Canons and Nikons.

That does make more sense, thank you for your input!