Primes vs. Zooms

A few days ago I received an e-mail from a reader:

…should I spend big bucks on prime lenses or get a workhorse zoom? Never really gave it much though until now. Do you really have to sacrifice portability for quality, and vice-versa?

Seems like a reasonable question to ask, and I figured I’d offer my thoughts publicly in response. I think the camera industry is at a point where the prime vs. zoom issue doesn’t really matter, and that the quality of the lens is more important than if it has moveable parts. I started out with cheap lenses, and while they produced adquate images, they weren’t quite up to par with some of the higher-quality glass that’s available.

A good quality zoom will produce a better image than a poor quality prime. I seem to be going the prime route with my latest lens purchases, but Steve (also posting on this site) uses good-quality zooms including the excellent Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L and gets excellent results.

For a great resource on evaluating lenses with some first-hand stories, I recommend the reviews section at FredMiranda.com

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