I've had a number of zoom lenses since my interest in photography began. I started out with an 18-55mm and a 55-200mm. I then sold my 55-200 to get a Tamron 70-300, which I then sold for a Tamron 70-200mm 2.8. At some point I also picked up a Nikon 18-70mm, which I also sold while in Moab.
The first lens I ever bought for myself, though, was a Nikon 35mm 1.8G prime lens for a measly $200. It only took me a few minutes to fall in love with this cheap lens. For those of you who don't know, a prime lens is a lens that doesn't move. These lenses are generally fast, sharp, and relatively cheap. The reason these lenses are so sharp is because they don't have as many moving parts as a zoom lens, which also is the reason they're cheaper. Zoom lenses require a lot of precision in order for the lens to be able to stay sharp while also being able to zoom; all of the lenses need to line up perfectly. This is why constant aperture lenses are also more expensive than a lens that is, for instance, f/4-5.6; these lenses don't need to be as precise as an f/4 or f/2.8 lens.
Anyway, I ended up selling my Tamron 70-200mm a week or two ago for a number of reasons. This lens performed fine optically, especially for the price of around $700 new, but the auto focus was a joke and couldn't keep up with things such as sports. With the money I got for the Tamron, I picked up a Nikon 180mm 2.8 and I just ordered a Nikon 105mm 2.5 AI with money to spare. I've used the Nikon 180mm 2.8 on two shoots so far, and I couldn't be happier. The biggest criticism of prime lenses is they don't zoom. People don't realize that they do zoom though, unless your legs don't work. The biggest defense against the "prime lenses don't zoom" criticism is that zoom lenses make you lazy. I never really understood this argument, but after being "limited" to prime lenses now, I am beginning to understand what people mean.
I will admit that, at times, prime lenses can be somewhat limiting. Since my 105mm hasn't arrived yet, I have a giant gap in my range from 50mm to 180mm. On one shoot, 50mm was too wide, and I thought 180mm was too close. I ended up using both. The results I got from my 50mm were certainly useable, but the shots I got from the 180mm were amazing. I thought that there was no way I would get anything decent with a lens that was so tight on the subject, but I love the results. The 180mm has forced me to think more about my composition, and wait for things to fall into place, instead of zooming out, taking the photo, and then cropping in post production. The 180mm has also changed the way I take photos, and given me different results than I would have with a zoom lens. Results that I'm actually a lot happier with. If you have a dSLR and are still tied down with your zoom lenses, I would highly suggest going out and buying a prime lens. I've seen some prime lenses selling for $40 used, so that's always an option if you don't have a lot of money to spend. I can almost promise, though, that once you have a prime lens, that lens will quickly become your favorite.
No comments:
Post a Comment