Prime Lens vs Zoom Lens

Hey everyone! If you're stuck deciding wether you should add a zoom lens to your camera bag or a prime lens, in today's video I'm going to share some pros and cons for each to help you choose which one is right for your workflow. Do you prefer zooms or primes? Let me know in the comments!

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[footrotdog]

Spot on with control vs lack of control of the situation. Personally I love primes as well but another downside you didn't mention, is changing lenses all day can lead to dust getting into the body and onto the sensor that otherwise wouldn't have the chance if a zoom was fixed in place for the whole day.

[alfamega]

I did not even use a camera in my life once, yet I have watched half of your videos. I love your voice and smile

[photoshoott]

Great points. We personally choose to use 24-70 in most cases people photography, unless it is sports of course. But in portraits, we found it to be best and more versatile. On the other hand we also have 50 mm and 85, but once again, it is all depending on the situation, since if the room is not big enough and we shoot indoor, 85 at times doesn't give us enough room to step back to do a shot with more background, but do get nice close ups with great bokeh. We do love the glass on the primes, but of course any telephoto lenses tend to give us more versatility, so all depends on what the situation is and what we want to accomplish, as per what you said. Thank you, great points.

[jonoy]

Another issue in Wedding. Many photos are taken for bride + groom only, max aperture such as f1.4 or F1.8 has too shallow DoF, and we have to reduce aperture to f2.8 or F4.0. The primes are not able to present the best advantages.

[EdwardIglesias]

I got the Tamron 28-200 a few months back and it pretty much lives on my camera now. I do primarily landscape and street photography so low light isn't an issue. If I were back doing live music in small dark venues I'd haul out the primes for sure.

[jonoy]

Full control for bridal photography, but only half-control for wedding. For wedding, my personal suggestion is 24-70 zoom & 135 prime, or 2 cameras with 2 primes such as 35 & 85, to reduce frequent change of lens.

[mikefoster]

Sensor size matters a lot to where the tipping point is between choosing zoom or prime. On a crop sensor camera (mine is Fuji X-T5) you rarely get better than f2.8 on a zoom, which is notably worse than f2.8 on a full frame camera. So it then becomes a clear that a zoom won't work in some situations. But on a crop sensor zoom lenses are small enough to carry more easily.

[rickhelmke]

I spent a long time in newspaper photography and a fast zoom lens made life so much easier but I find that for portraits and wedding work very fast primes, f2 or better, deliver much better quality. It’s always better to start with a good image out of the camera than trying to fix things with software.

[itsbeeva]

That first point is the best advice I’ve heard when comparing the two!!

[dgphotoholic]

I've always been a fan of your work, I'm always so amazed seeing your work :)

[jpdj]

This subject touches on an important learning process. People's brains don't come with "photographic (2D) vision", from birth. We need some 10, 000 tries to catch a ball before we are good at it. Or 10, 000 times crossing the rod in a busy city, before we can do that on our own - generally not below 10 years of age. We also need to learn to "see" perspective and how it impacts the depiction in 2D of 3D things we shoot. Here too, the 10, 000 rule applies - and we need to do that consciously. If you went to art school and took perspective drawing class then you know about the "vanishing points" and what their distance, and the horizon, do for the resulting perspective. You will also have become aware about "compression" caused by being farther away from the "viewpoint" that is assumed in your drawing. But having been taught, trained in, these fundamentals does not mean that your brain can "see" this in the real world.
If you want to develop your "vision" and ability to use perspective as a tool, then a zoomlens does not help. You would use it as a crop tool and may never think about perspective in the first place. A prime lens teaches perspective very fast and you'll learn a number (focal length) with what you see. This is not just important in architecture or landscape photography but also in photographer-directed posing of models with features (that your sitter might consider imperfections) that are either highlighted or subdued by the perspective you chose as photographer. For your brain to develop that "seeing" ability, you need an awareness of the relation between distance, angle, focal length (image angle) and the subject's features.
Or you hire perfect models only and remain carefree about this all.

[Narsuitus]

Excellent comparison video.

I personally prefer primes lenses.

However, I shoot with prime and/or zoom lenses.

For my APS-C digital cameras, I use the following prime lenses:
16mm f/1.4
23mm f/1.4
23mm f/2
56mm f/1.2
135mm f/2

I also use the following zoom lenses:
16-55mm f/2.8
50-140mm f/2.8

[pramodvijayasimhan]

True that ! Sometimes it more about convinience.
On a recent trip to a hill station, i used only my
Z 24-200 leaving my primes & even 70-200 too in the hotel 😊

[RockWILK]

I was definitely a "never zoom" filmmaker up until recently. I think zoom lenses today are so good, and if you're running around in challenging environments, in situations where you need great flexibility, especially for filmmaking, zoom lenses are so much more convenient. Especially now that so many of them are fast. At least relatively fast, so many of them are 2.8 across the focal range. I find with my black Pro Mist filter, I can get the look that I want to match my vintage lenses as long as I really do the work in DaVinci Resolve when I get into post. I've actually come to really appreciate my zoom lens much more, as I've been shooting a feature film by myself for the past six months, and it has been a seamless experience. Having said that, I still love my vintage primes, for sure. :-) All of our gear is useful, it just depends on the situation. Awesome video as always. ;)

[SilatShooter]

Great commentary on the why to each, especially the point on lack of control of a situation vs a controlled one. That's the best reasoning I have heard on the why on this topic that has been discussed forever. I love the look of fast primes but hate changing lenses and as mentioned here in the comments, DUST. Usually don't realize there's dust on the sensor from moment between lens changes, until I get back and look at the images on a screen and that's always frustrating. So I have gravitated to high quality zooms for most of my shooting, and keep a few favorite primes for 'controlled' shooting events.

[marcusgregory]

I love both now lol. I was a prime guy but since using the Tamron 35-150mm I now use both. I can handle most sessions with my 50 f1.2 GM and the Tamron 35-150mm 😊

[gamingwithstand]

As someone that shoots weddings by myself zooms are easy for me. I'm not a big fan of working out of my camera bag to switch lenses it's a pain for me.

But primes the images look better if you are after the bokeh.

I did shoot weddings with film and used 35mm equivalent on medium format I think might have been a 50mm? I had no problems.

There are good and bad about primes and zooms. Over you really know how a lense works for you then that might be your lense.

[weeks]

For my amateur hobby stuff, 1 or 2 compact primes take the prize because they make me likely to bring a camera with a big sensor everywhere. The exception is the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 on APS-C - it’s the same size as my FF 1.8 primes, and is the first time I’ve had zoom versatility in a compact setup! I’ll travel with that and one f/1.8 or f/1.4 prime for the bokeh.

[euphoria-]

Get a 35mm, 85mm, these too lenses will give a lot of versatility
and a 70-200 maybe the lenses to complete your bag

[kanaheiusagi]

I love the 24GM + 50GM + 135GM combo. The absolute best for full body portraits, low light and fast action, yet could still fit them all in an everyday bag with just a 3-slot Hakuba soft case.

Personally, I find that the control vs. lack of control expression is the opposite when it comes to lighting, having a fast prime is invaluable when there's a lack of control in light, especially in low light scenes (e.g. running into situations where I'm using 1/125 ISO6400 f1.4, if I'm using a f2.8 zoom I would either need to drop my SS to 1/30 @ISO6400, or bumping the ISO to 12, 800 and use 1/60, which both isn't desirable as there would be a lot of motion blur from my subject and more noise.) On the other hand, when I'm in a studio with controlled lighting, flattering background and decorations, a 24-70 f2.8 zoom may be a better choice.