Prime lens - I miss zoom

CanNik

Just bought a 200mm prime for occasional use, I am glad I don't use prime lenses all the time what a pain in the the arse they are.

The subject is either too far or too close, and NO you can't zoom out "with your feet" when you have a river behind you oracliffe!

It will never replace my Nikkor 70-200 f2.8

Faldrax

The usual advantage of primes is that they have a significantly wider max aperture than a zoom covering the same focal length - so you have the budget 50 f/1.8's, the fast 85 f/1.4's, and the tele 300 f/2.8's, etc.
The 200 f/2.8 is an oddity, as you don't get the aperture advantage over a 70-200 f/2.8 - for that you need to step up to a 200 f/2.0 - but that extra stop comes with a huge price tag attached!

Snake79

The Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L was the first prime lens I bought. It's not really a versatile lens but it's relatively inexpensive compared the the 70-200mm f/2.8L lens and is much lighter. It's the longest focal length prime I currently have. I thought about getting the 400mm f/5.6L but I know I won't be using it that often so I bought the mkIII x2 TC for when I need more reach which has proven to be a good decision.

snerkler

It's why it's important to buy the right lens for the job

CanNik

Which is why I bought it as a lens to play with and try out I may buy a mirrorless to play with as well not for anything serious

IWC Dopplel

I’ve never used a zoom, I choose the  lens before going out, I used to take two but no longer do. I also moved away from longer lenses and now only use 15-50mm

Okay there may be some times that you have no room, but if you are used to your lens you think in that view so you don’t pick up the camera without a familiarity of what you will see.

I also hate flash and tripods, I guess everybody has there preferences

Qactuar

I'm with you on the flash side of things - constant light is far, far better (but can be pricey to get a decent light sabre). Flash photography is great if you're great at it, but it's a horribly steep learning curve if you're not great!

Tripod, well, since I moved to a Swiss Arca quick release mount, I am much happier to use it. I also traded in my Velbon (heavy but solid) for a Benro compact, which is about a third of the size, but has a better and more versatile use.

As for zoom vs prime, I do like a fast zoom (12-40 2.8 pro Olympus is good), but a nice fast prime is really something else - even the Panasonic 1.7 25mm prime is astonishingly good in comparison - colour rendering and the like SOOC is really good. I'll see if I can dig an example out of the two in similar use recently - but like you, I tend to leave the 12-40 attached all the time.

That said, I have been seriously tempted to look at the 12-200 3.5-6.3, as it's a 24-400mm equivalent and in good light, it's a one-stop-shop lens. The 12-100mm f4 would be nice too, but for a bag of sand, it's not enough zoom from the 12-40mm to justify it.

God I wish I had more time/money for photography

IWC Dopplel

I actually think I could slim my lens numbers down further, I sold a number of lenses 2 years ago (I'm a bit of a kit hoarder) and I found it very helpful, I didnt need to consider if a 12, 15 or 18 was the right one, I just sold the 12 and 18. I also sold my lovely 75 that In never used, or rarely. I have too many 35's but they are all characterful. Personally if I started again I'd have 15,21,35,50. But I love my 28 !!!  

dms

Years ago I bought a 2.8 macro 100mm L prime lens for my canon.  It was bought purely for macro photography of models (little plastic ones) but I'm so happy with it that it's the only lens I use anymore, and it takes wonderful portrait shots of people.

Besides the prime 100mm lens does have a zoom of sorts.. aka my legs ;-)

snerkler

I would say this depends. Flash can help 'freeze' motion and therefore improve sharpness, and then also there's things like rear sync flash that give you some creative freedom that constant light doesn't.

As for 'flash' in general the difference it can make IF used correctly is insane. I saw a demo and just using something like a simple beauty dish with a grid totally transformed a portrait. I love natural light photography, but I can also see how having complete control of the lighting scenario is advantageous and even essential sometimes