Prime lens wow factor

I have just had my first dabble with prime lenses, I am amazed over the quality in comparison to kit lenses.

just cropping needed, is that to be expected or have I just been lucky this evening?

Many zoom lenses will also bring considerable quality increases over a kit zoom, though I (and many other Pentax users) prefer the primes as there are some really beautiful ones available.

What primes are you using?

Jonathan-Mac I have just invested in an DFA 2.8 100mm macro, and
DA 2.8 35mm macro ltd. Both are great but the 35mm is a beaut!

I'm a prime lens fan too

I can understand the enthusiasm form them on this forum.

And you haven't even tried the Limiteds yet!

It's worth mentioning, though, that the DA* zooms are very close in quality to the best primes.

But, as ever, quality comes at a price.

G

I'm useing my k30 with sigma 50mm 1.4 ex dg the pictures are far better quality than the kit lens, I also have pantax 18-135 wr which has now become redundant and pentax 28-80 F series which I find the quality of this lens better than the pentax 35-70.

Ah, that explains it then...

I have the same lens and it's my favourite. Wonderful image quality and fantastic to use.

I must admit I prefer prime lenses too. I know it sounds strange but I just find that I get distracted by zoom lenses easily. With primes I can concentrate and shoot in just the one focal length at a time. I'm sure zoom lenses would be more suitable in a kids party or a football match but in most scenarios, I tend to stick with primes.

I have often gone out with just these 2 focal lengths (FA35 f2 and the Samsung D-Xenon (D-FA) 100mm 2.8 in my case) and not felt limited at all...

Of the (too many) lenses I have these two are keepers...

Pentax it seems make a quality 35mm lens... The M, A, FA, DA & Ltd are all highly thought of...

The DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited is an amazing standard prime - very compact, excellent build and, imho, its edge to edge image quality is even better than the DA 35mm Limited. With the DA 21mm and 70mm Limiteds it makes a great 3-prime combo, and whichever two are not being used are so small they even fit in a pocket!

Philip

I've owned a few primes (FA 50mm F2, DA40mm F2.8, DA15mm, DA 35mm) and to be honest haven't really been wowed by any of them in comparison to the DA17-70 or DA12-24... the DA15mm I had was probably the nearest to impressing me, great colour/contrast but my copy had too much distortion at the edges.

I think, as already has been said, moving from kit lens to any of the better quality zooms/primes will produce a noticeable improvement, I'm really not convinced, as yet, that moving from quality zoom to prime will... I'm seriously toying with the idea of the FA31mm that's on sale now though thinking it might change my mind, unfortunately for landscapes it isn't an ideal range for me on the K5 crop sensor

Simon

I think we get too hung up on 'technical' IQ... fact is, primes are often faster than zooms (e.g. the FA50/1.4) or cheaper than the equivalent high quality zoom would be, and almost always a lot smaller. None of this matters much if you shoot mainly landscapes... and the lack of framing flexibility of a prime is a major PITA for landscape work. For closer subjects, where you can 'zoom with your feet', primes are very nice though.

Once again my plans for a prime/Ltd collection has been thwarted by the National Lottery