Fixed length or zoom?

I'm contemplating the purchase of a fixed 50mm lens but also thought of a zoom lens ranging from below 50 to slightly above 50.

Which is a better option?

Thank you

Do you need a fast lens? The zoom won't be as fast as any 50mm prime.

What lenses do you currently have?

Zoom is more versatile, prime is almost certainly faster and probably lighter and better IQ (despite what some would have you believe).

Don't get me wrong, you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference in real life. Modern zooms are good. But you can't beat just wandering around with a decent prime lens. It suits me anyway

cheers
Bill

Crap! I'm an idiot. I forgot I had the 18-135mm zoom along with the 50-250mm. Since I'm covered for the under 50mm, would there be an advantage of using a fixed 50mm?

Meanie wrote in post #13010286
Crap! I'm an idiot. I forgot I had the 18-135mm zoom along with the 50-250mm. Since I'm covered for the under 50mm, would there be an advantage of using a fixed 50mm?

Yes, much faster aperture.

One thing I've noticed is when using a prime lens I get more "Wow, nice pictures. What kind of camera do you have?"

I guess just about everyone will agree that a prime will produce better IQ that a zoom, at
a given focal length.

One question for consideration is , does what you are shooting, allow you to move your
feet, adjust you distance, and adjust the end result?

Another questions for consideration is, are you shooting stuff at large distant intervals
(some thing 20 feet way, followed buy something 500 feet away, and so on).

For me, based on what I generally shoot, I need zooms.

most primes will be able to give you shallower DOF which gives you those nice blurry backgrounds that isolates your subject form the background and this makes your photos more visually pleasing

Brian_R wrote in post #13010548
most primes will be able to give you shallower DOF which gives you those nice blurry backgrounds that isolates your subject form the background and this makes your photos more visually pleasing

YEP...

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For me, it depends on the situation. The less control I have over things, the more likely I am to reach for the flexibility of the zoom. I do love portraits with a fast prime though.