i don't think I am a prime guy

i really like the sharpness and the speed of primes but I find them REALLY limiting. I shot a birthday party (not paid) with just the 85 1.8 indoors on Saturday. The pictures that I did take came out great but there were so many more that I just couldn't get because the lens was too long. I know that typically the 85 is too long for indoor shots but when I used my old 50 1.8 i found that a lot of times it was too wide. Anyway- again I really like the speed and sharpness of the 85 but I just don't know how much use it will really get aside from portraits

this is my gameplan for my future purchases

for events and walkarounds use zooms

for portrait work use primes

A 85mm lens (on a crop) is just long-- if you'd been using a 70-200 zoom it would probably have been to long as well.

Just something to think about.

When I am indoors, I find the 50mm too long. That's why I have been considering the 28 or 30 prime. I would probably not like the 85 indoors either.

Stefan

An 85 is just long on FF for a party indoors as well unless you only want tight shots of one person (which if you found a 50 too wide I would suspect is what you want). Since you know 85 is too long and 50 too wide then you really know what focal length you want (which is a great thing to have figured out) and it seems a zoom is the only Canon lens that covers that area. It looks like you have lots of choice to cover that range as well.

I love primes as I am used to them and find zooms somehow strange to use (I am trying to get the hang of it and will in time I am sure) but if you are using a flash indoors anyway then zooms would certainly not have any drawbacks other than weight/size and maybe a bit of IQ. If you are only using natural light it may be a bit of a battle then and a bit short (ie. 50) and move in may be all you are left with.

Sound like you know what you need though so hopefully it will be easy (easy on the wallet that is) to figure out your optimal lens.

if you're going to be in a place where there are a lot of people and you might only want pictures of certain people, zooms are the way to go, but if you're just documenting the event, a 50mm would do well.

WildWolf wrote in post #2256109
i really like the sharpness and the speed of primes but I find them REALLY limiting. I shot a birthday party (not paid) with just the 85 1.8 indoors on Saturday. The pictures that I did take came out great but there were so many more that I just couldn't get because the lens was too long. I know that typically the 85 is too long for indoor shots but when I used my old 50 1.8 i found that a lot of times it was too wide. Anyway- again I really like the speed and sharpness of the 85 but I just don't know how much use it will really get aside from portraits

Try and work with it, use your feet to zoom. Compose for what you can fit in the frame. Shoot wide and learn to use the crop tool. You might find the disiplin improves your photography.

Coming from learning on primes I often find the zoom tends to turn me into a snapper, rather than considering how to shoot the subject.

Has to be said however zooms have their place.

[QUOTE=Lester Wareham;2256527]Try and work with it, use your feet to zoom. Compose for what you can fit in the frame. Shoot wide and learn to use the crop tool. You might find the disiplin improves your photography.

Coming from learning on primes I often find the zoom tends to turn me into a snapper, rather than considering how to shoot the subject.

Has to be said however zooms have their place.[/quote]

yep. the 24-70, 17-55, 17-50, 16-35, 17-35 etc etc would have been the best choice for an unstaged, indoors event.

ed rader

Your thread topic (prime guy) isn't a valid conclusion. Your conclusion and thread topic is really reflecting the fact that 85mm is too long of a lens on an APS-C format camera to be useful and 50mm was too wide for you. The indictment about primes vs. zooms is merely an offshoot from you having the wrong focal length lenses available. It sounds, from your comment, that you really would have been best suited with a 65mm lens, for the types of shots you were trying to get at this party.


Newbies should keep in mind that 50mm lenses are 'normal' for 35mm film SLRS and full frame dSLR like the 5D. Because they were so common, they are also very inexpensive to buy. But their real purpose in life is on FF cameras as 'normal' lens! 85mm is a 'portraiture' lens on 35mm FF, too, but on APS-C it is a moderate telephoto (equivalent to 135mm lens on a 35mm SLR). Used on APS-C, the 50mm is really better as a 'portraiture lens'.


A zoom is a quick'n'dirty way to get exactly the right lens on your camera without swapping lenses. And it has the benefit of being able to 'fit exactly' with focal lengths in between what you might have in prime lens focal lengths.

I like 35mm FF equiv for events. I like to get right there into the action Then again, I shoot more parties than stuff like weddings.... in which case you'd need to keep your distance.

WildWolf wrote in post #2256109
i really like the sharpness and the speed of primes but I find them REALLY limiting. I shot a birthday party (not paid) with just the 85 1.8 indoors on Saturday. The pictures that I did take came out great but there were so many more that I just couldn't get because the lens was too long. I know that typically the 85 is too long for indoor shots but when I used my old 50 1.8 i found that a lot of times it was too wide. Anyway- again I really like the speed and sharpness of the 85 but I just don't know how much use it will really get aside from portraits

If you used you're 50mm you would have room to crop for a better composition. You used your 85mm and don't have that option. You only need 2MP for a good 4x6 print.