Mister H Loc: Michigan

I have a Nikon D3400 with the two kit lenses. I also have a Nikon D80 I purchased from a member and still trying to learn that one (a bigger challenge). I generally use my 18-55mm lens on the D3400 for most of my shots. It covers the range most of the time. So my question is to the quality of a shot when using the zoom at 55mm or a prime 35mm lens. Aside from sharpness (based on what I think I've learned here), can the 35mm shot be cropped to equal what the 55mm got. Basically enlarging the 35mm shot to equal the 55mm. Do I end up with something just as good or better. Like many here, depending on the situation, I don't want to carry to much if possible. Sometime I can take everything. Hope I explained this properly. Thanks to this site, I kept my camera in manual mode yesterday for every shot for the first time (about 40) and overall did well. Need more practice, but I'm finally comfortable with manual mode.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Prime are built for a specific use.
Zooms are not and are more versatile at a lesser quality in some instances. Any do-it-all tool in any field just does not and cannot compete with specialized ones.

Can you be happy with only a zoom? I do not see why not.

You will get a slew of answers but this sums them all.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

My walk around lens is an 18-200 zoom and I'm quite happy with it.
Much more fun (and expedient) to compose in camera.

srt101fan

You might also want to consider lens speed (max aperture) in your deliberations. My walk-around lens is a 18-300 zoom. But my Nikon DX 35mm is considerably faster and better suited for low light photography.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Rather than shooting with the 35mm lens and cropping to approximate that what you would get at 55mm focal length, I find it far better to simply position yourself (in most cases, get closer to the subject!) such that you won't need to crop much at all. To effectively "zoom with your feet" does require some practice, but I believe it is a skill worth having, even if you use zoom lenses most of the time.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Faster lenses have 2 purposes:
1. Low light photography
2. Very thin DOF

My Pentax KP has excellent high ISO performance, so I no longer have need of the first purpose. I really prefer showing the context of the subject, so personally I avoid the second purpose also.

srt101fan

I guess it all depends on what kinds of subjects you photograph....

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

If you want ultimate optical performance go with a good prime. If you are looking for convenience go with a good zoom.

Dean37 Loc: Fresno, CA

I have both, and since I personally do not see a difference, I choose to use zooms with the widest aperture I can get. I know that it is better to use a prime lens to get the ultimate performance from your camera, but I also know that probably 90 to 95% of the people who see your pictures can't or don't care to see a difference in one or the other.

I know many people are really careful to make sure they have the correct prime lens on their camera for each shot. I personally feel that changing lenses is more likely to collect dust + on the sensor, so as I said I prefer to keep a zoom lens on my camera.

With current cameras/lenses having such good vibration reduction, and such great ISO capabilities, a lens with f/3.5 or f/4.0 is very useable at all times.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Prime lenses are "usually" intended for full frame cameras, though there are a few exceptions like the 35mm F1.8, the 40mm Micro and the 85mm Micro. The primes are all very good. DX-only zoom lenses make up the rest of the lens offerings for DX cameras, and they range from very good to "meh".

But if you really want to compare, set the zoom to 35mm, or get a 50mm prime to use to compare the zoom at 50mm. When you crop an image you reduce the number of pixels, which results in an image of lower resolution. In most cases, the uncropped 18-55 images will be better than a cropped 50mm.

As far as a prime lens always being better than a zoom lens - you really need to carefully compare lenses at the same focal lengths and apertures - and you may find that there is not a lot of difference at F8 - there is no categorically better lens.

I shoot full frame cameras and have a collection of carefully selected prime and zoom lenses that have similar resolution and contrast, so that in most cases it's impossible to tell the difference at the same focal length and aperture.

Zooms seem to have a reputation that started with the early film era zooms, like the Nikkor 43-86 F3.5 lens which was simply awful. Almost as bad was the 18mm F2.8 prime, and the 300mm F4.5 prime all beautifully built but optically junk. Other poorly designed offerings from Vivitar, Soligor, Kiron and others didn't help much.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

The prime lenses are smaller, lighter, sharper and generally faster than zooms. The top of the line zooms perform very well though.

Dossile

Prime lenses are lighter, smaller, sharper and have better low light capabilities. Prime lenses also force you to consider composition. You can’t just zoom to get close. You have to walk or ride to the optimal vantage point. With a DX Nikon, I would buy either a 18-200 or 18-300 as a walk around lens and a Nikon 35mm 1.8 prime lens for low light and portraits. If you like micro photography, a 105 mm 2.8 lens is great for DX cameras. Some people say to just bump up the ISO and don’t worry about fast glass, but with lower cost DX cameras high ISO shots in low light generate a lot of noise.

Silverman Loc: Michigan

I myself had the Nikon 18-55 kit lens which came with my Nikon D3300 camera. After some time and the gaining of Knowledge of DSLR Photography and Lens choices, I bought a used Nikon 18-140 3.5-5.6 lens, which had the same aperture range as the Nikon 18-55 lens. I really like and enjoy my 18-140 lens, stays on my camera 80% of the time. The remaining 20% I usually use my Prime 35mm or Prime 50mm Nikon lens.
I sold my unnecessary Nikon 18-55 3.5-5.6 lens.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I do not especially care for the one size fits all zooms that have a wide range of focal lengths.
I have a Nikkor AF 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5D that I use as a general purpose lens, but when shooting something specific I'l use a prime.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.