Prime vs Zoom

This has probably been discussed in a million places.

Recently I purchased a nifty-fifty and have absolutely fallen in love with it. Many of you helped and guided me through that decision.

So now I am teetering on selling my Tamron 18-250 and purchasing either an 85mm or 135mm lens. Am I thinking silly?

Thanks for your input. This forum is an invaluable resource.

I have never seen someone talk poorly about an 85mm. I love mine its so great for indoor portriats on a crop. 135mm would be to long indoors IMHO.

Seriously the colours and everything else on the 85mm is amazing. Many canon pros rate it as a "must own" lens...so I got one and will have it until my last photo is taken or change to 85L. BTW, I had the 50mm 1.8 and 1.4 and my go to prime ended up being the 30mm Sigma 1.4. Its so sweet on a crop, of course it depends on your style, but for me the 30 and 85 are the only primes i need right now.P


...well and my Tammy 90mm macro. :P

I don't think it's silly. It's personal preference, and getting what you need for what you want to do. Primes and zooms both have their advantages and disadvantages. There are several people on these forums who are all prime.

Either of those lenses should give you better image quality than your Tamron though, but of course, at the expense of the variable focal length.

Set your Tamron to 85mm for a while, then at 135mm for a while to get an idea of what being "stuck" at each focal length might be like.

Also recognize the limitations of 50mm being your widest lens.

Jason

I just saw the post above mine (posted while I was typing). I agree about the Sigma 30mm. I have one and it's been staying on my camera most of the time.

Jason

If your content & satisfied with the 50mm indoors using a crop body then i suggest the 135/f2 for outdoors. But bear in mind it does not have IS and the crop factor will put you at a 216mm FOV. The 85/f1.8 is very nice from f2.8 & above but the 135/f2 is great wide open. Of course it costs around $500 more then the 85/f1.8

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …omp=0&FLIComp=0​&APIComp=0

http://www.slrgear.com …ct.php/product/​154/cat/10

http://www.slrgear.com …ct.php/product/​158/cat/10

Regards, Ron

Jason Paul wrote in post #14297795
I don't think it's silly. It's personal preference, and getting what you need for what you want to do. Primes and zooms both have their advantages and disadvantages. There are several people on these forums who are all prime.

Either of those lenses should give you better image quality than your Tamron though, but of course, at the expense of the variable focal length.

Set your Tamron to 85mm for a while, then at 135mm for a while to get an idea of what being "stuck" at each focal length might be like.

Also recognize the limitations of 50mm being your widest lens.

Jason

That seemed to be my problem with the 50mm on a crop, not wide enough for me, not long enough. I think I like the versatility of a zoom to much, I could never go all primes. They certainly have a place and time.

Primes will give you sharpest images you could get and largest apertures you couldn't get with zooms.
Consumer super zoom will give you convenience of single lense P&S and will bring IQ to the same level.

JersFocus wrote in post #14297789
I have never seen someone talk poorly about an 85mm. I love mine its so great for indoor portriats on a crop. 135mm would be to long indoors IMHO.

Seriously the colours and everything else on the 85mm is amazing. Many canon pros rate it as a "must own" lens...so I got one and will have it until my last photo is taken or change to 85L. BTW, I had the 50mm 1.8 and 1.4 and my go to prime ended up being the 30mm Sigma 1.4. Its so sweet on a crop, of course it depends on your style, but for me the 30 and 85 are the only primes i need right now.P


...well and my Tammy 90mm macro. :P

EXACTLY what my main go two lenses are. Both are nice and light. The 85 1.8 is a great value.

Personal Preference to be honest.

If you like bokeh & super shallow depths of field, primes will give you WONDERFUL results. It's tough to get versatility for pleasure. I'd love to see a zoom @ 1.4 but it'd probably be about +/- 5lb's for say a 24-70.

Zooms on the other hand ARE wonderful tools. You're not locked to moving around like a banshee when stuck in certain places where you are quite restricted.

The primes will give you amazing IQ & Bokeh / DOF
The zooms will give you amazing versatility but gain a lot of weight.

Zooms

• 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II - 3 1/4lb - $2,499.00
  
• 24-70mm f/2.8 - 2.1lb - $1,499.00
  

• 35mm f/1.4L - 1.28lb - $1,399.00
  
• 85mm f/1.2L - 2.26lb - $2,199.00
  
• 135mm f/2 - 1.65lb - $1,039.00
  

Thanks for all the input.

CSMfoto - one body, corp frame, not for income. The majority of my shooting is either inside, art galleries, museums etc. Outside shooting is just that, vacation highlights, zoos, landscapes etc.

85 is ok, but 135 can be too long and limited....sigma 30 is a great choice.

I still think you should keep a zoom to fall back on....like the kit 55-250.

For the past few years I've been almost exclusively shooting my primes. Recently, I've been mostly shooting with my Fuji X100 and been staying away from my 5DMkII since I got the X100. The X100 is a fantastic piece of equipment, BTW. But, I think it's time to dust off the 5DMkII and start enjoying FF again. But, this time I think I'm going to shoot my 24-105L and 70-200f/4.0L which are my original two lenses and intentionally stay away from the primes and see if I can rekindle the zoom romance again.

I'm doing this in preparation for the arrival of my new 24-70L-II whenever that happens get here. It's really amazing how the primes mesmerized me. I just think the zooms are now under-appreciated and need some attention. I might not like them, that's the great mystery here.

Have you analyzed the shots you've taken for which focal lengths you use the most? My first concern when going from zoom to prime is focal length availability.

Personally I got to have a good standard zoom. I could see two to three zooms - standard and telephoto with maybe an ultra wide - and two or three primes --- 60 or 100mm macro, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm. When shooting people and travel, I got to have the zoom option --- or have two DSLR bodies with two lens around my neck. So with a single body, I go standard zoom and one or more primes.

I 100% agree with marc.

One Body(Depending on your willingness to part w/ money)
Ultra Wide(10-20, FF 16-35 or 17-40)
Standard(Crop 17-50, FF 24-70)
Telephoto(70-200)