The best thing about prime lenses

Today I'm talking prime lenses for landscape photography, and what I think is the best reason to use them. It's not sharpness, and it's not weight... And you also don't actually need a prime lens to benefit from it...

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[JamesPopsysPhoto]

Sorry to everyone who had to watch lots of ads through this. I forgot to turn off the mid-roll ones that make YouTube unwatchable. Fixed now, and busy trying to fix the scam comment replies! No active giveaways at the moment, so it’s not me! Thanks for watching 😃

[stuartschaffner]

It's so nice to see someone doing intimate landscape work instead of just epic or grand landscapes. Finding a compelling composition often involves reducing the number of focus points and leading lines, not seeing how many you can cram into one epic image.

You didn't mention the primary reason that I like primes and have for decades: low flare and low chromatic aberration. This combination of sharpness and low flare produces very rich textures, subtle colors, and deep shadows that still retain detail. More subtly, these lenses also tolerate much stronger lighting contrasts. Even ten years ago we were all told repeatedly that trying to take photographs at midday or with a clear sky was a clear mark of an unskilled amateur.

Ten years ago, I had some high quality zoom lenses for a Canon DSLR. Sorry, I don't remember the exact models. Right now, for other than wildlife I use the new Sony GM primes: 35mm, 50mm, and 135mm. The differences compared to a decade ago have been for me astounding and very liberating. I find, to my surprise, that the lens most often on my camera is the 135mm, although I find the 35 and the 50mm lenses very useful as well.

So, should everyone buy prime lenses? As a trained scientist, I look for confounding variables. From what I hear, design and manufacturing of lenses has changed greatly in the past decade, especially in the past few years. So, is it because the lenses are primes or is it because they are of much more recent design? Frankly, I don't have the money or time to do a proper test. I do suspect that Sony, Canon, and Nikon all have access to the same advances in lens-making technology.

I think that your mini-tutorial at the kissing gate is a good illustration of the advantages of low flare and sharpness. You show the same scene through a 35mm Sony GM prime and a GoPro lens of presumably much lower quality. Despite the fact that the ambient light is completely flat, the shadows in the deep woods compared to the brighter light on the vines on the trees makes for a lot of inherent contrast. Even on YouTube you can see that the GoPro shadows are comparatively muddy and indistinct, as are the colors and highlights in the vines on the trees and the flowers near the path.

[sebastiantierney]

I loved this video! In particular, you talking through key elements of your composition thought process and showing it in real-time. Every time you do that in one of your videos I pick up something interesting to consider and it has helped me a lot so thank you :)

[Bill.Pearson]

The thing about lanes like that (for me, anyway) is the dichotomy between the peace and quiet now and the fact that at one point in time, there was a team of guys with big equipment laying that asphalt. And long, long before them there was a farmer whose very life depended on being successful at farming or raising sheep who laid those stone walls by himself, by hand out in the middle of nowhere.
The stone walls are what get me--the isolated areas that they sometimes run through that was so crucial to people so long ago.

[TheJoshuaPeg]

I feel like this is a “classic” James Popsys video, like the ones I first started enjoying from a few years ago. Really enjoyed it 👍🏼😁

[Needacreate]

Nothing wrong with primes, I cherish them, too, both for their rendering and the reason you're highlighting. The danger of compositional laziness coming with zooms, however, can be mitigated if you accustom yourself to using them essentially as a stack of primes, with the bonus of not having to change lenses.

[DanHamilton]

Love your videos. You carry humility but also clearly know what you are talking about. Just one thing I thought, would’ve been nice to see all 4 of the gate frames you took in a single shot for easy comparison for us aspiring viewers. Keep up the awesome work. You’ve inspired me to get my camera out again!

[jm]

Love your thought process. Love the images. I'm jealous of your "lanes" They look like something from a fairy tale. But mostly love the tenor of the whole video. You out did yourself sir.

[BrettOssman]

I think a lot of it depends on genre. As a wildlife photographer, I think zooms are a must. Quite often I have minimal to no time to adjust camera settings, not to mention lenses. :-) Prime can be a fun exercise just to see how creative you can get with it, but normally need to be able to zoom.

[thatsamshow]

Same as you, James, I love routes, roads and pathways. They catch my gaze, draw me down and into the scene. Good video explaining your composition choices! 😃👍

[unodwicho]

The three stacked photos look gorgeous together

[colcot]

The sounds of the birds is beautiful, this is how my garden sounds in the morning, and I live in Wales

[besperus]

I agree to a point. Limited to one focal length forces the photographer to be more inventive and compose very carefully.

[MrShanePhoto]

Love primes. Recently built up a full focal range with vintage primes. Some for video others for photography (Nikon) and it was really changed my photography. Going for a walk with just a 35 or 85 you see such different things. It's awesome

[hummersd]

Appreciate the reminder -- I have one zoom and two primes to cover a range. Having recently gone back to dedicated camera/lenses vs. a smartphone (ease of use, "good enough"), the zoom tends to stay on the camera most of the time, but I like that idea to restrict yourself to one focal length. Beautiful images as always, James! 🤗

[john-wiggains]

Those were really great shots! I love you walking through what you see in the shot and how you’re composing it.

[coffeebot]

Those were some gorgeous photos. A really nice video. Thanks.

[DavidSenteno]

Just want you to know that of all the Photography channels I subscribe to yours is the one I watch consistently. I always feel like I’m out taking photos with you and not a video at all. 👍

[christianpetersen]

James, thanks for a lovely calming video to watch on a Sunday morning. I love primes for the reasons you mentioned, especially the 35 and 50mm. They help me look for and hopefully ‘see’ a good composition. And I love the process of looking and actually taking the shot. I found that using manual focus lenses engages me more in the process and gives me much more satisfaction when I get it right. I’m trying hard not to take quick snaps but to take my time to enjoy it to the maximum. Incidentally I love that shirt you were wearing. Can I be cheeky and ask what make please?

[davidmill]

Great video James and your images are indeed very atmospheric. Really enjoy listening to your thought process when composing shots.