Primes or Zooms? What do the pros use?

I'm going to get a refurbished 5DII from Canon and upgrade from my 60D so I am debating on which way to go with some of the new lenses I will purchase. I have a EF 50 1.4 and the 100-400L, so my initial thought was to get the 17-40L and the 24-105L and that way I'd be covered from 17-400mm, but since I got my 50 1.4, I've just been in love with how sharp the photos are from a prime lens and it's not even an "L". Now I'm wondering what it would be like to go for the 14mm, 24mm, 35mm, and 100mm macro as another option? Seems cheaper to go with the zoom lenses and they're more flexible, but what do most pros use or prefer? Any recommendations from past experiences? I do a mixture of landscape/portrait/wil​dlife/sports. I will most likely keep my 60D to use for wildlife/sports since that 100-400L is so nice on a cropper.

I'm not exactly a pro but I use and have seen plenty of other pros with the 24-70. On a FF camera, you get the versatility of having a wide angle along with a medium telephoto. The 14mm, 24mm, and 100mm are kind of specialty lenses. I would just go with the 35L.

Canon_Shoe wrote in post #13959385
I'm going to get a refurbished 5DII from Canon and upgrade from my 60D so I am debating on which way to go with some of the new lenses I will purchase. I have a EF 50 1.4 and the 100-400L, so my initial thought was to get the 17-40L and the 24-105L and that way I'd be covered from 17-400mm, but since I got my 50 1.4, I've just been in love with how sharp the photos are from a prime lens and it's not even an "L". Now I'm wondering what it would be like to go for the 14mm, 24mm, 35mm, and 100mm macro as another option? Seems cheaper to go with the zoom lenses and they're more flexible, but what do most pros use or prefer? Any recommendations from past experiences? I do a mixture of landscape/portrait/wil​dlife/sports. I will most likely keep my 60D to use for wildlife/sports since that 100-400L is so nice on a cropper.

I use both professionally. For weddings I prefer zooms since sometimes you need some flexibility. I'll still use primes for formal shots and getting ready stuff, but ceremony and reception the zooms rule. For portraits/engagements, etc. I often use primes. But since getting the 70-200 2.8 II I am using that a ton since it's so sharp.

It's a very personal choice, there simply is no right or wrong answer.

Personally I opt for primes 99% of the time. It just works better for me.

Although primes will yield better IQ and better for subject isolation, but you will be surprise how many pros use zoom for shooting wedding and portraits! My 24-70 is my workhorse for wedding, I don't wanna miss any shots just due to changing lens on the camera! For engagement session is different, since you can ask the couple to pose for you again! Ofcoz landscape too, coz mountains won't walk around in minutes! Lol

Lenses are simply tools, and a pro (and amateur for that matter) will simply choose the best tool for the job at hand.

Pro normally means they do paid gigs, therefore a wedding pro for example normally needs zoom like others have said to cover the range quickly as they can't afford to change lens and miss THE shot.

Personally i'm not a pro and I use 100% prime. Missing a shot or two of my family and friends isn't a great deal and I much prefer the sharpness and superior colour/contrast of the primes.

i'm a triple-pro (3 bodies). i use whatever is on the body, taking time to swap glass can mean a missed shot.

Whatever it takes to get the shot

Thanks for the input everyone......If you had to pick one prime lens for shooting landscapes on a Full Frame, which would it be?

Both. Depends what you're shooting, where you're shooting and what sort of a pro you are.

I use tilt-shifts for a lot of my landscape and cityscape work, combined with teleconverters to achieve the desired focal length. With landscapes, I have a long time to carefully set up equipment and compose the scene, so I have tha luxury. I also use a number of zooms to shoot subjects I otherwise couldn't frame effectively without carrying 30 primes around - for a landscape shot, the difference in framing between a 70mm focal length and an 85mm focal length may be 500m off a cliff and 200m up, so zooms give me the flexibility I need for that.

Most of my event/wedding photographer friends, on the other hand, shoot zooms almost exclusively - the Nikkor 24-70 and 70-200 are their bread and butter. They will use primes for pre-wedding shoots, and may give a 35mm prime to a second shooter at the wedding itself, but most shots come from the zoom lenses.

A photojournalist friend uses a pair of D700s, with a 14-24 on one body and a 70-200 on another. Her colleague, who shoots Canon, has a pair of 1Ds3 bodies and goes around with a 16-35L on one body and 70-200 on another.

Another friend who is a part-time pro portrait photographer shoots primes almost exclusively - 85L and 200L,

It all depends on what kind of pro you are, what you shoot and whether you need to carry the gear over long distances or not.

Canon_Shoe wrote in post #13960489
Thanks for the input everyone......If you had to pick one prime lens for shooting landscapes on a Full Frame, which would it be?

Canon TS-E 24 f/3.5L II, or Nikon 14-24 f/2.8.

Canon_Shoe wrote in post #13960489
Thanks for the input everyone......If you had to pick one prime lens for shooting landscapes on a Full Frame, which would it be?

Canon 24mm TS-E II

I shoot weddings and a 2 bodies shooter. I am a use different lenses depends on the situation, size of the room, available light.

Most of the time however I have 35/1.4 and 85/1.2 on each 5Dii. If I need a wider shot then I use my 16-35 or 24-70. If I want longer I use my 135L. If I am desperate I get the 70-200/2.8 out.

Checking the stats however, 80% are shot on the 35/85 combo.

I shoot news and sport (with the occasional wedding)

My most frequently used lenses are the 16-35 and 70-200
I also regularly use the 50mm f2.5 macro, 300 f2.8 and 400 f2.8

So I use more primes than zooms, but I use the zooms a lot more often (for 85-90% of my work)