Question(s) about zooms

[Pfreddee]

Ever since I started taking pictures (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), I've used a 50mm lens. Plain vanilla 50 mm lens. Nothing special, fastest one I own is f/1.8. I am very, very comfy with the 50mm lens. I even have a 35mm DX f/1.8 on my Nikon D7000, which makes it about 52mm-ish equivalent. Love it. Also 50mm on my FSU rangefinders, of course.

But I am wondering if I am limiting myself by not owning some kind of a zoom. I have nothing *against* zooms. I'm just not comfortable with them. I think they are too bulky. I think they are too slow. (Although the last objection isn't really valid since I can crank up the ISO on my D7000 to 1600 and beyond as easy as pie.) I especially can't make up my mind exactly what I want to do when I'm zooming back and forth: there seems to be no particular point of view here, just, well, meh.

But so many people use zooms and do wonderful work with them. Are there any of you who, like me, started with fast primes, and managed to work zooms into their lens armament, as it were? What focal lengths work best for you? I think I would prefer the wider end of the spectrum since I handhold the cameras I own. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I have used a tripod. And I'm not really comfortable with the telescopic end of the lens. But I have a feeling that I am missing something by not owning at least *some* kind of zoom lens. Opinions, please?

With best regards.

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Corto]

I dig zooms a lot. gimme a 28-70 or a 80-200 any day.

But....I do think my Nikon 70-300 ED 1:4-5.6 G is really good.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Stephen,

I have the same observation as you. i can't put a finger why i don't like zooms.
I have recently started to think that I choose primes over zooms because zoom
lenses are too flexible, too easy and as a result, a distraction when taking
photos, as compared to a 50 prime lens. Does this makes sense ?

raytoei

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Zooms have their uses, but one of the things I liked about prime lenses when I started using them (and I only occasionally use the few zoom lenses I own now) is that it got me thinking about perspective more. Instead of staying in one position relative to a subject, a prime gets you moving, with the consequent effect on distance to subject, and hence, perspective, and for me that was a good thing, because it helped (and helps) me learn and to think.

I suspect how many people may feel about zooms would depend a great deal on the type of photography they do. I couldn't imagine too many wedding photographers turning up to a ceremony without at least one zoom in their kit, because of their sheer versatility for indoor and/or crowded locations. These are scenarios I rarely have to deal with so manual focus prime lenses are a pleasure I can savour, not a liability.
Regards
Brett

 

[John Bragg]

Hi Stephen. I am in the same boat as you. I don't shoot digital and have recently got my Nikon FM2n out of mothballs since I have been exclusively a rangefinder shooter for a long time. I have really enjoyed the Nikon after all this time away and decided to add to my arsenal of lenses for it. I stumbled upon a 35-70 f 3.5 1980s Vivitar zoom and bought it for a meagre £18 on ebay. It fills a gap in my bag and is way cheaper than a 35mm prime and also it is by Komine, a well respected maker of independent glass. No great financial loss if it doesnt work out but it has a solid feel and balances well. It will be my one lens when I want to travel light.

Regards, John.

 

[daveleo]

Well if we are starting a club ("prime shooters anonymous" 🙄 ) log me in too.

Briefly, I feel exactly the way you do about zooms.
For my "serious" picture-making, I use a Nikon D5100 and 24mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm (two of them) and one 55-200zoom (that I used one time to see what it was like).

Zooms are too big for me. Fast zooms are too heavy. I can't hold a long or heavy lens steady enough to suit me.
The zooming process adds one production step too many between me and the picture.

For snapping happy-snaps for emails and web pages, I use a Panasonic LX3 - a wonderful little zoom camera.

 

[Dektol Dan]

Built In Zoom

Built In Zoom

To zoom in I walk forward.
To zoom out I step back.

 

[konicaman]

Ohh yes - I know what you mean. Grew up with a Konica T3, and the typical setup of the time: 28,50,135. The 50 mounted 95% of the time. Still love primes; sharper. light weight, you know exactly what to expect from them. I do however find zooms more versatile when it comes to reportage/people/family - when it is more important to get the shot framed than to have the right bokeh. That's what zooms are good for IMHO.
On APS-C bodies I normally use a Tamron 17-50, 2.8 VC. Very sharp (for a zoom) with a good colour rendition and not very prone to flare. It is a bit on the heavy side, but it is 2.8 all the way through the zoom range, and the VC is exellent. Also the zoom range is not so long as to make me uncomfortable. I used a Powershot S5 (super zoom indeed) for some time, and I had the feeling than I was spending more time zooming than actually shooting.

 

[peterm1]

Depends on how you shoot. I love primes too. Especially the fast ones and of course as you say they are much smaller than a zoom. But are they really more convenient than a big heavy zoom. Not if you also lug around say a 28mm a 50mm an 85mm and maybe something longer - which is what I am inclined to do if I am going away for a couple of days and am not sure of what image opportunities will be offered.

If you really feel you need a range of focal lengths sometimes a zoom really is the ducks guts. For my Nikon D200 I will sometimes limit myself to an 85mm f1.4 (see I do like fast primes) but I will have in my bag the little and excellent Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF, just for those occasions when the 85mm gives a bit too much reach. This lens is CHEAP second hand but excellently built mechanically and optically its only flaw being a bit of distortion at the wde end especially. But who cares. Mostly that does not matter and if it does its quite easily corrected in post. These days zooms truly can be so good that you are not missing out much compared with a prime save may be really shallow depth of field