Why I Love Prime Lenses

The vast majority of people seem to have their first and only experience with camera lenses being a zoom lens of some kind, and I think thats a damn shame.

One of the things that has really brought me joy over the years and continues to push me to be creative and innovative in new ways has been prime lenses. With many of them being very cost effective (especially the older lens generation 50mm’s) they’re a great tool to have in your kit for a variety of uses.

There are a few things that I really love about primes, but first and foremost has to be the fact that they give access to much wider apertures than most zoom lenses that wont dwarf the cost of a good used car. Having access to something in the f1.8 range allows for stellar separation of subject and background, superior performance in low light situations (which seem to be about half of what I want to shoot in), and an array of creative and stylization techniques that can set your photos apart from others.

You can grab an older EF mount 50mm for sub $100 if you do a little looking, and thats not just cheap by prime standards, thats cheap by camera gear standards. Most prime lenses can be had for sub $1000 and tend to be lighter and smaller than their zoom compatriots, which means a more portable kit.

Lastly, I absolutely love the way that having a prime lens, or only prime lenses with you, forces you to be creative in your composition. Having to move around to get the framing you want can open your eyes to whole new ways of looking at a subject or scene and expand the potential you see in an area when you are heading out to shoot.

In short, if you are a photographer, new or old, looking to push yourself creatively, then adding a prime lens to your kit is something I can’t recommend enough.