A Prime Lens - Do I need one in my bag?

Owning a prime lens depends entirely on personal preference, budget and what type of photography is your "thing". A prime could be a 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm, 135mm, 150mm, 200mm and so on. Not so long ago, there was no such thing as a zoom lens and all we had were prime or fixed lenses.

People tend to use zoom lenses nowadays, for convenience. You can have a wide focal range on just one zoom lens meaning you have less to carry around. Imagine a time before zooms were introduced when you had nothing but prime lenses and you covered a wide range. You may have carried up to 10 lenses with you...heavy! now just 3 lenses could cover the focal plane from 16mm to 400mm (up to 800mm if you also have a 2x converter)!

I would always suggest that you have at least one prime/fixed lens in your kit, and if you only have one, you could make it a macro lens too! Go for anything between 50mm and 135mm as any of these are great for portrait shots and will give noticeably better quality. For wildlife or sports photography, a zoom lens may suit you more as with the fast action it is easier to zoom in and out than to run about!

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• What lenses do I need? - Wide Angle, Telephoto, Zoom, Standard, Prime - You are here
• "Walk around camera lenses"
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