Prime v Zoom
Jul 8, 2014 08:05:33 #
Gene51 wrote:
When your composition requires a 150 mm focal length it's nice to have a zoom, especially if you don't have the option to move. It just offers more flexibility and if you have a good lens, there will be no penalty in image quality.
Absolutely. I have a 70-200mm just for that reason. Nature trails and shooting shore birds, etc. limit movement.
Jul 8, 2014 08:12:22 #
Apaflo wrote:
The concept of "zoom with your feet" is... (show quote)
But what about distortion? Longer focal lengths create compression, shorter focal lengths create the barrel effect. So doesn't changing focal length for framing change perspective?
Jul 8, 2014 08:15:55 #
Apaflo wrote:
You can't zoom with your feet.
You can't zoom with your feet.
Technically no, and I know that...but I'd still take my primes over a zoom lens any day, and use my feet to "recompose" rather than just zoom...or just put on a longer prime lens.
Frankly, it all depends on the system and how you like to shoot. For m4/3, primes reign supreme. My standard 3 lens kit is the 7.5 f3.5 25 f1.4 and 75 f1.8 (15mm 50mm 150mm for you FF folks)...with the heaviest and largest being the 75. That could easily be swapped out for the 45 f1.8, which is not only smaller and lighter, but also pretty darn sharp. There is no zoom in the system that even comes close to matching this combo/focal lengths.
Ideally, I'd own all the lenses in my system...The 7-14 f4, 12-35 f2.8, 12-40 f2.8, and 35-100 f2.8 are great lenses (as will be the new 7-14 f2.8 and 40-150 f2.8)...but I still think I'd lean toward using primes for over 75% of the time...it's just who I am, and how I like to shoot.
Jul 8, 2014 08:32:44 #
The real question is what are you going to shoot? I mostly shoot birds and wildlife, so prime lenses are king; 600mm f4 and 300mm f2.8 with or without 1.4 and 2X extenders. No zoom can match these for quality or how fast they focus.
In israel I was shooting street scenes and people and a 70-200 f2.8 was the tool of choice. For Landscape i use 24 - 105 f4 or a 16 - 35 f2.8. Really crisp photos require the best glass, so I would recommend for Canon only "L" lenses. Rarely, if ever, do lens makers match the quality of the Nikon or Canon pro level lenses. I would love to have a 16 - 500 zoom that was sharp all the way. It ain't going to happen, sorry
In israel I was shooting street scenes and people and a 70-200 f2.8 was the tool of choice. For Landscape i use 24 - 105 f4 or a 16 - 35 f2.8. Really crisp photos require the best glass, so I would recommend for Canon only "L" lenses. Rarely, if ever, do lens makers match the quality of the Nikon or Canon pro level lenses. I would love to have a 16 - 500 zoom that was sharp all the way. It ain't going to happen, sorry
600 mm f4.0 - loon and chick; Ont Canada
24 - 105 f4.0 zoom Blue Mosque, Istambul
70 - 200 f2.8 zoom Turk in doorway
Jul 8, 2014 08:35:02 #
wotsmith wrote:
I would love to have a 16 - 500 zoom that was sharp all the way. It ain't going to happen, sorry
Amen.
Jul 8, 2014 08:44:45 #
Those were the 3 most used lenses by most
advanced amateurs back in the day.
ronny
advanced amateurs back in the day.
ronny
boberic wrote:
When I stepped up to a Canon F1 I used the standard set up of 3 Primes the 28mm the 50 and the 135. They more than met my needs. They were all fast and as sharp as any lenses available. Now I find that with my 7D and a 18-200 the overwhelming majority of my shots fall within the 28 to 135 which in full frame terms are about 30 to 200. I am seriously thinking of getting an adaptor to put my old glass back to work.
Jul 8, 2014 08:46:14 #
jerryc41 wrote:
I prefer zooms because they provide much more choice in what you get inside the frame. Primes might have the edge in quality, but that's probably splitting hairs. I posted this link yesterday.
http://petapixel.com/2014/07/05/back-basics-5-reasons-beginners-invest-prime-lens/
http://petapixel.com/2014/07/05/back-basics-5-reasons-beginners-invest-prime-lens/
:thumbup:
Jul 8, 2014 08:51:45 #
To see any difference between good quality zoom and prime lens you would have to print quite a large photos.
Jul 8, 2014 08:57:53 #
Gene51 wrote:
Actually, changing zoom has a profound effect on perspective - with WA lenses you get pronounced enlargement of near objects and a similar opposite with objects further away, and you get an expansion perspective - distant objects appear further away. With a longer focal length you get compression.
That is not caused by the focal length of lens, it is cause by the location of the camera relative to the subject. All the focal length does is allow framing the image.
And you can see that with the naked eye, with no camera or lens involved.
Keep in mind that at any given distance the framing provided by a long focal length can be duplicated by cropping an image produced by a short focal length... and the perspective will be precisely identical.
Gene51 wrote:
If you use a fixed focal length, you always have a consistent front to back relationship - that part never changes.
I'm not sure what you mean by "consistent front to back relationship"? Whatever it is you mean, how would it be any different at a given focal length with a fixed lens as opposed to a zoom lens?
Jul 8, 2014 09:02:40 #
Mac wrote:
But what about distortion? Longer focal lengths create compression, shorter focal lengths create the barrel effect. So doesn't changing focal length for framing change perspective?
Compression perspective is not an effect of long focal lengths, though it is vastly easier to create a decent image that shows it when using a long focal length lens.
But if you make a shot with a long lens, and then shoot the same object with a short lens you can crop the second photo to the same field of view as the first one... and the perspectives will be identical. (Due to fewer pixels on the subject, the second image might well be of rather poor quality.)
Jul 8, 2014 09:12:23 #
ollie
Loc: Ogdensburg, NY
to me, an important factor in choosing zooms over prime lenses is the dust factor. I use zooms so I don't have to change lenses and expose the sensor to the environment. It was a lot easier to clean the old film cameras because the dust was on the mirror. Now it seems to find the sensor and it is on picture after picture until you spot it and do something about it. I carry multiple bodies with different zooms to avoid this problem
Jul 8, 2014 09:16:06 #
Cdouthitt wrote:
For me it's the size. all my primes are much smaller and lighter than my zoom.
IMHO, I think you can focus more on composition when shooting with a prime...but that's just me...besides, you get more exercise zooming with your feet...I call it your foot zoom.
IMHO, I think you can focus more on composition when shooting with a prime...but that's just me...besides, you get more exercise zooming with your feet...I call it your foot zoom.
Great exercise but watch it when you are near the Grand Canyon.
Jul 8, 2014 09:35:31 #
pbradin
Loc: Florida
This has so much to do with what you shoot and why you shoot. I used to shoot rodeos. a 70-200f2.8 was the mandatory lens. The action moves around so quickly both from left to right and in distance from you. Soccer is the same way. If you shot nature, such scenic photography, a prime is the way to go for the highest quality because you have the time and ability to move around to get the composition just right. Modern, pro series zooms are very, very good.
Jul 8, 2014 09:37:37 #
I really don't think you did amehta.
ronny
ronny
amehta wrote:
Did I say anything that contradicts my liking the 85mm? :-)
Jul 8, 2014 09:56:49 #
it's wonderful that we have the plethora of lenses that make this discussion possible. in 1955 when I first got interested on photography I can't remember any zoom lenses, and the first ones I read about were not that good. in 1968 I got my first interchangeable lens setup. it was a sears tower 35mm camera with a 50mm and 100mm lens. sears had an odd thread so that no other lenses could fit. I did ok with what I had. now we have so mush choice that we can afford to be picky and pomphus.
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