Lens selection. “Fixes” – lenses with fixed focal length

How to choose a lens part 3 - primes and zooms

In addition to characteristics such as focal length and lens aperture, which we examined in the first and second parts, respectively, it is important to simply choose the “right” lens, especially if it is the first one. Of course, the criteria for “correctness” are purely individual, but I would like to outline the limits of applicability of this or that optics, so that the inexperienced reader can find the path to the right purchase. Again, in previous articles, I briefly touched on the difference between zoom and prime lenses. In a nutshell, zooms are lenses with variable focal lengths and allow you to “zoom in/out” of the subject, while primes have a fixed focal length and framing is done by moving the camera or subject. Let's figure out which of these two options is more suitable as a first lens and why one or another type of optics is used in general.

Prime lenses

Since the focus is constant, the optical design of the lens can be significantly simplified, which improves characteristics such as aperture and sharpness compared to zooms. Compact dimensions and low weight are also characteristic of fixes. But such a lens, as a rule, is designed for a fairly narrow scope of application. For example, 85mm with an aperture of 1.2 is ideal for shooting portraits, but it is not suitable for macro photography and is inconvenient for shooting landscapes and architecture because it has a fairly narrow viewing angle.

Like most other lenses, prime lenses can be divided by focal length into wide-angle, standard and telephoto lenses. For a novice photographer, perhaps the most interesting will be standard or standard lenses, which received this name because they allow you to shoot almost any scene with minimal perspective distortion. Canon has several models with fixed focal lengths: 35mm, 50mm and 85mm and different aperture ratios. Of course, there are also some specifics here, say 35mm is more suitable for shooting in limited spaces and, with some skill, can be used for landscapes, 50mm, in the version with aperture 1.4, is currently the fastest aperture of Canon lenses, not the L series, but 85mm Great for close-up portraits.

If you plan to take landscapes or often photograph interiors and in interiors and at the same time are ready to measure with a somewhat unnatural perspective (objects seem to be moving away from each other), then wide-angle primes are suitable for you. I’ll say right away that their use for photographing people is limited, and the smaller the focal length of the lens, the less suitable it is for portraits.

The inverse task is to photograph distant objects, birds, animals, sporting events, etc. Telephoto or long-focus lenses will help decide. The larger their focal length, the more they “bring closer” the subject.

There are also special types of lenses with a fixed focal length: fisheye, macro, lenses with an optical axis shift, but they are unlikely to be of interest to a non-professional photographer, especially since they can only be useful for solving a very narrow range of tasks.

The disadvantages of this type of lens are directly related to their advantages - on one side of the scale, high aperture and sharpness, on the other, the inability to frame a photo without changing its position, limited applicability and, as a result, the need to use different lenses for different scenes.

From the above, it becomes clear that such optics are required to solve specific, rather specialized problems; only standard fixes can be called more or less universal, although they are not suitable for all subjects. Therefore, I would not recommend primes as the only lens, especially if it is the first. This should rather be a meaningful choice based on the results of working with zooms, when you have determined the desired “working” focal length and are ready to trade the convenience of shooting for higher picture quality.

Varifocal lenses.

Zoom lenses differ from prime lenses in that they can combine different focal lengths from wide-angle to long-focus (universal lenses), or some ranges (for example, wide-angle or tele), the latter are naturally suitable for narrower tasks. Separately, I would like to mention such a class as superzooms; it includes optics with a magnification factor greater than five (to get this value, just divide the maximum focal length of the lens by the minimum).

By analogy with prime lenses, let's consider zooms based on their focal lengths. Wide-angles come first, of course. They are perfect for landscape photography, architectural photography, both indoors and outdoors, as well as for group portraits. At the same time, the convenience of shooting is much higher than when working with primes because you can quickly frame the scene without moving from the spot. It’s worth noting here that there are also ultra-wide-angle zooms and even fisheyes with variable focal lengths, but I think such exotics are unlikely to be of interest to the average user.

Then there are universal zooms - they are suitable for almost any subject because... can be used as moderate wide-angle lenses and gradually increase the focal length to normal and further into the telephoto region. Such optics are suitable for shooting a wide range of scenes; they can handle landscapes, portraits, close-ups, and in some cases even moderate macro. This also includes the superzooms mentioned above.

However, with universal lenses, not everything is so rosy; it is worth remembering that almost always, when the zoom factor increases, the optical design becomes more complicated and, accordingly, such characteristics as aperture, sharpness drop, and other shortcomings of optics come out in all their glory. In other words, the photographer pays for the opportunity to carry one lens with him instead of several with a decrease in image quality.

The last type of zoom is the long-focus optic. It is characterized by a large “approximation” and is not in demand very often in everyday life. Such lenses are primarily suitable for those who engage in photography and sports events; they are also convenient to use for close-up portrait photography. Long focus allows you to take interesting landscapes only at a great distance, so they are usually not used for such photography.

Thus, it turns out that the ideal candidate for the role of the first lens are universal zooms, or superzooms with a magnification value of up to 10. Of course, more multiple lenses may seem more convenient, but we should not forget about the quality, especially since focal lengths greater than 150mm are used much less frequently than the previous segment. Many camera manufacturers sell sets of two lenses, usually 18-55 and 55-250. Despite the attractive price and wide range of focal lengths, I do not recommend taking this option. In addition to the low quality of the lenses themselves, the gap in the area of ​​the most frequently used focal length makes it necessary to change lenses during shooting, which is extremely inconvenient, time-consuming and increases the likelihood of missing an interesting moment.

Choosing the right camera lens

Primes and lenses for shooting landscapes and architecture

Prime lenses

Prime lenses (fixed focal length lenses; discrete lenses) provide the highest image quality. They do not have zoom, but provide very high sharpness. In addition, their aperture is significantly higher than that of zooms with similar focal lengths, which means that primes blur the background more. It is believed that these are the lenses that create the most beautiful bokeh (blurring of the out-of-focus area). In addition, all highly specialized lenses have a fixed focal length. This is the most uncompromising type of lens, but also the least versatile.

Example of a frame shot with a prime lens

Example of a frame shot with a prime lens

The cheapest of all primes are “fifty dollars” - 50 mm lenses. This is due to the relative simplicity of their design. Other prime models can cost several times more and compete in their cost with top-end zooms. So having an optics fleet consisting of several discrete lenses is not a cheap pleasure. But if you still want to work with the fix, then it makes sense to start with fifty dollars. It will allow you to shoot with a shallow depth of field, give you an idea of ​​high image clarity, and will not empty your piggy bank.

Landscape Lens

Any landscape photographer will tell you that it is impossible to recommend a single lens for landscape photography. Some shoot landscapes with ultra-wide-angle models, others use a series of prime lenses, and others use a single zoom lens. There are people who prefer to photograph landscapes with powerful telephoto cameras, thanks to which they can get a large setting or rising sun in the pictures.

But the fact remains: one of the main requirements for landscape lenses is high image detail. In other words, the lens must provide very high sharpness, and not necessarily at an open aperture. Often, when shooting landscapes, the lens will stop down to f/8-f/11. It is also good if the optics have a low level of chromatic aberration. We are talking about colored edges of contrasting objects, mainly on the periphery of the frame.

Selecting a Prime Lens

After the publication of the article about choosing a lens, a lot of controversy arose regarding primes.

In this article we want to express our subjective impressions of fixes and try to dispel some myths.

Note! This article is described based on experience working with a full-frame matrix. For cropped cameras, focal lengths are multiplied by the crop factor.

What are the benefits of fixes?

As we wrote in the article about choosing a lens, due to the absence of a lens unit responsible for zoom, prime lenses are more compact and lightweight. And the fewer lenses, the fewer obstacles in the way of light to the matrix and the more aperture the optics can be.

For example, the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens has as many as 15 lenses in 11 groups, and the Nikkon 50mm f/1.4G lens has 8 lenses in 7 groups.

Primes are faster and produce stronger bokeh.

Choosing the focal length of a fixed lens

We advise you to pay attention to the following four focal lengths: 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 100/105mm. These are the most popular focal lengths.

The rest are extremely rarely used by photographers due to high cost (200mm) or specific characteristics (14mm, 24mm).

Next we will look at 35mm, 50mm and 85mm. All three lenses are available in budget and professional versions. As a rule, budget ones have less aperture and are weaker in design.

This fix is ​​not widely popular among amateurs, but professional reporters find it very interesting.

The viewing angle of 35mm lenses averages 63 degrees. This angle contains all the magic of this lens. It allows you to capture a person or other subject along with the surrounding surroundings.

It is the surroundings that allow you to recreate in the frame the atmosphere of the events taking place around a given person. This creates a story that is much more interesting for the viewer to watch entirely in one frame, rather than just seeing a portrait limited by the frame.

If you are shooting with open apertures, then you can slightly blur this very surroundings, slightly separating the model from the background and at the same time leaving the details of this background readable.

Of course, this lens is not suitable for classic portrait photography, the distortion is too pronounced.

This lens is ideal for reporting and any genre where, in addition to the hero, the surroundings are important to you.

This lens, like the 35mm, is available in two modifications, which can be divided into budget (f/1.8) and professional (f/1.4 and f/1.2).

Many consider this lens to be a classic portrait lens; this is the first association that most photographers have.

As a rule, as an argument, there are comparisons between the viewing angle of a 50mm lens and the “angle of coverage of the human eye.” It's a delusion. And there is a lot of evidence for this, starting with the fact that we read information with two eyes, that is, stereoscopically, and then we stitch this data into a panorama.

Although 50mm does not distort perspective as much as 35mm, there are still distortions and they are quite noticeable, especially when shooting close-ups.

Despite all its shortcomings, this lens remains the most popular prime lens.

There is no perspective distortion at this focal length, making this lens a true portrait lens.

The high focal length is both a plus and a minus of this lens.

On the one hand, all other things being equal, it compresses the perspective more, which allows the background to be blurred more strongly.

On the other hand, to shoot a medium shot you will have to stand back quite far. Picking up a girlfriend in a cafe, even from the waist up, will be problematic.

For these reasons, such a lens can no longer be used as a standard lens, since its scope of application is very limited.

135mm

135mm is a classic portrait lens. It inherits and enhances the properties of 85mm. Tight perspective, strong bokeh and focusing distance.

Selecting a line of primes for any photographer, even a professional one, is a very intimate and painstaking matter.

Therefore, for beginning photographers, Fototips will venture to give some advice:

• You can determine the focal length that is preferable for you as an artist using a zoom lens, taking several shots without changing the focal length from frame to frame.
• We recommend making a line of optics with a certain pitch, without purchasing optics with a similar focal length. Examples of recommended lines:
  • 1st 24mm (landscape), 50mm (genre), 100mm (portrait + macro)
  • 2nd 35mm (landscape + genre), 85mm (portrait)
  • 3rd (budget option) only 50mm.

We will talk about tilt-shift lenses in a separate article.

The philosophy of using prime lenses. Part 2.

This article is a continuation of this material. Prime lenses have a number of undeniable advantages. This is, first of all, better image quality , which includes: increased sharpness at all aperture values, better contrast, more detailed elaboration of halftones, etc. Also, such lenses are more compact, lighter and much cheaper than high-quality zooms.

Another point that I haven’t written about before: prime lenses are many times better in terms of dust getting into the camera. Any zoom, even with an externally stationary design, sucks dust inside, which settles on the matrix and affects image quality over time. By the way, here is an article about cleaning the matrix.

It would seem that by buying a fix, you get a better result for less money. What else can you doubt? But fixes have a main drawback - less functionality and limitations in the scope of application. Next, I'll go through the disadvantages of prime lenses from my favorite set for wedding photography.

14mm vs 16-35mm

Ultra-wide-angle zooms are most often used at their widest position. The same applies to the sensational Nikon 12-24. Considering the cost of good zooms, it is much more practical to buy a Samyang 14mm. Moreover, it is significantly sharper across the entire field at all apertures than the Canon 16-35 f2.8L II. In addition, 14mm is still wider than 16mm, which makes it even more interesting.

Pros against the fix

There are situations when you need to quickly change the shooting angle. For example, the registry office does not have time to change 14mm to 35mm and back. And beautiful shots with huge wide-angle coverage are very appropriate there. Plus, the Samyang's manual focusing sometimes causes problems. It’s easy to focus on, but if you make a mistake somewhere and forget about it, you’ll ruin important shots that you won’t be able to repeat later. In terms of reportage photography, this is a rather specific lens.

35mm vs 24-70mm

A focal length of 35mm is essentially an average value between 24mm and 70mm. In most situations, you can shoot with 35mm everything that can be shot with 24-70mm. In addition, the Canon 35mm f2 IS USM lens is much lighter, more compact and has a working f2. While the 24-70 at f2.8 is fine to shoot only portraits. You can’t shoot landscapes at the wide end and f2.8 with it. I'm not talking about the second version, the cost of which is not justified.

Pros against the fix

The 35mm lens perfectly replaces the 24-70 for reporting. Especially if you are reporting for the whole day and you don’t want to carry around a heavy lens. Although, for the same shooting in a registry office or a wedding in a church, 24-70 is much more convenient and allows you to get more diverse shots. In a couple of seconds you can get a general photo of the entire room, portrait photos of the newlyweds and close-up photos of the rings. But that's not all.

I also use the 24-70 for subject and macro photography. At closed apertures this lens is very sharp, in addition, it initially has a short minimum focusing distance. And it works wonders with macro rings. Of course, there are specialized fixes for the subject. But 24-70 fulfills my tasks with a bang.

The amazing Canon 24-70 f2.8L is a zoom I can't pass up. The range of tasks it can perform is very wide. With some reservations, it replaces 4 fixed lenses: a wide-angle, a standard lens, a portrait lens and a lens for subject photography.

85mm vs 70-200mm

Owners of the 70-200, which I used to be, most often use this lens at medium apertures around 135mm. Which leads to the logical conclusion, why not replace it with a Canon 135 f2L? Some people do just that. When exchanging 70-200 for telefix, you need to be aware of what you are shooting more of - reportage or staged portraits. For reporting, a fixed 135mm can be convenient in certain conditions. And for portraits, I personally prefer 85mm, which I wrote about here.

Pros against the fix

A fixed focal length of 85mm or 135mm or 200mm is inconvenient (the longer, the more inconvenient) if you need to shoot a reportage. Where 70-200 is especially needed is when filming various kinds of conferences and other official events with a large number of people. As a rule, your movements there are limited, but there is a need to capture faces close-up. The same applies to filming concerts. At concerts, the photographer's mobility options are very limited. A telephoto zoom is also a must for filming sports. So, if you often photograph events with a lot of people in open spaces or large rooms, then the 70-200 is your choice.

A few more details

In terms of focusing, neither zooms nor primes have any advantages. If you buy a good native USM lens from Canon, you can rest assured that it will focus perfectly. The rest depends on your body and the straightness of your hands.

Another controversial advantage of professional zoom lenses is that they look convincing . Especially if the lens is large, white and long. For some this is important. Image quality and ease of use are important to me, so I consider their dimensions and weight to be disadvantages. And attention to your technology can sometimes be unpleasant, unnecessary, and even dangerous.

Ushakov Mikhail

Advantages and disadvantages of a fixed lens

You have come to the conclusion that a kit lens no longer suits your needs. There are many different opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of prime lenses. This photography lesson will help you understand whether you should buy an inexpensive prime lens or upgrade to a professional zoom lens.

What is a prime lens

Every amateur photographer, when buying his first DSLR, comes with a standard inexpensive variable focal length lens. Thanks to its versatility, its capabilities are sufficient for most beginning photographers. Over time, having mastered photography skills, you begin to analyze the quality of the photos and realize that they are sharp, blurry, and lack detail - it’s time to change your zoom lens to a prime lens. First, let's define the term “prime” - it is a lens that has one constant focal length, for example 40mm. Lens markings contain information about the focal length and aperture ratio of the lens.

Focal length is the distance from the optical center of the lens to the surface of the matrix

Fixed focal length lenses have a very wide range of applications, they are:

1. Wide-angle lenses from 8 to 35mm.
2. Lenses with standard focal length from 40 to 58mm.
3. Portrait lenses have focal lengths from 70 to 110mm.
4. Telephoto lenses have focal lengths from 135 to 1200mm.

Why do they love prime lenses?

First of all, for aperture and resolution! The fastest lenses are prime lenses. For top-end lenses, the aperture starts from F-0.95; more affordable options have an aperture starting from F-1.4. We are talking about lenses with standard focal lengths from 35 to 58mm. The fastest zoom lenses have an F-2.8 rating. (every professional photographer has a favorite prime lens in his arsenal). But there is an exception, this is a lens for cropped SIGMA 18-35mm cameras. F-1.8

• Primes are loved for their affordability; every amateur photographer can afford them.
• They have a simpler design and are much cheaper.
• The weight of a prime lens is significantly lighter.
• Stopping the aperture down to F8-4 will give you greater detail and sharpness than a zoom lens.

A prime lens forces the photographer to be more careful about composition. When photographing with a zoom lens, the photographer has the opportunity, without leaving the spot, to take several photographs at different focal lengths. To fix this, the photographer needs to move closer or further from the subject. This technique teaches the amateur photographer to perceive and see the boundaries of the frame, cutting off excess image space. The quality of the photo will be significantly higher in all respects.

What is the disadvantage of a fixed focal length?

Perhaps the only one is the lack of versatility. Other disadvantages you can put up with:

1. Limited application
2. Lack of versatility
3. Different genres of photography require their own lens
4. On long hikes, a set of fixes will be heavier and take up a lot of space
5. Frequently changing lenses outdoors can lead to contamination of the camera.

To be able to shoot any scene, you need to have a whole set of lenses with different focal lengths. Such a set of optics will greatly increase the weight of the photographer’s equipment; you must agree, this is also a minus when it comes to hiking or reportage photography. Quickly changing optics is also not always possible, and in outdoor conditions this can lead to the appearance of dust on the camera matrix.

How to choose a fix for your tasks

To make the right choice, you must answer the following questions for yourself:

• What genre of photography do you intend to use it in: children’s photography, landscape, architectural photography, macro, wedding photography. For family and children's photo shoots, a zoom lens is preferable.
• What lens aperture will be sufficient for you? If you plan to use the lens in poor lighting conditions, you will need an aperture value of F-1.4; for an outdoor photo shoot, F-1.8-2 is enough.
• Think about how often you will change your optics? If this is necessary, you can purchase three prime lenses that will cover the most popular range of focal lengths.
• What budget are you willing to allocate for the purchase of optics? If you find it difficult to answer the previous questions, first purchase a lens with a focal length of 50mm F-1.8

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2 Comments

I very quickly ceased to be satisfied with the results of the kit lens. I don’t want to buy professional zoom lenses, so I decided to buy an inexpensive 50 1.8 first. A very affordable lens and I was pleased with the results. I was able to put your photography lesson into practice and I’m glad that the money on optics was not wasted.

I thought a lot about this topic and rented a 50 f 1/4 prime lens for testing. I shot with it for three days and realized that for my tasks, versatility is much more important than “optics design.” Who sees him?! Only those who need it. I'm not a fan of bokeh and beautifully blurred backgrounds. For me, the value of photography lies primarily in its content.

Is it worth buying a prime lens and is it better than a zoom?

This is a classic. Ask a question on the forum about dull colors or smears in photographs, and the recommendation to purchase a prime lens will not keep you waiting. Inexperienced camera owners have a strange and touching love for them. Everyone considers it their duty to buy it, not knowing how to operate a camera.

What is a prime lens

This is a fixed focal length lens. Using the terminology of girls with DSLRs, the fix cannot zoom in and out. To do this, you need to approach the subject or move further away. This is a disadvantage of the lens, which limits its use to an untrained beginner. It is not always possible to get closer or move away from the subject.

The rigidity of the lenses in the lens design affects sharpness. If we compare zoom lenses and prime lenses from the same price segment, then the prime lens will provide better sharpness and picture quality. That's a plus.

What is it for?

The answer is known, but the misconception is widespread. For sharp photos with beautiful color reproduction. Also, at an open aperture, the prime lens beautifully blurs the background. Why misconception? Because for bright photographs you need to expose correctly, and only then have a prime lens.

The myth about color rendering quality lies in the incorrect comparison of zoom lenses with prime lenses. You won't buy a fast PRO series autofocus zoom for 30 thousand. A high-aperture prime of 50 mm or 35 mm can be purchased for this price. If you compare a fast prime lens and a fast zoom lens in terms of color rendering quality and micro-contrast without taking into account the cost of the lens, there will be no noticeable difference for a simple reason. In both cases, the same coated lenses are used.

This is the reason they are needed and why they are used. It is not profitable to buy an expensive and high-quality zoom for shooting in a studio at a constant focal length, which depends on the size of the studio. A fix with similar picture quality and color rendition will cost much less.

The illustration shows a comparison of prices for a 24-70 mm zoom with constant aperture and two popular primes, which are in the range of zoom focal lengths and have greater aperture with comparable picture quality. Portraits are shot with both types of these lenses, as are landscapes. But each of them will be better in certain shooting conditions, which are taken into account by the design of the lens.

This is the answer to the age-old question of what is better: a prime lens or a zoom.

Why fixes are better and what are their advantages

Inexpensive fast primes like the 50mm from Canon or Nikon have popularized shallow depth of field photography. Any girl with a DSLR who has no idea about depth of field will easily blur the background in her photographs.

An inexpensive prime lens provides significantly better image quality and greater aperture than a regular inexpensive zoom lens. This is important for portrait photography, which is why they like inexpensive primes.

Is it worth buying

If you know that you won't need to change the focal length based on shooting conditions, then primes will provide better image quality than zooms from the same price segment. This is a good choice if there is enough space to move away or move closer.

Be careful when choosing a lens. They are sold in two types:

• With auto focus
• Manual focus

When shooting at a wide open aperture, manual primes are not friendly to beginners, as beginners easily fall out of the shallow depth of field. They focus manually, which requires a good quality camera viewfinder and the ability to focus in LiveView mode.

What is filmed with fixed lenses?

Fixes are used in studio photography, product and portrait photography. In the genre of street and landscape. Wherever it is convenient to use a fixed lens rather than a zoom. This does not depend on the genre of photography, it depends on the conditions of photography and the budget. Don't believe it if they say otherwise.

How to shoot

Using a fixed lens, they photograph with their feet. If you need to zoom in on the scene, move closer. If you move away, then move further away. When walking backwards, look over your shoulder often to avoid bumping into other people. Take this advice seriously.

Conduct an experiment to determine your compatibility with a prime lens. Set the whale's focal length to 35mm or 55mm, and secure the zoom ring with tape. Go shoot with an improvised fix.

If you don’t feel discomfort from framing with your feet or quickly get used to it, then purchasing a fixative is not contraindicated. Otherwise, I recommend that you think carefully so that you don’t feel sorry for the money that was given for a lens that is not used.

What to choose? Prime lens or zoom lens?

One of the most popular questions: what is better to buy - a lens with a variable focal length or a lens with a fixed focal length? But why do people often rush between these options? How are zoom and prime similar and how are they different? Let's talk about this today.

What is a fix? Fix – a lens with a fixed focal length. For example, Nikon 35mm, Nikon 50mm and so on. Zoom is a lens with variable focal length. For example, Nikon 18-105mm, Nikon 55-300mm and others. It would seem that the wider the focal range, the more versatile the lens, and therefore better. Oh, if only it were that simple. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Let's look at examples.

One of the most popular examples: you want glass for shooting portraits, and now you have to choose between a prime lens and a zoom lens. You liked two lenses: Sigma 85mm f/1.4 and Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8. Let's use this example to look at what are the advantages and disadvantages of the first glass and what are the second.

The 85mm lens has a fixed focal length. This is its feature, and for lovers of versatility it is also a drawback. Due to its 85mm focal length, the lens is suitable for portraits, and sometimes, but quite rarely, for landscapes. It’s not for nothing that it’s called portrait glass: the main purpose of the Sigma 85mm is to shoot portraits. Its plus, as a primer, is its aperture ratio and sharpness. It's no secret that primes, for the most part, are sharper and brighter than zooms. It's the same here. The Sigma 85mm is sharp when opened. Aperture ratio 1.4 is more than 2.8 by 2 stops. In addition to the ability to shoot in worse lighting conditions, this also provides an advantage in “bokeh” - blurring the background. Well, and, of course, one of the advantages of fixes is their weight and size. Prime lenses are smaller and lighter than their prime lenses, which is a deciding factor for some. Let's say the Sigma 85mm weighs 725 grams, and the Nikon 80-200 weighs 1300 grams. I think comments are unnecessary.

As you already understand, the main advantage of the Nikon 80-200mm over a prime lens is its variable focal length. The lens is much more versatile. With this zoom you can film various kinds of holidays/competitions without fear of disturbing those gathered. The lens, like the Sigma, is suitable for portraits, but unlike the eighty-five mm prime, this zoom has the ability to use more diverse focal length options, including classic portrait ones for the 135mm FF. Another advantage of the lens is its focusing speed. For fast primes, it is most often lower than for zoom lenses.

So what happens? Most often, to say that it is better to take a zoom or a fixed lens, you need to look at specific examples. In general, the following can be stated. Zooms are more versatile and nimble, while primes are lighter, sharper and lighter. For portraits, aperture is one of the most important criteria, which is why prime lenses are often used for shooting in this genre. But everyone chooses a universal lens based on their preferences: for crop, a 35mm prime is universal, as well as a zoom like 17-50mm. In the following articles we will try to compare specific models. That's all. The choice is yours!

UPD. Made a video for our channel. After all, more than 3 years have passed since this article was written. If you want to get a little more information on this topic, watch the video.