Digital Photography Basics : Prime vs Zoom Lenses Explained

Hey guys this is A.R.M from frenzyitans360 and welcome to the second part of our digital photography basics series where we discuss about the utmost basic stuffs when it comes to digital camera photography. On part 1 I tried to explain what aperture, shutter speed and ISO means and what do they really do. Click here to check that out. But today, let’s talk about lenses. Whether you use an entry level DSLR or mirror-less or a high end one, decent quality glass is essential to get good photos out of your camera. 

Primarily camera lenses can be divided into two categories. Prime lenses and zoom lenses. A lens with a variable focal length is referred to as a zoom lens. Whereas, a lens with a fixed focal length is called, a prime lens aka a fixed lens. Both types of lenses have different usage and have appeal towards different types of photographers. Both of them also provide different advantages over one another. Today we are going to try and explain the differences, pros and cons of each type of lenses. But without further ado let’s just jump right into the comparison.

 

Prime lens: Prime lenses are the ones that have a fixed focal length. It means that with a prime lens you have a single fixed angle of view that cannot be changed (unless you move your camera of course). Prime lenses have a single specific focal length such as, 24mm, 40mm, 50mm, 300mm etc. So, you still can get prime lenses in all kind of sizes and focal lengths starting from super wide to super telephoto.

Prime lenses provide better optical performance than zoom lenses. So, generally a prime lens can provide you with better quality images. Prime lenses do come in different sizes and footprints but they are most likely to be far less bulky and more lightweight than zoom lenses of their equivalent focal length. Because unlike zoom lenses prime lenses have much less glass or elements inside of them. And mostly they are really compact and small compared to zoom lenses. For example, a Canon 40mm EF f/2.8 STM lens is almost the same size as the focus ring on a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L series zoom lens! That is really small! Not to mention, prime lenses also cost way less than zoom lenses. Because their structure is a lot less complicated and really a lot simpler than zoom lenses. So, it generally costs less to manufacture them.

Prime lenses usually have a wider maximum aperture than that of a zoom lens (because their simpler architecture let’s manufacturers to push the aperture much higher).  It means that prime lenses are generally very fast lenses. So, obviously you will be able to get all the benefits you get from a fast lens from a prime lens. Thus, you will get better low light performance from a fast prime lens as the wider aperture will allow you to set the shutter speed decently high without losing much light to make sure that there is no motion blur in the picture.

And most importantly if you want to use the shallow depth of field or BOKEH effect in you photos, prime lenses will provide you with the best smooth, silky and creamy shallow depth of field for those shots. I mean come on, who wouldn’t want some creamy BOKEH in their photos. Yes, your kit zoom lenses can blur out the background keeping your subject sharp (that’s what BOKEH is literally) but the results won’t be nearly as good as using a prime lens for the shot (unless you use a high end zoom lens that is). So, this actually makes prime great for portrait shots.

On the other hand if we take a look at the cons of using a prime lens, they are actually not that versatile. Suppose, if you buy a 50mm prime you are gonna be stuck with only that particular focal length. So, to make the photos wider or tighter you will have to manually move you camera forward or back from the subject to adjust the field of view because of course you can’t change your focal length. So when it comes to framing the subject in your photos, with a prime lens you won’t really get many options to choose from.

But yes, you can buy 2 or 3 prime lenses for almost the same price of a zoom lens to cover more focal lengths. And changing lenses indoors might not be an issue but when you go outdoors, changing lenses in middle of a shoot is not really convenient and not to mention changing lenses make both the inside of your lens and the sensor of your camera vulnerable to dust particles. So that will be the start of a whole new set of problems. Carrying 2 or 3 small prime lenses might be easier than carrying a really big zoom lens but you kind of have to trade in versatility for portability when going for a prime lens rather than a zoom I guess.

Zoom lens: Unlike primes, one zoom lens can cover various focal lengths by itself. A zoom lens, in addition to the focus ring, also has a zoom ring. By turning the zoom ring you actually move the optical elements inside your lens to potentially change the focal length of your lens to get a wider or tighter field of view in your shot. So, with a 70-200mm zoom lens you can cover the focal lengths of 70mm and 200mm as well as all the numbers in between them. So, you will get more options when it comes to getting the right composition or framing of your photos. Because you can go from a standard focal length of 70mm to a telephoto focal length of 200mm. And not to mention, with some zoom lenses, you can cover so many focal lengths that it can literally save you from carrying multiple lenses. Thus you won’t need to swap lenses that often and this will obviously result in a cleaner camera sensor and cleaner environment inside your lens. This convenience and versatility factor makes zoom lenses appealing towards photographers. 

Kit zoom lenses to professional grade zoom lenses all of them usually have different types of optical image stabilization systems built inside them. The image stabilization can counter camera shake, which can be really useful while shooting at lower shutter speeds. Even if you are shooting video with your camera the image stabilization is something you will definitely appreciate. But I would like to mention that image stabilization can be present on a prime lens as well and many cameras also come with image stabilization systems built into the camera body, which will work with pretty much any lens you use with the camera.

Coming to the cons, good quality zoom lenses are usually really bulky, long and heavy compared to primes and they add a lot of additional weight to your camera (good luck to you if it’s a DSLR). Yes, they might look professional and all but it also means that you are probably gonna leave it at your home for the most of the time anyways. So, zoom lenses are versatile but in many cases not so portable due to its sheer bulky size and weight. Plus, consumer level zoom lenses have a variable widest aperture. It means that as you zoom in more, you will lose more light. Yes, many prosumer level zoom lenses do offer a fixed maximum aperture but they are obviously really costly as heck.

Then if we are talking about quality, lens manufacturers are constantly pushing the quality of their zoom lenses to match with the optical performance of a prime lens. Many professional grade zooms actually even surpass the quality of a prime. But those zoom lenses are obviously a lot more costly. And prime lenses still haven’t really lost their desirability as lens manufacturers are offering more options these days in the prime lens market.  Zoom lenses are much more complicated than primes and the prices also vary a lot more. But mostly they are a lot pricier than standard prime lenses.

Conclusion: As you might have figured out already, each type of lenses have both pros and cons. None of them are perfect. So, in the end all of it actually boils down to your personal preference and the types of photos you prefer to shoot most of the time. Because different genre of photography benefits from different types of lenses, that’s why most photographers would prefer having both a prime and a zoom in their camera bag. Thus, a quick and short answer to the zoom vs prime debate will be, “why not have them both?”

But if you already have a kit lens, go out and try out something like a 50mm or 35mm standard prime lens, they are pretty cheap and you will immediately notice an enormous difference in your photographs. And, if you are willing to buy a lens for your entry level DSLR, a kit zoom lens most probably won’t give you the results that you might have expected from your camera. So, in that case it’s recommended that go for a prime lens and manually move your camera to fix the compositions of your photos. This is a better way for beginners to learn about compositions and framing your photo in the right way. But in the end, prime lenses for better optical performance and zoom lenses for convenience.

Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section down below; any constructive criticism would be much appreciated. If you found this blog to be at least a little helpful then please share this with your friends and family, don’t forget to follow us on all our social media accounts and I will see you guys on the next one.