I’ve Fallen for Prime Lenses
When I first started shooting years ago, I had a single lens on my (very basic) Nikon DSLR. It was an 18-300mm and I loved having so much range in a single lens. I thought it was perfect. I never had to consider anything else since it covered both wide and zoom ranges. In fact, it seemed silly to me that anyone would have a prime lens. I didn’t understand why you would want to be so limited when out shooting. But with experience comes understanding (and hopefully wisdom), and now I’ve gone the other direction completely and absolutely LOVE prime lenses.
My love of prime lenses started after I converted to shooting with Sony Alpha gear. I had the original Sony A7II and in those days, I was traveling quite a bit for work. My travels always took me to cities, which I love to shoot. But because these were work trips, I didn’t always have a lot of free time. And of course, I did not want to lug around a backpack full of multiple lenses and a tripod if I only had a little bit of free time. So I would squeeze in some shooting early in the morning, or after work if I was free. But that was about it. I wasn’t on vacation.
And it was being out shooting in a city in the early morning, or in the evening, that got me thinking about prime lenses. I knew a prime lens would have a much wider aperture, which I knew was good for lower light. I started experimenting with shooting handheld, because I didn’t want to bring a tripod. And of course since I was shooting in cities, the fixed focal length would require some “zooming with my feet”, but I figured that wasn’t too big of a deal.
And of course I love wide angle shots, so I wanted something other than a standard 35mm or a “nifty fifty”.
At the time, there were not so many lenses available for the Sony full frame mirrorless cameras. In other words, I didn’t have a lot of options. (It’s much different today - there are SO many lenses available for Sony.) I came across a good deal on the Sony 28mm f/2 prime and got it. That lens is small and light, with a bright aperture, and allowed me to travel light and shoot quickly, both of which were essential for me. I loved it!
I took this single lens on many trips, shooting handheld in cities in low light without a care in the world. I could move easily and shoot quickly and I got really excited about this type of photography. Plus, noise removal software got better, which allowed me to bump up the ISO so I could still get sharp shots in these circumstances, and not have to worry about the image being noisy.
These days, I have several Sony prime lenses and still think about getting some others (Sony just announced the 16mm f/1.8 GM lens which looks amazing) . But I no longer have the 28mm f/2, because I replaced it (over the course of a few years) with several other Sony primes that are top of the line and which I absolutely adore.
I feel like I could only use these lenses and be supremely happy about it. All 4 of them are fantastic lenses that produce stellar results for me. And yes I still love shooting mostly wide, as you can probably tell. But I also have 2 other Sony lenses that offer me some additional flexibility when I need it (though I mostly use these for landscapes, and almost never in cities):
These days I still sometimes take a single prime lens on a trip (mostly to cities, that is). I love the freedom of committing to a specific focal length and working the scene with my feet to get the composition I want. I feel like this makes you take your time to get it right and really explore a composition instead of just taking a shot. I love the freedom of shooting handheld in lower light, and I love the freedom of not having a tripod with me. And (perhaps it’s obvious), I also love to travel light. It sometimes feels like having a lot of gear with me inhibits my freedom to shoot, so just having a prime lens and wandering with it really works for me.
Have you ever tried shooting with a prime lens? It really makes you think differently, which is another way of working those creative muscles.
BTW, if you want to see all my gear, I have a gear page right here. Thanks!
Note: This article contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase anything from Amazon using these links, I make a small commission (at no additional cost to you) which helps support the free content I provide each week.
