In Praise of Primes

Photo by jessi.bryan

I was going to title this post "Primes vs. Zooms" but then I thought about how many blog posts have probably been titled that, and my last post was called "Crop Sensor vs. Full Frame," so I decided to make this post strictly in praise of prime lenses, since I think it's a pretty safe assumption that most people at least start out being more familiar with zoom lenses.

What is a prime lens?
If you don't already know, a prime lens is a lens that has a fixed focal length - it does not zoom at all, so it's certainly not the most convenient lens you'll ever own. Prime lenses used to be the standard in photography because they offer excellent image quality at much more reasonable price than zoom lenses. Which leads me to my next point...

Prime lenses give you more bang for your buck!
Prime lenses are by nature cheaper to make than zoom lenses because they require less glass. Sure, you can drop a couple thousand dollars on a top-of-the-line prime lens (like the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L USM pictured above), but you're paying for a super-wide aperture, perhaps a better build quality, and faster autofocusing generally more than you're paying for extra image quality. What's more, even the cheapest primes generally offer a fast aperture. A faster aperture (or LOWER f/ - like f/1.8 or f/1.4) lets you shoot at faster shutter speeds in low light without having to use flash. It also gives you a beautifully blurred background. Currently no zoom lens I know of, even the professional lineup, is faster than f/2.8 (although Canon is rumored to be building an f/2 - but you can bet your wallet it won't be cheap!). That's still pretty fast, but for a prime lens that's even considered relatively slow. When I was deciding what lenses to get for my Canon T1i, instead of going with a wide-to-midrange zoom and a telephoto zoom at f/2.8 that would have run me thousands of dollars and still would not have been fast enough for some of my photography needs, I went with a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 HSM, which is a great alternative to a 50mm lens on a crop body, and a Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM, which is hundreds of dollars cheaper than a 70-200 f/2.8, while also much smaller, and a whole stop faster. Now there are some consumer grade 17-50 f/2.8 lenses that are priced comparably to the Sigma lens I have, but they are over two stops slower (and if you want image stabilization that compensates for that, it is not priced comparably to my lens). Another great thing about the Sigma 30mm is that, even though it's rather large for a prime lens, it's still a pretty compact package when mounted on my T1i, and if I want to throw it in my purse to bring out to dinner or somewhere where I don't want to lug my whole backpack full of gear with me, it's not a problem.

Prime lenses force you to expand your creative horizons
Before I started using prime lenses I always thought when people said this about lenses that it was kind of a lame point to make, but I can't tell you how many shots I look at and think "That's a cool composition, I never would have thought of that if I wasn't using a prime!" With a prime, you have to "zoom with your feet." You'd be surprised how much fun it is to zoom with your feet instead of zooming with your zoom barrel! Now I have a zoom lens and I love it - it's the Tamron 18-270 f/3.5-6.3 VC. I love this lens and don't hesitate to use it outdoors during the day, and sometimes even at night. Sometimes you need a zoom and it's so convenient when you do! This lens takes me from wide to super telephoto, but as you can see, it's not a fast lens at all. It does have VC, which is Tamron's form of image stabilization, and it really works, but I still tend to go for the faster lenses when I'm shooting in low light or shooting portraits. My zoom lens cost more than either of my prime lenses, and although it yields great image quality for a superzoom, it still doesn't match that of either of my prime lenses.

In Conclusion...
This post isn't meant to bash zoom lenses. Every kit should have at least one zoom lens (probably more if it doesn't cover much range), and I love the convenience that comes with my zoom lens. I'm just saying that I think prime lenses are an excellent value and not something to be overlooked as "inconvenient."