Zooms or Primes

Lou would probably say you just need to use it more. She shoots almost exclusively with her 90mm Tamron and much prefers prime lenses.

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Regards,
Dan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/honourabletyr/

I think the only D-FA lenses are the 50mm and 100mm macro lenses George. Do you mean the DA* 200mm and DA* 300mm primes?

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Peter E Smith

My flickr Photostream

Primes have the advantage of weight, size, ergonomics, fast aperture and rendering. I carry my camera with me everywhere. There is no zoom that would fit into my bag that can beat any of these:

Vivitar 24/2 [Komine]
FA 43 Limited
FA 77 Limited
Vivitar Series 1 105/2.5 Macro [Kiron]
Vivitar 135/2.8 Close Focusing [Komine]

To which can be added lenses I do not currently own:
A 50/1.2
FA 31 Limited

The only zoom I use is the DA 12-24mm and while it cannot match any of the above for quality it wins by covering a range none can manage.

As for "limiting" I am quite happy to leave the house with only the FA77. Then I know it is my ability, the light and subject availability that are the constraints, not my equipment.

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Listen to my albums free on BandCamp. Or visit my main website for links to photography, etc.

I do!

Thanks for the correction.

G

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Keywords: Charming, polite, and generally agreeable.

I shoot mostly with one prime. Just makes me look different at the world.

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Pentax K10D + Vivitar 55/2.8 macro + Super Takumar 55/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 85/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 135/3.5 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 200/4 + Super Takumar 300/4
Pentax K100D + DA18-55ALII + DA55-300
Pentax K5 + FA31Ltd + M50/1.7 + DFA100WR + M120/2.8 (+ DA18-55WR at occasion)

It all depends on what I am doing.
But I use three primes a lot, my DA35 F2.4, FA50 F1.4 and Sigma 105 Macro.
Then again I have four zooms I also use a lot, my 50-135, Sigma 24-70, DA16-45 and Sigma 10-20.

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Some Cameras

Mainly primes, and they are all quite close in focal length, 35, 40 and 55.

I believe you can learn to 'see' in focal lengths which is easy with primes.

I'd add the FA135 and FA*85 in the greatness category too,

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K20D, Z-1p, Z-1
F50 1.7,FAs 24,31,35,50 1.4,77,85,135. DA*16-50. DA*60-250. DA*300 D-FA 100
SA 12-24.
Metz 45 CL-4, AF500FTZ. AF540FGZ.
Some Mamiya and some Nikon

Zooms, though I have old 28mm, 50mm, and 90mm primes.

Would be good to have a pancake lens between 28-35mm available for walkabout, as opposed to the 21 or 40mm. Couldn't afford one anyway mind

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Alan


PPG
Flickr

I can do this with my 16-50 and 50-135 but only at the extremes which I use a lot more than the rest of the zoom range. Kind of like having a dual prime.

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Regards,
Dan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/honourabletyr/

Used to be only zooms, but I am increasingly using primes. My favoured walkaround kit is currently a Sigma 50-150 with wider primes (35 f2; 21 f3.2; 15 f4). The size of the primes, their unique character, and the speed of faster ones does make them both practical and attractive. If I just want to go out with one lens I'll use either a single prime or my DA17-70, which is a very good all rounder.

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Mhuni

500px

Really split 50/50.

Sigma 10-20
Tamron 17-50
Sigma 50-150 (on the way)
Tamron 70-200 (is the next purchase)

add in the Tamron x1.4 and AFA x1.7 and that covers virtually every FL I could need. However I also use *a lot* :

43 Ltd
Tamron 90 Di macro
DA*300

and have a number of M42s covering 28 through 300, but they don't see the light of day much, even though I love them dearly.

The 31 Ltd is high, very high, on the wish list.

So neither primes nor zooms score an outright win for me.

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http://frogfish.smugmug.com/ Pentax. Pentax DA*300/4, Cosina 55/1.2, Lens Baby Composer Pro & Edge 80, AFA x1.7, Metz 50 af1.
Nikon. D800. D600. Sigma 500/4.5, Nikon 300/2.8 VRII, Sigma 120-300/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 21/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 35/2.0, Sigma 50/1.4, Nikkor 85/1.8, Nikon TC20EIII, Nikon TC14EII, Kenko x1.4, Sigma 2.0

An interesting anecdote from my own shooting practises. For some reason 95% of shots when I've got a zoom on are either fully in or fully out. Which essentially means I'm using the zoom as a dual focal length prime

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[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283

Only zooms.
I have an old 50mm A but I never use it.
And I have my Tamron 90mm macro, which very rarely gets used.

Having said that I am considering a wide prime - a 14mm or 15mm when I can afford one. A pity Sigma don't do a non fisheye in that range.

that is the case for most people as well.
sadly that means a lot of people aren't considering PERSPECTIVE when shooting...
do I move in closer with a wider lens to get more background in? or do I pull back and use a longer lens to crop out the background elements? and by how much?

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Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.