Prime vs Zoom

[Ferio_vti]

What's everyone's feeling?? Can an amateur, ie me, justify having a prime or 2 in my camera bag??
What's everyone's favorite length for a prime??

I'd like to get a faster lens for low light photography, but I'm not sure if I should get a Sigma 35mm F1.8/Pentax 35mm F/2.0 or a Sigma 28-70mm F2.8.

I personally like a normal angle or slightly wider. But it's pretty tempting to get a 28-70mm zoom. Is a F2.8 fast enough for most applications??


BTW, am I the only Pentax user in a sea of Canon and Nikon??

[D'z Nutz]

I don't see why not. If you do enough shooting, you'll probably figure out what focal lengths work best with you and just work your shots around those, but it's probably more about preference than anything.

I thought I was a zoom guy, but without realizing it, my collection of lenses gradually shifted from mostly zooms to mostly primes. I just noticed that like last month! Haha! In fact, if I could find a good, affordable prime somewhere between the 12 to 15mm length (non-fisheye), I'd dump my 12-24mm too, making one less zoom for me.

As for focal lengths, I use effective 20mm and 50mm a lot (~13mm and ~30mm on 1.6x crop bodies).

I'm not a Pentax owner, but I'd love to try out a Pentax 67 someday.

[Obscura]

For the most part I shoot Nikon (mostly film and mechanical bodies at that:thumbsup: ) but for some types of photography nothing beats the earth shake of a Pentax 67 firing.

For 35mm, my favourite prime lenses are 35mm f2 and 85mm. I have two types of 85mm for doing portraits, an f2 and an f2.8 depending on what I feel like.

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by Obscura
nothing beats the earth shake of a Pentax 67 firing.


You have a pentax 67?? You have to make it out to one of these meets :D

[turboMiata]

OK hands down, prime rocks. they are bright, fast, sharp and cheap. Perfect for still photography.

If you're shooting events or travelling and if things are dynamic and there is no time to change lenses or weight is an issue, then zoom is the way to go.

I have both, but my favourite lens is still my 15 year old 50mm f/1.8 prime. The colour and sharpness kicks ass on even the 70-200.

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by turboMiata


I have both, but my favourite lens is still my 15 year old 50mm f/1.8 prime.

I don't think I have ever seen you with any other lens attached to your camera... :rofl:

[kaput]

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[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by kaput
Whats prime and zoom mean? I'm assuming different types of lenses but how?

Zooms are well.. Zooms. They have changing focal ranges... like 28-70mm... So you can zoom anywhere between 28mm and 70mm..

Primes are fixed focal ranges. like a 20mm or 35mm or 600mm. You can't change the length on them.

[kaput]

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[muse017]

Hey I am a pentax user!!

I would say if you have enough cash to spend then go for 35.2(43.9) + 77mm ltd(FA85.2mm Star lens) set up instead of buying 28-70. No matter what pentax camera u use, you will have a lot of trouble focus at low light condition.

Pentax Focus speed...:thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow

[lint]

Originally posted by kaput
So wouldn't zoom basically be a variable prime making it better? Or does that cost image quality?

It takes more glass to make a good zoom. This additional glass will degrade the image.

There are some zooms that are reputed to be as sharp as some primes.

Also, due to size, weight limitations, fast zooms have a max aperature of f2.8, where as primes can be faster (down to f1.0).

[Ferio_vti]

Originally posted by muse017
Hey I am a pentax user!!

I would say if you have enough cash to spend then go for 35.2(43.9) + 77mm ltd(FA85.2mm Star lens) set up instead of buying 28-70. No matter what pentax camera u use, you will have a lot of trouble focus at low light condition.

Pentax Focus speed...:thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow


Don't I wish I could get a couple star lens.
But if the rising CDN$ keeps going up, I think I'd like to get my hands on all of Pentax's Limited primes like DA 40mm and FA 31mm.

35.2?? You mean the FA 35mm F2.0??

Anyone like Sigma's primes??

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I love my 50mm F1.8! I thought I would only use it in low light and portraits, but now I use it waaaaay more than my kit lens! And don't think that a newer 50mm prime is much better than an old one - my 50 isn't even a D lens! (What can I say, I love the old-school flava. And it was mad cheap. AS well, it was made in Japan, unlike the later Chinese models. Downside is that focus is insanely loud!)

As far as zooms go, I was looking at picking up a Sigma 70-300 APO, but I'm seriously considering saving for a while and getting a Sigma 70-200 F2.8 instead. A bit less reach, but the glass is awesome and F2.8 is invaluable.