[shuttertalk]

With prime lenses and photograhers of old, they had to consciously choose a focal length for a particular scene/situation they were shooting, as changing lenses takes time. Lens choice altered the perspective of the shots too, and the photographer had to move toward/away from the subject to compose the shot.

With zoom lenses however, especially with the commonplace wide to telephoto zooms, it is easy for users to simply step up to any situation, zoom in/out and take the photo.

My question is - with zoom lenses - do you consciously choose your focal length and and take the shot? Or do you zoom in and out depending on the need?

[Toad]

I use the zoom for composition primarily - and am not too concerned about focal length.

[StudioJ]

I use them in both ways, as an example from recent memory. Over the last few days I've had a mixture of different things to shoot. Using the zoom (70-200) I could pick my distance from the stage and when the girls were up I could either do two or three in a group, full body shots, 3/4 length or zoom in to capture head and shoulders. Shooting at a race allowed me to drop in a 2 x converter and pick up the action covering most of the field. And lastly when doing individual shots it allowed me a smaller depth of field to get rid of the background while working at a fixed focal length.

Mix and match maybe?

[EnglishBob]

At the moment I mostly use the zoom for composition, can't say I have ever taken a shot after conciously setting the focal length.

[slejhamer]

Who says primes are for "photographers of old" ?

[Toad]

...or just for photographers interested in the best quality lenses...

[shuttertalk]

oh... I just meant that photographers of were limited to primes only...

Just nod and say yes....

[StudioJ]

Primes rock.. to some extent anyway

For image quality and flexibility of your aperture (the 50mm 1.4, 35mm 2.0 and 85mm 1.8) can't be beat! Might not use them that often at that level but just stopping it down a little gives for superb quality.

Having said that they are a pain in the bum to swap over with the zooms if you're out and about.

[angelphotographer]

I use mine so i can get a quick candid show with ultra fast (realitvly) composing

- your web buddy

[wayney]

I'd love to have a few good primes for landscape and portrait :o

[Peted]

For landscape and portrait get some old manual primes, they are awesome, I have a 50mm F2 and a 28mm F2.8, manual focus but sharp.

[EnglishBob]

My 50mm F1.8 prime is just about all I use for portrait and landscapes. My 300mm zoom is still used for more than 80% of my total shots though.

[wayney]

mmm I have to get an adapter for my body so I can get some of them nice old school MD/MC Primes

[shuttertalk]

My 50mm F1.8 prime is just about all I use for portrait and landscapes.

Hm.. interesting choice Craig... do you ever try going wider for landscapes? And they say 100mm is usually the "zone" for portrait shots... I suppse with the 1.6 FOV crop it would be close to 100mm...

[Peted]

Yes I would have thought at a 28mm would be a much better choice for landscapes. On my Ds the 18-50mm is too wide but sometimes it just lets in so much.