Prime only?

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cam1986

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Just curious as to how many of you, if any at all, shoot with primes only?

I am in the process of buying a D90 and want to use a 50mm Prime only! I love the bokeh and how fast these lenses are.

I know i will be missing shots by sticking with a prime but i think i am willing to give it a go.
 
There are people out there in this camp, not too many but they exist and my hat goes off to them. I would probably be a 35mm prime shooter on a crop body as I do from time to time take my 5DmkII out for a play with just the 50mm f1.4 on and enjoy using my brain and me feet to get the desired photo.
 
I just recently converted to all primes. A 35 85 100 and 300. If I could only have one it would be the 35 although the 85 is awesome and similar to what 50 would be on a crop. They are so much fun to use and seem to make photography more fun and meaningful. And the results are nicer too so win win
 
amtaylor said:
I just recently converted to all primes. A 35 85 100 and 300. If I could only have one it would be the 35 although the 85 is awesome and similar to what 50 would be on a crop. They are so much fun to use and seem to make photography more fun and meaningful. And the results are nicer too so win win
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This is how i feel about the primes. Why the 35mm instead of a 50mm?
 
I had a 50 1.4 and just didn't get on with it. I found it a bit boring. Just me I guess but I love street photography and environmental portraits and the 35 is just ace. It might be that its because its the l one and is amazing that I like it more than the 50, who knows lol
 
I'm going all primes I think with the way my next lens line up looks.I have the Sigma 85mm now and love it and my next purchases are gonna be the 30mm and 50mm.
 
I've had a 50mm f1.4 for almost 4 years and I've always enjoyed using it but. on a crop sensor, it is often too long so I've just got a 30mm f1.4 and plan on going out with 3 primes, the 30, he 50 and, at the moment, a 105 but ideally, I'd like to replace that with an 85.

It's just nice at times, when not needing the big zooms, to be able to take the grips off the cameras and travel with 2 bodies with a 30 and 105 on them with a 50 in reserve.
 
I wouldn't give up my zooms altogether (especially the 70-200/2.8) but I often take just a 5D and 35/1.4L with me.. Add the 85/1.8 or 135/2L if I'm carrying another lens. Primes make me think about composition more and "work for the shot" which is good. I don't like 50mm lenses either, I want it wider or longer :) that said, on a D90 the 50mm will be 75mm equivalent.

But if I had to have one cheap prime on a Nikon cropper, it would be the 35/1.8 DX me thinks.
 
I am stuck as to which to get for the D90. 50mm or 35mm. I plan to take a lot of family pics, school pics of my daughter, out and about pics. Is the bokeh not as good on the 35mm as the 50mm as i have read?
 
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cam1986 said:
I am stuck as to which to get for the D90. 50mm or 35mm. I plan to take a lot of family pics, school pics of my daughter, out and about pics.
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Well, on a crop sensor, the 35mm will give you a lot more space to work with. If you are in a confined space, a group shot may be impossible with a 50mm. The 50mm would probably be better for close up shots though.
 
I tried it and failed:

Canon 40d + 28mmf1.8 + 50mmf1.4
(also had the 10-22 and 70-200)

I just found myself missing too many shots and the constant lens changing annoyed me no end...

Happy with my lens line-up now being:
10-22, 17-55, 70-200
1 prime 50f1.4
 
I started with the 50/1.4G (on FX) but after a while it started to feel too narrow even though it's a "normal" lens, so I got the 35/2D and much preferred it. However even that started to feel just slightly too narrow so I got the 28/2.8D. I think I have found the best compromise between wide enough to get plenty in the frame but not so wide as to get too many distortions at the edges. As 90% of my shots are f/8 or f/11 I'm not too worried about being limited to f/2.8.
 
I only have the 50 1.4 for my 5D.

I haven't found it to be a huge hinderance but obviously I haven't done any real wildlife shots since swapping to the light side, and all my landscape shots have been somewhat botched panoramas, but I'm enjoying it.

I'm looking to get a 24-105L or 28-75 + 100 f/2 as a studio lens, but as a walkabout I've always enjoyed the 50 f/1.4, even if I have to explain to all my friends why I spent £1000 on a setup that 'doesn't even have zoom' :D
 
I shoot 2x DX bodies with 20mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm primes. Haven't used my 70-200mm since, dunno, November.

Depending on the task i'll often pair the 20 & 50 or 35 & 85. The one that gives me most trouble as a solo lens is the 85- great though it is, it lacks versatility. As for the oft-cited argument about primes inspiring creativity, I think it's more that by removing some of the flexibility of zooms they allow you to get your eye in quicker and concentrate on the photography.
 
fabs said:
Oh how I wish. Only just got the 30mm and had to sell the 10-20 to fund that. But I can dream. :D
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I've to find the funds for it as well.....thats not the hard part..convincing the other half is the mission.:help:
 
I shot a whole wedding on a 85mm last weekend with great results, I only missed a zoom (more/less reach) on maybe 3 shots, but hey ho the rest made up for it :)
 
I have two zooms on my collection - 80-200 and 20-35 - but I'd definitely use primes if there was a wide crop friendly prime of decent quality and reasonable price. I love my 35mm f1.8 and Sigma 50mm f1.4.
 
fabs said:
Well, on a crop sensor, the 35mm will give you a lot more space to work with. If you are in a confined space, a group shot may be impossible with a 50mm. The 50mm would probably be better for close up shots though.
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I had the 50mm on my D90 and found the above to be very true, however the shots you do get with it can be very pleasing.

I loved mine and only sold it to fund another lens, when funds allow i'll be having another
 
Since putting my 50mm F1.8 on my old 20D it's hardly been off, the only time I change it is when I help my brother shoot equine events when I need something longer.
 
What should I get
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4
Canon EF 50mm f1.8 MK2

Please help as I'm still learning thanks
 
Lots of good replies here. Still think the 50mm is for me. If not, i can always get a 35mm at some point.
 
I'm slowly going that way, shot my first 'primes only' wedding a couple of weeks back and now have the 35/50/85 1.4 trio. I'm looking to get a 135 and then I 'might' ditch the 80-200.

I doubt I'll ever get rid of the 24-70 though as it's just too good a lens to sell, plus I do a fair bit of studio stuff and this comes in very handy for that.

On a crop body, you cannot beat the Sigma 30mm in my opinion.
 
The use of primes, in many cases, offers the user much better IQ and obvious benefits from faster apertures relating to DoF and bokeh, but I think that in reality, how far you go down the prim route is obviously going to be dependant on your shooting style.

I'd love to use more primes but it's just not practical to carry so much glass around that can be covered by zooms. The primes I do have are there solely to give me something the zooms cannot (60mm for macro, 50mm for low light, 10.5mm for fisheye effect 14mm for close-up editorial) and I've capped myself at this number because I am not going to lug around more than I need.

There's a part of me that would love to buy something like a D700 (or dare I say it, a classic 5D) as a walkabout camera, fitted with a 28mm or 35mm fast lens to do reportage stuff, but it's an expensive pipe dream that I could never justify in a month of sundays.

Good luck to you if you go down the prime route and it's successful :)
 
one zoom - 11-16mm
Rest is either macro work (105mm) or portrait (50mm).

Also have a 28mm and a 135mm m42 manual lenses. But they are not being used as much to to the time taken to focus... and still missing the focus :D lol

Prefer prime to zoom in most cases as it seems to be sharper. Bit of a pain sometimes when you want to go from wide to long n back tho!
 
I find I sometimes get a bit too lazy with zooms, so primes keep me on my toes and make me think a lot more about what I'm doing.
 
I have a 17-40 zoom which I use for landscapes very seldom as I don't get time

for everything else, it's all primes here:

canon 35mm 1.4 L
Sigma 85mm 1.4
Canon 135mm f/2 L

I used to have the 24-70 L and the 70-200 f/4 L but the amount of use they both got was tiny - too big and too heavy, I just find I enjoy not thinking about zooming.
 
I'm trying to use primes whenever possible for wedding work. Last one I shot about 95% with 50f1.4, 24f1.4 and 100f2.8 primes. Cannot entirely wean myself off the 16-35 though it is such a versatile lens on both crop and FF bodies. The wider apertures offered by primes REALLY comes in useful as I prefer to use available light rather than flash.
 
For weddings/events, I shoot zoom on 1, 85 on the other
For landscape, I have 17-35mm

For almost everything else, especially portrait work or anything that is in controlled environment, I only shoot primes - 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm

IQ and bokeh aside, I like the self restraint primes give you in terms of composition. More you get to know a particular lens, the more you can make it work for you. Plus, it makes me walk about a lot more to get the shot! Keep me on my toes, and makes for a good workout :)
 
It just depends how you like to shoot.

I have a 20mm f1.7 on my GF1 and a 25mm f0.95 on my G1, the problem with these is as these cameras have a max shutter speed of 1/4000 sec in good light you can be limited to f2.8. I've just bought a couple of ND filters for my f0.95.

I usually have a 50mm f1.4 on my 20D and have a 85mm f1.4 on my 5D. These are ok as these cameras have a max shutter speed of 1/8000 sec so it is possible to use f1.4 although I have hit the max shutter speed many times.

I have a 20mm f1.8 that gets the odd outing, a 50mm f2.5 "macro" that rarely gets used and a 150mm f2.8 macro that gets a fair amount of use.

My most used zoom is a 12-24mm which I've used a lot on my 20D.

I don't really miss not having a zoom most of the time and the primes do have advantages. Firstly they offer the creative possibilities of the wider apertures. secondly, and honestly, I think that they give better IQ and then there's the sheer fun of them.
 
I only have three lenses for my outfit, all primes 35mm, 80mm and 150mm.
 
With the M9 primes are your only option, which suits me. I don't really miss the zooms as you can just zoom with your feet.
 
vaizki said:
I wouldn't give up my zooms altogether (especially the 70-200/2.8) but I often take just a 5D and 35/1.4L with me.. Add the 85/1.8 or 135/2L if I'm carrying another lens. Primes make me think about composition more and "work for the shot" which is good. I don't like 50mm lenses either, I want it wider or longer :) that said, on a D90 the 50mm will be 75mm equivalent.

But if I had to have one cheap prime on a Nikon cropper, it would be the 35/1.8 DX me thinks.
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The problem with primes is that there are times where you can move closer or further away from a subject. Primes are great in a largish area where you can be mobile but not so great on confined spaces.

That said. What is the best prime lens for general snap shots of Mates in a party/family photos?
 
I really disliked the kit lens, so I bought myself a couple of primes (50mm f1.8, and 28mm f2.8) and that is all I've used over the past 3 or 4 years.

It is limiting. But it can be rewarding too. I think because I've used them so long, whilst I sometimes think 'argh, why don't I have this lens for this shot??', it's generally a case of re-composing and being a little more creative.

The 50mm on the crop sensor doesn't leave much room. It's real qualities are the crisp images and shallow depth of field. Which are nice to have. But as a walkabout lens, you often need to get quite creative!

I find myself using the 28mm more often, as I find it more versatile. It's a reasonable lens that you can capture most general scenes on. Again, a little creativity needed sometimes, but I personally don't find it as difficult as the 50mm.

Having both is nice though. I wouldn't like to choose one over the other.

Recently though, I've acquired a 10-20mm zoom and I feel like I've entered into the space age!
 
jonneymendoza said:
The problem with primes is that there are times where you can move closer or further away from a subject. Primes are great in a largish area where you can be mobile but not so great on confined spaces.

That said. What is the best prime lens for general snap shots of Mates in a party/family photos?
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Is say 35mm on crop, 50mm on FF.
 
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