3 ms·

I’m curious, why is this?

• _qua 4y ago
  In my limited photography experience, a prime lens forces you to move and work more to get a pleasing composition which teaches your eye better than twisting a zoom lens.
  • sanitycheck 4y ago
    I think so too. You have to think more to get good shots, and although you lose zoom you get to use DoF as a creative dimension.
• ISL 4y ago
  Aside from the clarity that a prime brings to your composition, the optics in a 50mm f/1.8 are frequently much better than what you'll find from a kit-lens zoom. A Canon 50mm f/1.8 at f/8 as as sharp as anything you'll ever use -- outperforming many professional lenses. In the long run, though, a prime helps you to understand what goes into composing a great image. It takes time to learn a focal length and learn which focal lengths resonate with you. I have recently dabbled with a standard zoom for the first time in ages -- to me, it is now a collection of f/4 prime lenses that are accessible with the turn of a dial, each of whom have their own perspective, character, habits, and temperament. As I work to compose an image with it, I now decide, before I bring the camera to my eye, which focal length I want and select it. If the composition is off, then I move to bring the image together. Without extensive experience with primes, I'd never have understood the power of the changes in perspective that even small changes in focal-length can bring. (See a sibling comment of mine on this post waxing poetic about the differences between 50mm, 40mm, and 35mm.) (you can, of course, get the same experience at lower cost with discipline and duct-tape holding a zoom at fixed focal lengths for days at a time, but most people don't succeed with that approach)