Another newbie ?

[ColleenG]

I've been reading through a lot of the threads here and getting some great info. What is a prime lens?

 

[Chikabowa]

A prime lens is a fixed-focal length lens that has no zoom. For example... a 50mm is a prime lens as is a 400mm.

A zoom lens is a variable focal length lens. For example.... a 24-70mm or a 70-200mm.

The advantages of having a prime lens are... They tend to produce sharper images straight out of camera and they often have apertures that can open up very wide (such as a f1.4 or f1.2). Depending on the lens, they also tend to be a little more affordable.
The disadvantages are... well, not being able to zoom and you have to do all your composition with your feet instead of a zoom.

With zoom lenses, the biggest disadvantage is that in order to get fixed aperture zooms, you are going to shell out a lot of money (like the nikon 70-200 f2.8 is a fixed aperture lens and retails for ~$2000 while you can get the 70-200 f3.5-5.6 variable aperture lens for about $500). But the nice things with zooms is you can get various compositions, take pictures from a distance, etc.

 

[Chikabowa]

A prime lens is a fixed-focal length lens that has no zoom. For example... a 50mm is a prime lens as is a 400mm.

A zoom lens is a variable focal length lens. For example.... a 24-70mm or a 70-200mm.

The advantages of having a prime lens are... They tend to produce sharper images straight out of camera and they often have apertures that can open up very wide (such as a f1.4 or f1.2). Depending on the lens, they also tend to be a little more affordable.
The disadvantages are... well, not being able to zoom and you have to do all your composition with your feet instead of a zoom.

With zoom lenses, the biggest disadvantage is that in order to get fixed aperture zooms, you are going to shell out a lot of money (like the nikon 70-200 f2.8 is a fixed aperture lens and retails for ~$2000 while you can get the 70-300 f3.5-5.6 variable aperture lens for about $500). But the nice things with zooms is you can get various compositions, take pictures from a distance, etc.

 

[thesimson01]

I took this info on web (i didn't know how to write it correctly):


''Prime lens:
Fixed focal length lens. Though a zoom lens may replace several prime lenses, these lenses are usually capable of better optical performance and are to be preferred for exacting work''




I hope that's help you.

 

[ColleenG]

Thanks for answering my question. That explains it. With a prime lens is the aperature fixed or does it have a range the way a zoom lens does?

 

[VVFF]

Thanks for answering my question. That explains it. With a prime lens is the aperature fixed or does it have a range the way a zoom lens does?

Well...it's maximum is fixed because it can't change over a zoom range because it doesn't have one.


However, I believe you're thinking can you change it and the answer is of course you can.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

A prime is only divisible by itself and 1.

 

[ColleenG]

A prime is only divisible by itself and 1.

I'm guessing that has to do with the rule of 3. Which then leads to my next question, what is the rule of 3?

 

[VVFF]

I'm guessing that has to do with the rule of 3. Which then leads to my next question, what is the rule of 3?

his comment was sarcastic and he was referring to the mathematical prime instead of the lens. The rule of thirds means placing your subject at the "thirds" of the frame. So divide the frame into three rows and three columns. The points of intersection are the "power points" where to place your subject.

Doesn't apply to everything but it does get people out of "this goes in the center always" mode.

 

[ColleenG]

Oh, duuuhhh! And math was my best subject in school.

 

[Groucho]

Primes are also smaller and lighter than zooms of similar performance. (Usually cheaper, too.)

I don't remember the details, but I recall a conversation with Jann1033 from a couple years ago, and if I remember the details corrected, I found that you could carry a 50mm F1.4, 100mm F2.8, and 200mm F2.8 prime lens and the three combined weighed less than a single 70-200mm F2.8 lens. (All Canons since that was her system.)

The big advantages of the large apertures are that you can more easily take a photo in low light (the larger the aperture, the more light gets in), and they also give you less depth of field, which makes it easier to have one particular object in focus and blur everything in front and behind of it. As someone else said, you can of course change the aperture through the range (usually up to F22 or F32) so you don't need to do this unless you want to.

 

[ColleenG]

Thanks Groucho! When a lens is listed as f/2.8, for example, is that the largest aperature it has? I guess that is what has me confused, what exactly does the f/xx indicate?

 

[VVFF]

Thanks Groucho! When a lens is listed as f/2.8, for example, is that the largest aperature it has? I guess that is what has me confused, what exactly does the f/xx indicate?

Yes, that is the largest available for that lens.

 

[oregondaddyof2]

In the last few days I have finally learned what a prime lens was... Since I bought my dSLR last year, I have seen prime lenses for sale but never checked intot what they really are... I saw that people were using them and thought to myself, "What a moron, why would you use a lens that you cannot zoom? I will never own one of those." But in the past few days of learning about aperature, shutter speed, and the effect of lighting (or lack of), I realized the great advantage those can have (and what I have been missing out on), and have ordered me the new Nikon 35mm f/1.8 prime from my local shop... I should have it Mon or Tues at the latest.. I can't wait to try it out, but i really cant wait to try it at WDW in September!! Thanks everyone for the explanation and the desire to do more research on this subject...

 

[YesDear]

Think of a lens as your eye. Look at your pupil in low light and see how wide it gets. Then turn a light on and watch it get smaller. That is the same thing you do with the aperture on a lens. You are trying to balance the amount of light allowed in for a proper exposure.

The numeric numbers on the lens are mathematic representations of the amount of light the lens allows through the lens. The smaller the number the more light. If you have not been told yet most of the main numbers F4, F8, F11 etc are a halving and doubling of the amount of light allowed in. So at F8 and f11 there is two times the amount of light at F8 then F11. Two times!!!

The next time you are asked if you want an 8 inch or 11 inch pizza, the 11 inch is twice the size!

A prime fixed length lens can be made with a lower fstop making it "faster". That means you can take pictures with less light. The wider angle the lens to more light as well. That is why Gdad's 28mm at f 1.4 seems to create light.

All lens state the lowest fstop available for the lens but they all will go higher. Some to f16 others to f32.

Back in the day before zooms were readily available and cost effective we only used fixed length lens. With all lens you can zoom. You just do it with your feet.

Oh, and by the way, this thread is about aperture, but shutter speeds are the same halving and doubling. So when it starts to make sense, a picture taken at F16 and 1/125 of a second is the same shot at F8 and 1/250!!! Then you figure out which one has the look and depth of field and motion or lack of motion, etc you want. Then you are doing photography and you are in control!!!

 

[VVFF]

In the last few days I have finally learned what a prime lens was... Since I bought my dSLR last year, I have seen prime lenses for sale but never checked intot what they really are... I saw that people were using them and thought to myself, "What a moron, why would you use a lens that you cannot zoom? I will never own one of those." But in the past few days of learning about aperature, shutter speed, and the effect of lighting (or lack of), I realized the great advantage those can have (and what I have been missing out on), and have ordered me the new Nikon 35mm f/1.8 prime from my local shop... I should have it Mon or Tues at the latest.. I can't wait to try it out, but i really cant wait to try it at WDW in September!! Thanks everyone for the explanation and the desire to do more research on this subject...

^
What a moron

 

[annnewjerz]

^
What a moron

I had to laugh out loud about this one.

My first thought was "ugh how rude, this is a Disney board---someone is gonna flame you for that one!" and then I realized that according OregonDaddy's very own definition---he is in fact, like many of us who own prime lenses, moronic.

Outside of all of the helpful information that's provided each day, this has got to be one of my favorite posts on the DIS yet.

 

[ColleenG]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I took a photography class a few weeks ago that lasted 8 weeks, and I think I have learned more by asking questions here then I did in the class. I didn't know about the doubling. That is really interesting and something I will definately play around with to see what kind of results I get. In doing that would you keep the ISO the same? I wish you all taught a photography class! I guess this sort of is a class. Thanks again for your patience and VERY imformative answers! I haven't gotten an SLR yet but I can't wait to get one and put all this info to good use.

 

[VVFF]

I had to laugh out loud about this one.

My first thought was "ugh how rude, this is a Disney board---someone is gonna flame you for that one!" and then I realized that according OregonDaddy's very own definition---he is in fact, like many of us who own prime lenses, moronic.

Outside of all of the helpful information that's provided each day, this has got to be one of my favorite posts on the DIS yet.

I don't know what your talking about

 

[YesDear]

If a proper exposure with the meter of your camera is f16 at 1/125 second at any ISO setting you can then use the having or doubling. ( I am not going to get into different meter readings here!)

ISO is a numeric number to represent the sensitivity of the sensor. It used to be the number to represent the sensitivity of a particular film negative. THe higher the number the more sensitive the sensor is to light, but and the higher the ISO the more noise or grain is introduced to the image. As technology has improved some of the more advanced cameras and sensors have gotten pretty amazing in extended range sensitivity.