Lenses: Prime vs. Zoom

Lenses: Prime vs. Zoom

by William Lulow

I guess I can add my name to the list of photographers who prefer prime lenses to zoom lenses. Even though the zooms are convenient, I have found them generally less sharp over the years. The other thing is that primes tend to make you think more about composition and which lenses you will carry with you for a specific job. In this world of instant digital satisfaction, we need to think more about the kinds of images we make rather than just snap away.

In the days of traditional film photography, some wise old sage told me to slow my shooting down. Use my view camera more often. I remember having to set up the tripod, mount the camera, load film holders, etc. Today, I try to copy that technique while shooting digital. I always use the camera’s viewfinder for composition and only really check the LCD to make sure the exposure and lighting is right. I used to use light meters all the time. Today, I tend to use the camera to check exposure just because it is easier. I always carry a couple of light meters with me anyway, and I’d like to get back to using them more often. But using the camera’s meter, especially how I set it up as a spot meter, is really faster and easier. But, it does take some thinking. You really need to decide BEFORE you shoot, what kind of image you’re trying to make and what, in the frame, you want to have most important. This dictates the type of lens you use and what your exposure will be.

Therefore, it is important to realize that each prime lens is used for a specific purpose. The telephoto lenses are used to compress distance and to bring objects closer. They also tend to make backgrounds more out of focus. The medium telephoto lenses are also ideal for studio portraits. These would be in the range of 85mm to 135mm.

The normal lenses are used to capture a scene more as the eye would see it. They are also good to use for most shots because they are usually fast. That is, they have a fairly wide aperture. These lenses are around 50mm to 60mm.

Wide angle lenses are used to include more of a scene or for some visual effect like distortion. (Especially with the super-wides or fisheye lenses). They are also great because they have much for depth-of-field. Lenses in the 35mm range are also good for everyday street shooting. Some wide-angle lenses are in the 20mm range. 

I often carry a camera with a wide angle lens on it just to capture everyday scenes. One of the reasons for this is that cropping and editing images has been made much easier with Adobe Photoshop or other image editing software packages. In addition, using a moderate wide angle lens like the 35mm, still gives you a fairly accurate picture of the world around you. 

So, the take away here is that you should probably have all three varieties of lenses in your bag and learn when and how to use them.