Prime or zoom (1 Viewer)

[JSER]

Many years ago when I used my Nikon F Photomic Ftn, lovely camera, prime lenses were the only way to achieve quality, zooms were young and poor, even up to a few years ago, however...

Does anyone really buy a prime lens now, oh yes I know they do, but surely the majority buy zoom.

Prime lenses DO give better quality on the whole I know, I accept that but to the "average" user, zooms are better, surely.

I remember when I used to carry a 28mm, 50mm, 135mm, 200mm, 300mm and 500mm, 20 rolls of film, camera, Weston euromaster, and filters.

Now I carry a body, 28-135 and 120-500 and two 32Gb memory cards. My son a body and 28-300.

For the average person place an A3 from a prime 400 next to a zoom 400 of a decent price and they won't know the difference, surely.

Polite, "calm" non sarcastic replies please.

 

[fugl]

A good prime can be used wide-open with little or no loss of IQ. This is seldom if ever the case with zooms.

 

[njlarsen]

I think you are mostly right, but with a couple of caveats: low light photo enthusiasts or portrait lens enthusiasts seems often to own one or two f<2.5 short primes (for example the micro-4/3 25mm F0.95 Voigtlander).

And many bird photographers end up with a prime because the same weight gives just a little bit more reach or light.

In between of those two groups, lots of people own nothing but zooms.

Niels

 

[JSER]

I think you are mostly right, but with a couple of caveats: low light photo enthusiasts or portrait lens enthusiasts seems often to own one or two f<2.5 short primes (for example the micro-4/3 25mm F0.95 Voigtlander).

And many bird photographers end up with a prime because the same weight gives just a little bit more reach or light.

In between of those two groups, lots of people own nothing but zooms.

Niels

I can understand this, what I am seeing though is zooms becoming so good, with exotic glass that the gap between the two is closing fast, it may bever be closed but the difference will be very small, weighing up the benefits of a zoom can often outweigh the disadvantages to me anyway.

Thanks for the replies.