At the moment there are a few ways to think about getting into film photography.
If you are also interested in digital photography, it's probably a good idea to get a film camera that works with the same lenses as your digital camera. It will be relatively easy to find a used film camera in good shape that has the same lens mount as your digital camera.
Another option is to have a film camera from one manufacturer and a digital camera another manufacturer and then use adapters to make your lenses compatible with both cameras. Film camera / lens systems were never designed to be compatible with today's digital equipment. So, using adapters usually involves some kind of compromise. Some adapters work just fine. Some adapters only make it possible to physically mount a lens on a camera. Some adapters, arguably, interfere with the optical performance of your lenses. If you want to try using adapters as a bridge between two systems, you'll need to do some research about how much functionality you'll actually get out of your system.
If you don't care about any of that, you can buy an old film camera with compatible lenses and just let that be your film set up. There are many great options for stand alone film camera systems, far too many to list.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Friday, July 3, 2015
Digital Equipment
First things first. you need a lens.
Unfortunately, before you can buy a lens you need to know what kind of camera you're going to put it on. I say unfortunately because the camera tends to be the thing that gets everyone all excited and ready to splash out money. Most of the articles and reviews that you see will be about cameras and a much smaller number will be about lenses. That's because lenses are improved very gradually and several years pass between upgrades. But, just like computers and smartphones, there are new versions of cameras almost constantly. Everyone wants to talk about the cool new thing. And camera companies work very hard to get you thinking that you need the cool new thing. I'll be the first to admit that cameras are very cool gadgets and I own a whole bunch of them. But it should be pointed out that even the cheapest entry-level digital SLR has far more technology in it than the best professional-level film cameras ever did. And until you know which features you actually want in a camera it doesn't make sense to spend a load of money on one.
So, my feeling is that it's smarter to buy a good lens first and upgrade the camera later. But, we gotta talk about cameras first because all of your gear will be part of a system that will be based around the company you choose.
A camera is fundamentally just a box with a piece of film or a digital sensor in it. If you're really going to get into photography, spending on lenses is going to give you much higher image quality for your money. Think about this, if you have perfect eyesight and then you put on somebody's glasses your vision will surely get worse. It's the same thing if you buy the most amazing camera in the world and put a cheap lens on it.
In this class you will learn the basics of photography, the old-school in-camera basics. What that means is that you will learn to use your camera intentionally and effectively rather than just snapping away and fixing your images on your computer later. The preferred type of camera has traditiionally been a Single Lens Reflex camera or SLR. The digital versions are called a Digital SLR or DSLR. These are the big cameras you see professional photographers use. The kind with the bump on the top and the big lens sticking out. The look like this:
Recently, digital camera manufacturers have been innovating quite a bit and developing new types of cameras which were not possible with film. Mirrorless cameras are currently the most interesting option and are also acceptable for this class. They come in a variety of forms and function in a variety of ways. The main thing to look for is that the camera offers full manual functionality and that those functions are easy to access and control.
Choosing a Camera
How Many Megapixels Makes a Good Photo?
It is important not to get caught up in the megapixels. More megapixels gets you the ability to make bigger prints. If you want to spend $1000 you can get a really nice high-resolution camera and make some big BIG prints. But it's expensive to make big prints and we're not going to be doing that. Even professional photographers rarely make big prints anyway.
More megapixels also gets you the ability to crop more images. Cropping images, in one sense, can be thought of as zooming in after the fact. When you do that things can get pixely. So, more megapixels can mitigate the pixely problem. But, that's not something that we will be doing in this class. In this class, you'll frame the picture well in the first place and not need to crop it. In this class we will not crop any images.
You can get a very decent low-ish resolution camera that will work just fine for this class pretty cheap. I'm still regularly using the six megapixel digital camera I bought in 2003. I paid $1200 for it. You can buy a used one just like it for under $75. A couple years ago got a ten-year-old 12 megapixel camera used. Twelve megapixels is all I'm likely to ever need and you can get that for around $200. If you can afford more than that go for it. But understand that more megapixels is not going to get you better pictures, just bigger. And remember the main thing is that you get a good lens.
It's the Lenses That Matter!
Most people never get the message that your lens is much more important than your camera's features. And it's pretty common to see people using a flashy new camera with a kinda cheap lens. Think of it this way; your camera can only see what your lens can see. If your lens can't see very well then your camera can't either. If you have a high resolution camera with a cheap-o lens on it, you've wasted the money you spent on the camera. My recommendation is to figure out what your budget is and spend most of the money on the lens.
Each manufacturer makes a distinctive lens mount. That means that once you choose a camera you can only use lenses for that brand's lens mount. So get a camera from a company that makes good lenses or is compatible with good lenses.
Before giving you the idea that your lens has to be the same brand as your camera, you should be aware that there are companies that mainly make lenses. Some of them are budget lenses and some of them are excellent photographic tools. At the moment the best new lenses are Sigma brand Art lenses and Tamron brand lenses. I don't know much about third party lenses, but it seems that these companies go through ups and downs. So, if you're going to buy a third party lens, a little research should go a long way.
There are also many lens adapters on the market. These allow you to mount a lens from one manufacturer onto a camera from another manufacturer. There are so many possible combinations that it's unrealistic to try to write about them. If you choose to go this way, just be careful that you get a well-rated adapter and one that does not have a glass element in it.
Canon, Nikon and Sony are the biggest companies by far. Most professional photographers use Canon or Nikon and most of the used equipment you'll find comes from these companies. If you ever have a reason to rent equipment, maybe you need a big lens for a project, a short term job, or for a vacation, Canon and Nikon are all that will be available. If you're interested in video, videographers tend to give Canon's lenses a higher rating and some cinema camera manufacturers make their cameras compatible with Canon lenses. Canon actually makes some cinema equipment, so they have some understanding of the needs of cinematographers. It seems that Sony is catching up with Canon in this area.
Third party lens manufacturers most consistently make their lenses compatible with Canon, Nikon and Sony at the moment.
Sony is a great choice if you can afford newer equipment. They make great lenses and great cameras and more and more professionals are using them. However, they have not been doing so for a particularly long time. So, there is not a ton of used Sony equipment available and you will definitely have trouble renting their equipment. It looks as though this will change in the near future.
If you can afford to buy brand new, Fujifilm has a great line of cameras and lenses they call their X Series. The only problem is that this is a pretty new line and even used equipment is not exactly cheap.
Pentax used to be up there as one of the top companies. The company seems to be attempting a comeback under new ownership. It's not clear of they will that will happen. They are not really making a broad range of high-end professional gear at the moment. However, there are some important benefits to a Pentax system that are worth considering and just might make Pentax a good choice for you.
People who like Pentax tend to like their smaller, tougher more ergonomically designed camera bodies. If you have smaller hands, you might be more comfortable with a Pentax. (Although, all manufacturers are now making smaller and smaller cameras.) The other companies tend to make their lower end cameras with more plastic. Pentax tends to use more metal. So, you might just feel a little more comfortable carrying the camera with you all the time and letting it get banged around.
Even Pentax's cheapest DSLR is weather resistant and has shake reduction built into the camera. The other manufacturers only offer weather sealing in higher priced cameras. And the other manufacturers only build shake reduction into their lenses - this makes every lens with that feature larger, heavier, and more expensive. Pentax lenses can be made smaller, lighter and more affordable. AND, any lens that you put on a Pentax camera benefits from the shake reduction. Even an old lens made in the 1960's, even a third party lens made to fit on Pentax cameras.
Speaking of old lenses, Pentax has always made very good lenses. So, you can buy an old, used lens and it will work on your new DSLR. This is also true of Nikon. But, be aware that the older the lens, the more you will have to compromise functionality.
You can't rent their equipment but there is a large amount of used Pentax gear around inexpensively. On the other hand, the company went through a long slump during which they didn't always make high performance lenses. You can find good ones, you just need to do some minimal research.
Panasonic, Olympus and a few other manufacturers also make good quality cameras and you can find professionals who use them. They make equipment that will work just fine for learning photography and you might be happy with it forever. But they have drawbacks. There is less used equipment around. They don't offer as many lenses and they don't make much or any high-end equipment; so if you get "serious" in the future you may end up changing brands. It's sometimes the case that there are particularly good pieces of equipment that everyone wants from a particular company. Those pieces then become hard to find and expensive.
Some photographers complain that the digital files from less popular manufacturers can have compatibility issues that make them hard to deal with. I don't have any experience with this issue and can't comment on whether it really is a concern.
To find your camera you could look check out the following websites. I recommend looking in their USED departments.
BHPhotoVideo.com
Adorama.com
KEH.com
UsedPhotoPro.com
National Camera Exchange
Choosing A Lens
What Do Those Numbers Mean?
Lenses are made according to two specifications, Focal Length and Aperture. The first number or set of numbers on a lens is the focal length. This number is given in millimeters. Lenses range from 5 or 6 mm to around 1500mm. The second number is the aperture. This number is given as a decimal figure. Lenses commonly range from 1.4 to 5.6. It's really easy to narrow down and choose your first lens using these numbers.
If you have a consumer level digital SLR you want to start with a lens that covers a particular range of focal lengths. Many cameras come with a zoom lens and that lens almost always covers those specific focal lengths, 16 or 18mm to 55 or 60mm. These are called Standard Focal Length lenses. Why is this the standard range? 18mm to 24mm is good for landscape shots. 28mm to 35mm more or less mimics natural human vision, when you raise the camera to your eye the view should be more or less the same as what you see with your eyes. 50mm to 60mm is good for portraits, it lets you stand back a little from the sitter but still feels like natural vision. Because that range covers most of what people want to photograph the most common kit lens is an 18mm to 55mm zoom.
You also need to consider aperture. Most of the kit lenses that come with cameras have aperture values that vary from 3.5 to 5.6. With that lens when you're shooting at 18mm the maximum aperture is 3.5 and that lets in a good amount of light. When you're shooting at 55mm the maximum aperture is 5.6 which is less light but still ok. It's adequate and will work just fine for this class. There is no reason to think that you can't make great images with a kit lens. You can easily find a used camera that comes with one of these lenses at $200 to $300 for the kit. Or you can buy the lens separately at anything between $50 and $200.
However, I said at the beginning that the important thing is your lens and, if you're going to spend money on photo equipment, you should spend on lenses before cameras. Kit lenses are not really high quality lenses. Mostly kit lenses are made for people at the beginner level or who aren't actually looking for high quality images. And it's not what we call a fast lens. The lower those aperture numbers are the more light they let in. With more light you can shoot at faster shutter speeds, shoot in lower light and you have more choice about what's in focus or out of focus.
There is a standard focal length lens on the market that has a focal range of 17mm to 50mm and a constant aperture of 2.8. There are models to fit Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony. It costs a little under $500 new or around $350 used. Now you might ask, Why pay $500 to get a lens that's just a little bit different from the one that comes with the camera? Because it's more than a little bit different. Sure, an aperture of 2.8 isn't much different from 3.5 but there is a meaningful difference between 2.8 and 5.6. More importantly, the 2.8 aperture lens is optically superior to a kit lens because it's made for people who are looking to make high quality pictures. It's going to focus much sharper, give better color rendition and give better contrast.
If you get into buying lenses beyond the kit lens there may be other information to consider along with those numbers. Nikon's VR means vibration reduction. Canon't IS means image stabilization. Any Roman numerals refer to the generation/version of that product. There may also be letter codes that refer to lens coatings, the type of glass used, silent autofocus motors and so on. Once you get down to choosing a lens based on those particulars you're getting into specialized areas and a little research will be necessary.
If photography is something that you're really interested in, instead of spending $500 to $1000 on the latest camera with a mediocre kit lens I would get a used DSLR for $100 to $200 and spend the $350 to $500 on the 2.8 aperture lens.
If you're not really sure how much you're going to like photography, I would get a used DLSR with a kit lens as cheaply as you can.
Wait, What About Those Lenses That Don't Zoom?
Zoom lenses have a sort of drawback. They're trying to do too many things at once. It's an extremely complicated thing to make a zoom lens that looks good at every focal length. So the best zoom lenses are very expensive and they're still not perfect. They tend to have a sweet zone where they take great pictures and the farther you zoom from that zone their quality drops off. There is another option. Lenses that don't zoom are called prime lenses. Your feet are the zoom, as the saying goes. These lenses are designed to do one thing well and because they are far less complicated they can also be far cheaper. For the price of a high end zoom lens you could buy a couple of prime lenses and they will be optically superior.
Remember those standard focal lengths - between 16mm and 60mm? There are plenty of prime lenses that fall into that range. You can save a lot of money zooming with your feet and maybe get a lens with an even lower aperture. (That's not important to everyone, but it's important to me.) Most of these lenses are available with an aperture between 1.8 and 2.8.
Prime lenses that are popular with entry to mid level DSLR users include:
18mm, 20mm, 24mm are good for landscape shots and interiors. The interesting thing about this focal range is that it's close enough to natural vision and different enough at the same time. If you position yourself just right in relation to the subject you can get a really nice cinematic effect. On the other hand, the wider angle means that it can be hard to keep up with all of the distractions in the background and find ways to frame a picture that eliminates those distractions. New these start around $400. Used they can be found under $100 manual only or $200 and up with autofocus.
28mm, 30mm, 35mm makes a really great all around lens on a DSLR. If you only get one prime lens this is the range to consider first. This focal range more or less less mimics natural human vision, when you raise the camera to look through the view finder the view should be a framed version of what you saw with your eyes. Distances feel the same, sizes feel the same and so on. New these start between $160 to $300 depending on the brand. Used manual-focus-only ones can be had for as low as $50. Used autofocus ones start closer to $150.
50mm are good for portraits and can be a good all around lens if you like their slightly narrow field of view. They let you stand back a little from the subject but the image still feels like you were in close. If you look carefully you can find a used 50mm for $75. New ones range from $125 and up.
Click this sentence for more reading on Primes vs Zooms, if you're interested.
Unfortunately, before you can buy a lens you need to know what kind of camera you're going to put it on. I say unfortunately because the camera tends to be the thing that gets everyone all excited and ready to splash out money. Most of the articles and reviews that you see will be about cameras and a much smaller number will be about lenses. That's because lenses are improved very gradually and several years pass between upgrades. But, just like computers and smartphones, there are new versions of cameras almost constantly. Everyone wants to talk about the cool new thing. And camera companies work very hard to get you thinking that you need the cool new thing. I'll be the first to admit that cameras are very cool gadgets and I own a whole bunch of them. But it should be pointed out that even the cheapest entry-level digital SLR has far more technology in it than the best professional-level film cameras ever did. And until you know which features you actually want in a camera it doesn't make sense to spend a load of money on one.
So, my feeling is that it's smarter to buy a good lens first and upgrade the camera later. But, we gotta talk about cameras first because all of your gear will be part of a system that will be based around the company you choose.
A camera is fundamentally just a box with a piece of film or a digital sensor in it. If you're really going to get into photography, spending on lenses is going to give you much higher image quality for your money. Think about this, if you have perfect eyesight and then you put on somebody's glasses your vision will surely get worse. It's the same thing if you buy the most amazing camera in the world and put a cheap lens on it.
In this class you will learn the basics of photography, the old-school in-camera basics. What that means is that you will learn to use your camera intentionally and effectively rather than just snapping away and fixing your images on your computer later. The preferred type of camera has traditiionally been a Single Lens Reflex camera or SLR. The digital versions are called a Digital SLR or DSLR. These are the big cameras you see professional photographers use. The kind with the bump on the top and the big lens sticking out. The look like this:
 |
| http://sanziro.com/2009/08/8-tips-before-you-buy-your-first-digital-slr-camera.html |
Recently, digital camera manufacturers have been innovating quite a bit and developing new types of cameras which were not possible with film. Mirrorless cameras are currently the most interesting option and are also acceptable for this class. They come in a variety of forms and function in a variety of ways. The main thing to look for is that the camera offers full manual functionality and that those functions are easy to access and control.
 |
| http://images.gizmag.com/hero/mirorless-cameras.jpeg |
Choosing a Camera
How Many Megapixels Makes a Good Photo?
It is important not to get caught up in the megapixels. More megapixels gets you the ability to make bigger prints. If you want to spend $1000 you can get a really nice high-resolution camera and make some big BIG prints. But it's expensive to make big prints and we're not going to be doing that. Even professional photographers rarely make big prints anyway.
More megapixels also gets you the ability to crop more images. Cropping images, in one sense, can be thought of as zooming in after the fact. When you do that things can get pixely. So, more megapixels can mitigate the pixely problem. But, that's not something that we will be doing in this class. In this class, you'll frame the picture well in the first place and not need to crop it. In this class we will not crop any images.
You can get a very decent low-ish resolution camera that will work just fine for this class pretty cheap. I'm still regularly using the six megapixel digital camera I bought in 2003. I paid $1200 for it. You can buy a used one just like it for under $75. A couple years ago got a ten-year-old 12 megapixel camera used. Twelve megapixels is all I'm likely to ever need and you can get that for around $200. If you can afford more than that go for it. But understand that more megapixels is not going to get you better pictures, just bigger. And remember the main thing is that you get a good lens.
It's the Lenses That Matter!
Most people never get the message that your lens is much more important than your camera's features. And it's pretty common to see people using a flashy new camera with a kinda cheap lens. Think of it this way; your camera can only see what your lens can see. If your lens can't see very well then your camera can't either. If you have a high resolution camera with a cheap-o lens on it, you've wasted the money you spent on the camera. My recommendation is to figure out what your budget is and spend most of the money on the lens.
Each manufacturer makes a distinctive lens mount. That means that once you choose a camera you can only use lenses for that brand's lens mount. So get a camera from a company that makes good lenses or is compatible with good lenses.
Before giving you the idea that your lens has to be the same brand as your camera, you should be aware that there are companies that mainly make lenses. Some of them are budget lenses and some of them are excellent photographic tools. At the moment the best new lenses are Sigma brand Art lenses and Tamron brand lenses. I don't know much about third party lenses, but it seems that these companies go through ups and downs. So, if you're going to buy a third party lens, a little research should go a long way.
There are also many lens adapters on the market. These allow you to mount a lens from one manufacturer onto a camera from another manufacturer. There are so many possible combinations that it's unrealistic to try to write about them. If you choose to go this way, just be careful that you get a well-rated adapter and one that does not have a glass element in it.
Canon, Nikon and Sony are the biggest companies by far. Most professional photographers use Canon or Nikon and most of the used equipment you'll find comes from these companies. If you ever have a reason to rent equipment, maybe you need a big lens for a project, a short term job, or for a vacation, Canon and Nikon are all that will be available. If you're interested in video, videographers tend to give Canon's lenses a higher rating and some cinema camera manufacturers make their cameras compatible with Canon lenses. Canon actually makes some cinema equipment, so they have some understanding of the needs of cinematographers. It seems that Sony is catching up with Canon in this area.
Third party lens manufacturers most consistently make their lenses compatible with Canon, Nikon and Sony at the moment.
Sony is a great choice if you can afford newer equipment. They make great lenses and great cameras and more and more professionals are using them. However, they have not been doing so for a particularly long time. So, there is not a ton of used Sony equipment available and you will definitely have trouble renting their equipment. It looks as though this will change in the near future.
If you can afford to buy brand new, Fujifilm has a great line of cameras and lenses they call their X Series. The only problem is that this is a pretty new line and even used equipment is not exactly cheap.
Pentax used to be up there as one of the top companies. The company seems to be attempting a comeback under new ownership. It's not clear of they will that will happen. They are not really making a broad range of high-end professional gear at the moment. However, there are some important benefits to a Pentax system that are worth considering and just might make Pentax a good choice for you.
People who like Pentax tend to like their smaller, tougher more ergonomically designed camera bodies. If you have smaller hands, you might be more comfortable with a Pentax. (Although, all manufacturers are now making smaller and smaller cameras.) The other companies tend to make their lower end cameras with more plastic. Pentax tends to use more metal. So, you might just feel a little more comfortable carrying the camera with you all the time and letting it get banged around.
Even Pentax's cheapest DSLR is weather resistant and has shake reduction built into the camera. The other manufacturers only offer weather sealing in higher priced cameras. And the other manufacturers only build shake reduction into their lenses - this makes every lens with that feature larger, heavier, and more expensive. Pentax lenses can be made smaller, lighter and more affordable. AND, any lens that you put on a Pentax camera benefits from the shake reduction. Even an old lens made in the 1960's, even a third party lens made to fit on Pentax cameras.
Speaking of old lenses, Pentax has always made very good lenses. So, you can buy an old, used lens and it will work on your new DSLR. This is also true of Nikon. But, be aware that the older the lens, the more you will have to compromise functionality.
You can't rent their equipment but there is a large amount of used Pentax gear around inexpensively. On the other hand, the company went through a long slump during which they didn't always make high performance lenses. You can find good ones, you just need to do some minimal research.
Panasonic, Olympus and a few other manufacturers also make good quality cameras and you can find professionals who use them. They make equipment that will work just fine for learning photography and you might be happy with it forever. But they have drawbacks. There is less used equipment around. They don't offer as many lenses and they don't make much or any high-end equipment; so if you get "serious" in the future you may end up changing brands. It's sometimes the case that there are particularly good pieces of equipment that everyone wants from a particular company. Those pieces then become hard to find and expensive.
Some photographers complain that the digital files from less popular manufacturers can have compatibility issues that make them hard to deal with. I don't have any experience with this issue and can't comment on whether it really is a concern.
To find your camera you could look check out the following websites. I recommend looking in their USED departments.
BHPhotoVideo.com
Adorama.com
KEH.com
UsedPhotoPro.com
National Camera Exchange
Choosing A Lens
What Do Those Numbers Mean?
Lenses are made according to two specifications, Focal Length and Aperture. The first number or set of numbers on a lens is the focal length. This number is given in millimeters. Lenses range from 5 or 6 mm to around 1500mm. The second number is the aperture. This number is given as a decimal figure. Lenses commonly range from 1.4 to 5.6. It's really easy to narrow down and choose your first lens using these numbers.
If you have a consumer level digital SLR you want to start with a lens that covers a particular range of focal lengths. Many cameras come with a zoom lens and that lens almost always covers those specific focal lengths, 16 or 18mm to 55 or 60mm. These are called Standard Focal Length lenses. Why is this the standard range? 18mm to 24mm is good for landscape shots. 28mm to 35mm more or less mimics natural human vision, when you raise the camera to your eye the view should be more or less the same as what you see with your eyes. 50mm to 60mm is good for portraits, it lets you stand back a little from the sitter but still feels like natural vision. Because that range covers most of what people want to photograph the most common kit lens is an 18mm to 55mm zoom.
 |
| http://www.radiantlite.com/2009/09/canon-lenses-vs-nikon-lenses-2009.html |
However, I said at the beginning that the important thing is your lens and, if you're going to spend money on photo equipment, you should spend on lenses before cameras. Kit lenses are not really high quality lenses. Mostly kit lenses are made for people at the beginner level or who aren't actually looking for high quality images. And it's not what we call a fast lens. The lower those aperture numbers are the more light they let in. With more light you can shoot at faster shutter speeds, shoot in lower light and you have more choice about what's in focus or out of focus.
There is a standard focal length lens on the market that has a focal range of 17mm to 50mm and a constant aperture of 2.8. There are models to fit Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony. It costs a little under $500 new or around $350 used. Now you might ask, Why pay $500 to get a lens that's just a little bit different from the one that comes with the camera? Because it's more than a little bit different. Sure, an aperture of 2.8 isn't much different from 3.5 but there is a meaningful difference between 2.8 and 5.6. More importantly, the 2.8 aperture lens is optically superior to a kit lens because it's made for people who are looking to make high quality pictures. It's going to focus much sharper, give better color rendition and give better contrast.
 |
| http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/689620-REG/Sigma_583101_17_50mm_F2_8_EX_DC.html |
If you get into buying lenses beyond the kit lens there may be other information to consider along with those numbers. Nikon's VR means vibration reduction. Canon't IS means image stabilization. Any Roman numerals refer to the generation/version of that product. There may also be letter codes that refer to lens coatings, the type of glass used, silent autofocus motors and so on. Once you get down to choosing a lens based on those particulars you're getting into specialized areas and a little research will be necessary.
If you're not really sure how much you're going to like photography, I would get a used DLSR with a kit lens as cheaply as you can.
Wait, What About Those Lenses That Don't Zoom?
Zoom lenses have a sort of drawback. They're trying to do too many things at once. It's an extremely complicated thing to make a zoom lens that looks good at every focal length. So the best zoom lenses are very expensive and they're still not perfect. They tend to have a sweet zone where they take great pictures and the farther you zoom from that zone their quality drops off. There is another option. Lenses that don't zoom are called prime lenses. Your feet are the zoom, as the saying goes. These lenses are designed to do one thing well and because they are far less complicated they can also be far cheaper. For the price of a high end zoom lens you could buy a couple of prime lenses and they will be optically superior.
Remember those standard focal lengths - between 16mm and 60mm? There are plenty of prime lenses that fall into that range. You can save a lot of money zooming with your feet and maybe get a lens with an even lower aperture. (That's not important to everyone, but it's important to me.) Most of these lenses are available with an aperture between 1.8 and 2.8.
 |
| http://www.slrlounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/canon-nikon-sigma-tamron-prime-lens-wedding-photography-recommendations.jpg |
Prime lenses that are popular with entry to mid level DSLR users include:
18mm, 20mm, 24mm are good for landscape shots and interiors. The interesting thing about this focal range is that it's close enough to natural vision and different enough at the same time. If you position yourself just right in relation to the subject you can get a really nice cinematic effect. On the other hand, the wider angle means that it can be hard to keep up with all of the distractions in the background and find ways to frame a picture that eliminates those distractions. New these start around $400. Used they can be found under $100 manual only or $200 and up with autofocus.
28mm, 30mm, 35mm makes a really great all around lens on a DSLR. If you only get one prime lens this is the range to consider first. This focal range more or less less mimics natural human vision, when you raise the camera to look through the view finder the view should be a framed version of what you saw with your eyes. Distances feel the same, sizes feel the same and so on. New these start between $160 to $300 depending on the brand. Used manual-focus-only ones can be had for as low as $50. Used autofocus ones start closer to $150.
50mm are good for portraits and can be a good all around lens if you like their slightly narrow field of view. They let you stand back a little from the subject but the image still feels like you were in close. If you look carefully you can find a used 50mm for $75. New ones range from $125 and up.
Click this sentence for more reading on Primes vs Zooms, if you're interested.
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