Prime lens advantage over kit lens

Lalam

Senior Member
Hello
Being new to the world of DSLR and lenses, I would like to know does 38mm f1.8 prime lens provide sharper and better images than the one 18-55 VR-II that came with my D3300?
In case we are capturing the frame at 38mm in both cases, which will provide better results?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advice. And sorry if this has already been discussed.
 
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Lawrence

Senior Member
Hi Lalam - haven't seen your name before so welcome to the forum.

Definitely the prime ...
but only if you have the skills.

A great lens in the hands of an average artist will not produce as good results as an average lens in the hands of a craftsman.

And ...that kit lens is an awesome lens as hundreds of photos on this forum will prove.
 

Lalam

Senior Member
Thank you Lawrence. As already mentioned , I am new to DSLR and D3300. Have taken many photos with my Canon SX10IS earlier. But that is quite different than DSLR Have posted a few in D3300 forum and train shots forum. Learning many things.
 

skene

Senior Member
Primes are, as a general rule, better than their zoom counterparts.

While partially true there are the exceptions to the rule...
17-55 F2.8, 24-70 F2.8 in regards to Nikon lenses
70-200 F2.8 would be another.
and there would be a few more that stand out as being the exceptions.
:p
 

480sparky

Senior Member
So is it due to lens glass quality or being a sturdy, firm construction without any movement?...Just curious.

With just one focal length, it's easier to design the optics to improve IQ. Zooms require elements and groups to move, which introduces more faults into the optics.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
While partially true there are the exceptions to the rule...
17-55 F2.8, 24-70 F2.8 in regards to Nikon lenses
70-200 F2.8 would be another.
and there would be a few more that stand out as being the exceptions.
:p



I'd be willing to bet there's primes that will out-perform those.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Just for S&Gs, I pitted my 1983-era Nikkor 135/2.8 Ai prime against my 2013 Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VRII.


13528aiv70200G.jpg



The 135 is on the left....... on the right is the 70-200.

Identical lighting, ISO, shutter speed & aperture. I just zoomed the 70-200 in just a bit past 135 to compensate for it's focus breathing so the FOVs are the same. Both were focused manually as the 135 is not AF.

As the 70-200 is just a year old, it's in pristine condition. The 135, however, is chock-full of dust and has the usual scratches and mars on the glass.

You be the judge.
 
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Lalam

Senior Member
With just one focal length, it's easier to design the optics to improve IQ. Zooms require elements and groups to move, which introduces more faults into the optics.
Thanks. So it justifies the higher costs of primes. In my set of lenses that includes 18-55 VR-II kit and 35mm f1.8(but non-VR), except for low light condition, can we find some more specific occasions where 35mm can prove to be advantageous? In my opinion it would be great to capture dawn time photos and sunset photos and some inside auditorium photos. Opinions please.

The 135 is on the left....... on the right is the 70-200.
You be the judge.
I may be wrong but I find 70-200 shot better that other.
 
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Deleted

Senior Member
Indoor shots may be better with the 35mm f1.8, sunsets & landscapes may be better shot with the wider end of the zoom.

In what way did you find the 70-200mm to be better?
 

Lalam

Senior Member
Indoor shots may be better with the 35mm f1.8, sunsets & landscapes may be better shot with the wider end of the zoom.

In what way did you find the 70-200mm to be better?
Sorry. Now on a bigger monitor, I can see that prime photo to be sharper. But prime V/s zoom difference is very small.
 

Deleted

Senior Member
That's right, the difference is the trade-off between convenience & quality.

I'm wondering if the best kit would have both zooms & primes. (Yes, I'm working on a wish-list!) :)
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
As a general rule, a guideline, primes are typically sharper; sometimes a little sometimes a lot. As with most things in photography, "it depends". The 35mm f/1.8G on your 35mm will produce very sharp images, but so will many zooms lenses.

Another thing to consider is if you're shooting JPG or RAW. If you are shooting JPG and you haven't adjusted the "Sharpness" setting in the camera's Picture Control menu, you absolutely need to. Making this *one* little adjustment will have a huge impact on the sharpness of your JPG photos. For reasons unknown the default setting is strangely low and bumping it up to +7 will really improve the image quality.
....
Press the Menu button and go in to the Shooting Menu (Camera icon).
Scroll down to "Set Picture Control" and press "OK".
From the Picture Control menu select the setting you want to use, most people use "Standard" here, I like Landscape a lot, but choose the one you use by highlighting it and click right one time to enter the menu for that particular Picture Control.
Highlight the "Sharpness" slider and move it from the oddly low default setting to +7.
Press OK and exit the menus.​

In the "Standard" picture control I also adjust the "Saturation" slider to +1. That's a personal preference but you might want to try it and see what you think. If you use other Picture Controls (Vivid, Portrait, etc.) you will need to go into the menus for each one individually and adjust the Sharpness and other settings. Again, this one adjustment in your menus will make a huge difference in the quality of your JPG images. If you shoot RAW, the sharpening is entirely up to you of course.

....
 
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Lalam

Senior Member
Another thing to consider is if you're shooting JPG or RAW. If you shoot RAW, the sharpening is entirely up to you of course.
....
Thank you for detailed explanation. I shoot in RAW and standard mode. Having said that, will it enhance my RAW files if I increase sharpness and saturation in RAW output file? Or it doesn't affect the RAW at all?
 

STM

Senior Member
So is it due to lens glass quality or being a sturdy, firm construction without any movement?...Just curious.

Even the very best of zooms are still a study in compromise though that does not mean that they cannot still be very good performers. They have to be designed to provide sharpness and low distortion over a wide range of focal lengths. This means they are much more complicated mechanically and generally have many more elements. More elements means greater light loss and potentials for flare and ghosting. They are for the most part, slower than a prime lens as well and usually don't focus as closely. As the saying goes, a jack of all trade but a master of none.

A prime on the other hand will be corrected for just one focal length. It can be much simpler, with less elements and can be made much faster.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Thank you for detailed explanation. I shoot in RAW and standard mode. Having said that, will it enhance my RAW files if I increase sharpness and saturation in RAW output file? Or it doesn't affect the RAW at all?
The short answer is no. The long answer is longer and more complicated. Let's just go with no, since RAW bypasses in-camera processing.

....
 

gary135r

Senior Member
Another thing to consider is if you're shooting JPG or RAW. If you are shooting JPG and you haven't adjusted the "Sharpness" setting in the camera's Picture Control menu, you absolutely need to. Making this *one* little adjustment will have a huge impact on the sharpness of your JPG photos. For reasons unknown the default setting is strangely low and bumping it up to +7 will really improve the image quality.
....
Press the Menu button and go in to the Shooting Menu (Camera icon).
Scroll down to "Set Picture Control" and press "OK".
From the Picture Control menu select the setting you want to use, most people use "Standard" here, I like Landscape a lot, but choose the one you use by highlighting it and click right one time to enter the menu for that particular Picture Control.
Highlight the "Sharpness" slider and move it from the oddly low default setting to +7.
Press OK and exit the menus.​

In the "Standard" picture control I also adjust the "Saturation" slider to +1. That's a personal preference but you might want to try it and see what you think. If you use other Picture Controls (Vivid, Portrait, etc.) you will need to go into the menus for each one individually and adjust the Sharpness and other settings. Again, this one adjustment in your menus will make a huge difference in the quality of your JPG images. If you shoot RAW, the sharpening is entirely up to you of course.

....
new to my D7000. Sounds like good advice, but I'm afraid of too much tweaking. Does anybody else pump up their settings like this?
 
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