My Love of Prime Lenses

Before I start

In case some of you don't know what a prime lens is: Prime lens is a lens with fixed focal length, meaning that you can't zoom with that lens. Usually, a prime lens does have a somewhat large aperture such as f/2.8, f/2, f/1.8 or even f/0.95; prime lens also usually delivers much better image quality result when compared to standard zoom lens due to simpler optical design. Prime lens does perform better in low light because of the large aperture which lets in  more light; it is also capable of blurring the background much more compared to zoom lens.

This was shot with a 50mm f1.8 on Canon APS-C which is 80mm eq full frame.

Back...

...in the Canon days, I used my EF 35mm f2.0 so many times to photograph almost everything, anywhere, no matter how good or bad the light is. It's a lovely lens and it still is until today one of my most respected lens. Coupled with my crop APS-C Canon body, it becomes a 56mm f3.2 equivalent of full frame sensor. It is very close to a regular 50mm but with a slightly wider and slightly more forgiving depth of field while maintaining equivalent exposure of f2.0 on the crop body.

And this was shot with a 35mm f2.0 on Canon APS-C which is close to 50mm eq full frame

I shot only on that lens for 4 months at least before I switched back to zoom but I really learned so many things in just that 4 months thanks to that lens. It teaches me to compose properly without trying to zoom in and out to achieve my composition. If I happen to need wide angle or telephoto lens, I would abandon the shot and just get a different angle or object on that particular scene and focus on it; it is really unforgiving and I missed many of what I thought would be my keeper pictures.

Nevertheless, I am still very thankful that I spent a lot of time with the 35mm f2.0 although I missed some shots. When I move back to zoom lens, I suddenly understand that the relationship between foreground and background changes drastically when you zoom, thus you have to pick how you want your foreground and background relates to each other.

Talking further about zoom lens, a lot of beginners would just zoom out to 18mm and try to get everything in the frame for typical landscape shot but then I learned that a slight zoom in to 40mm would sometimes work better to get that far background to come closer toward our eyes with the already close foreground and thus making a more interesting shot. With the zoom lens however, I can pull back the focal length in tight spaces and zoom in the focal length to get maximum magnification on some scenarios and thus get more keeper shots. However, as time goes, I miss shooting with that 35mm f/2.0 again and I occasionally put that lens back to my 650D and have some fun.

I then also acquired a 22mm f/2.0 which is the kit lens on my EOS M which is a 35mm equivalent on full frame that I also love very much for the versatility as well as the wide angle-ish look that doesn't exaggerate the foreground too much.

My Olympus E-PL6 with fun little prime lenses.

Now... 

...that I am on Micro Four Thirds system, I naturally want to gravitate back toward that 22mm f/2.0 and 35mm f/2.0 feel and vibe on my crop body. Luckily, there are plenty of prime lens choices in the MFT system for so many different focal length and aperture.

This was shot with a 17mm f1.8 on GX7 Micro Four Thirds, which is 35mm eq full frame.

I now have 17mm f/1.8, 17mm f/2.8, 25mm f/1.8, and 45mm f/1.8; they all cover all the necessary focal lengths that I usually need. Those prime lenses, if coupled with my Olympus E-PL6, are very inconspicuous, so they are ideal for keeping the size of the camera down as well as some street photography work. The 17mm lenses are very good for general street photography stuffs, imitating the focal length behaviour of my Canon EF-M 22mm f/2.0 perfectly; the 17mm f/2.8 in particular is perfect to make my camera very close to pocketable. The 25mm lens is perfect for tighter street photography stuffs or as a short range portrait lens. The 45mm lens is superb for portrait and slight compression effect.

My E-PL6 with 25mm f/1.8, a superb camera/lens combination!

Practice your photography with a prime lens!

Now I am suggesting you to have at least one prime lens, in particular the one that can give you a 35mm or 50mm focal length equivalent on full frame; stick to that lens for at least two months and don't change your lens at all, and start to really work hard to get your pictures (the 35mm will be more forgiving than the 50mm in my opinion). You will be surprised by the results and you will start to understand more and more about photography techniques which in time will make you a better photographer. I can now imagine how a scene looked on my 25mm f1.8 or 17mm f1.8 easily so I know whether I can get the shot or not before I turn on the camera. I am still practicing that same skill with my 45mm now, it's quite difficult actually but hopefully I'll get there.

If you don't want to purchase a prime lens and you only have a zoom lens, or if you only have a compact camera with no way to change lens, I suggest you to try the same thing by setting the zoom on your camera to 35mm equivalent or 50mm equivalent and keep it on that zoom for a few months.

Now, let's go outside and shoot some nice pictures! Until next time, cheers and God bless :)