Should I buy primes or zooms?

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 2200, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

Primes vs zooms. Well that is not a simple one size fits all.

Don't be the photographer who says always prime or zoom–you will be just like the guy who uses a hammer to fix everything.

If you know what and how you like to shoot then it is much easier to find the lenses that work best for you.

To get a lot of variety with a prime lens requires you to move a great deal more with a subject to get a variety of images.

If you are looking for just a portrait lens for example then a prime works great. You have more control of the subject. You can have them stay still and then you can shoot wide open and get that silky bokeh. When shooting wide open apertures like ƒ/1.4 and the closer you are to the subject just taking a breath can cause you to move and basically miss your focus.

Nikon D4, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D, ISO 12800, ƒ/1.8, 1/250

However if you are shooting more photojournalistic and you need to capture a story which you cannot stop the people and have them pose as well as needing more variety of photos you might want to consider zooms over primes.

I shoot a lot with 28-300mm lens which lets me move quickly and not worry too much about do I have the right focal length on the lens. In other words I get the shot more often than had I been switching lenses.

Not all primes are better than zooms and with todays lens profiles built into the software like Adobe PhotoShop and Lightroom the software can practically make what was inferior glass due to chromatic aberrations perfect. Lens Profile Corrections is a tool within Lightroom’s Develop Module that allows fixing such lens problems as distortion, chromatic aberration, vignetting and perspective correction “non-destructively”, without leaving Lightroom.

My point here is that is not a big of a issue as it was in the days of film.

Here you can see the scores on zoom lenses. While overall the scores are lower than primes as you see below, not all zooms are inferior to primes.

Notice that the Sigma 18-35mm ƒ/1.8 is the sharpest of all these lenses.

Here is my favorite lens the Nikkor 14-24mm ƒ/2.8.  It is extremely sharp.

I think the major issue that most photographers consider is the amount of variety of images they like to shoot. If you are shooting all these photos for example a couple of zooms would make it easier to get the photos than primes

Opener: Sets the scene for the story
Decisive moment: The one moment that can by itself tell the story
Details: Besides being like visual candy to the story, help often with transitions--especially in multimedia packages
Sequences: give a little variety to a situation
High overall shot: Gives a good perspective to how the elements all fit together
Closer: Besides the classic shot of the cowboy riding off into the sunset there are other visual ways to help bring the story to a close
Portraits: These photos are great for introducing the characters of the story

Nikon D4, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D, ISO 400, ƒ/1.4, 1/125

However if you are just shooting headshot then a prime like the Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8 would be my choice.

If money is of major concern I personally would go with zooms because then I can have more focal length choices.

Zoom or Prime?

Photo A

Here is the same situation with the other lens

Photo B

Now here is one more that you need to really compare even more

Photo C

These three photos are shot by two lenses the 1) Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D or 2) AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR.

• Photo A – Nikon D4, 28-300mm (300), ISO 100, ƒ/5.6, 1/25 - Off camera fill-flash using the Nikon SB-900.  The Flash is on the Pocketwizard TT5 and being triggered by the Mini TT1 on the Camera with the AC3 to control the output of the flash. Flash is -2 EV and the camera is -1 EV.
• Photo B – Nikon D4, 85mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 100, ƒ/5.6, 1/50 - Off camera fill-flash using the Nikon SB-900.  The Flash is on the Pocketwizard TT5 and being triggered by the Mini TT1 on the Camera with the AC3 to control the output of the flash. Flash is -2 EV and the camera is -1 EV.
• Photo C – Nikon D4, 85mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/50 - Off camera fill-flash using the Nikon SB-900.  The Flash is on the Pocketwizard TT5 and being triggered by the Mini TT1 on the Camera with the AC3 to control the output of the flash. Flash is -2 EV and the camera is -1 EV.

Summary

Which lens is best? Well that depends on the photographer. Some photographers could make just about any camera and lens look great while others can do just the opposite. However, based on your shooting style and subject matter there are lenses which best fit you.

If you are still confused, then rent these lenses before buying.

By the way I own both.

Key to survival: Variety of assignments for 2014

Nikon D4, 14-24mm ƒ/2.8, ISO 200, ƒ/16, 1/200 with 2 Alienbees with CTO 1 for off camera flash. These are triggered with the Pocketwizard Radio Remotes

I went back and looked through my assignments from just this year in still images and pulled some of my favorites. It had me jumping for joy.

I feel really blessed this year.

Take a look at some that I pulled from the year in this package:


While I did everything from Sports, Portraits, Studio, Travel, Events, Theater and other that I cannot remember I even did videos as well this year.

Here are just a few that I did this year.

How using portrait in a photo story ...

Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 125, ƒ/1.4, 1/100

These are three quick photos I made of a student yesterday in class to help the students see two things that they can do very quickly to introduce a character into the story.

We preferred to not have a posed portrait but rather something of her in action. I did not take a photo to illustrate that point, but did want to illustrate lens choice and as well aperture.

The first photo here is shot with a shallow depth-of-field of ƒ/1.4.  The emphasis is all on the lady.

Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/14, 1/100

I then just stopped down the aperture to create a greater depth-of-field so that the map was much sharper.

Now I talked to the class that my purpose was to show the student was in a class with photo students and they were going to then leave the class and do stories around the world.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 9000, ƒ/14, 1/100

For the last shot I change the lens to a wide-angle and then had the class behind her. We talked about how we can then introduce her in our story this way as well.

All three photos are acceptable photos in their own right, but the question was which one does the best job of helping tell the story.

Today I will show them another technique, so stay tuned for that example.

Comparing "Bokeh" on Nikon, Sigma and Fuji lenses

Which camera and lens took this first photo?  Here are the choices

1. Nikon D4, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D [Lens $969]
2. Nikon D4, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM [Lens $1249]
3. Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300 mm f/2.8 DG EX APO IF HSM [Lens $2500]
4. Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300 mm f/2.8 DG EX APO IF HSM, with Sigma 1.4 converter [converter $249]
5. Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR [Lens $897]
6. Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS [Lens $699]
7. Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS Zoom [Lens $694]

It might surprise you. For this exercise I shot each lens wide open and at the longest focal length and the closest distance that the lens would focus. Now there is a slight focus issue due to my skills of placing the tripod and subject, but you can see for yourself and pick the photo that matches the above photo.

Nikon D4, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300 mm f/2.8 DG EX APO IF HSM

Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300 mm f/2.8 DG EX APO IF HSM, with Sigma 1.4 converter

Nikon D4, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS Zoom Lens

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS Lens

If you had a hard time figuring out the top photo it is the Fujifilm X-E2 with the FUJINON XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS Lens.

When I photograph people for portraits I love the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-D.  While I can get closer with many other lenses as you can see above, any closer with the 85mm you are too close.

I hope this exercise also points out that using a longer lens can give great "BOKEH" if you back up a little and zoom in all the way.

The one lens that really wasn't all that great was the FUJINON XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS Zoom because zoomed all the way in at 55mm the ƒ/4 is just too much depth of field.  I think if I had the Fujinon XF 55mm ƒ/1.2 then I would see something similar to the 85mm ƒ/1.4.

The lesson I hope is that you might try some longer lenses for portraits to get some smooth silky "Bokeh".

Seven Reasons Not to Become a Freelance Professional Photographer

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 400, ƒ/6.3, 1/100–4 Alienbee B1600s hung in the ceiling on 1/4 power and barebulb

7) Not a self-starter—In your first year or so you will be getting up with no photo shoots on your schedule. You must be able to fill your day with something that will be productive. If you are someone that takes initiative and rarely needs someone to tell you what you should be doing at work, then you might make it as a professional photographer.

6) Procrastinator—You may know what you need to do each day, but you can easily get distracted and not stay on task. If you have seen the movie “UP” then you will recognize the comment—Squirrel.  I know a good number of former photographers who just didn’t get around to doing what they should have been working on and now they are no longer working professional photographers.

Nikon D4, 70-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/100–Marc Broussard

5) Hate rejection—If you get easily discouraged then you do not want to go into business for yourself—in any field. Just because your family and friends think you are a great photographer is not the same as everyone lining up to pay you to take photos. If you have people lining up and begging you to shoot things for money—then this is way different and makes you the only person I know to be in that situation. Successful photographers are only selling to 5 – 10% of those people they have contacted. 90 – 95% of the time they are rejected.

4) Poor Negotiator—For the most part photography is not so cookie cutter. This is very true for the commercial photographer. Each job is different from the rest and requires you to price differently. Due to this there tends to be a lot of negotiating with clients. Sometimes this may sound harsh when someone is trying to get you to lower your price.

Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM S, 2X, ISO 10000, ƒ/4, 1/2000

3) Do not like taking direction—many “artists” tend to think they know better what they need to create. Unless you are going to be a “fine art photographer” then you will need to execute other people’s ideas. You will need to learn how to bend to keep a client and get paid.

2) Do not like sitting at a computer for long periods—You will need to spend time editing your work for sure, but you will spend a lot of time connecting with people through emails, website, blogs, creating printed materials and searching the web for clients to name just a few of the things you will need to be doing on a computer.

Nikon D4, 85mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 200, ƒ/1.4, 1/80

1) No business skills—You need to understand pricing of your services that will help you make a profit for the long haul is not easy to do. You also have to be a risk taker in running your own business. Almost nothing is a sure bet and you will have to put money behind ideas that may or may not work. You also need to know how to market yourself to the world.

Now you don’t have to be good at all these things, but they all must be done to remain a professional photographer. You can outsource some of these, but the outsourcing will cost more than if you did them yourself. At a certain point in your growth of your brand you will find it necessary to outsource some of this to grow your business.

You might think of more things to add to this list--but freelancing full-time is not for the faint of heart.