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<blockquote data-quote="Bob Blaylock" data-source="post: 437514" data-attributes="member: 16749">Yes, primes were much more dominant then.&nbsp; Any 35mm SLR usually had, as its “standard lens”, a 50mm prime lens.&nbsp; Zooms did exist, but they weren't so common, and were generally not regarded as being comparable in quality to primes.&nbsp; The one example I have is a Vivitar 85-205mm ƒ/3.8 zoom lens, made some time in the late 1960s or early 1970s, that I originally bought to use with my F2.&nbsp; It's actually pretty sharp at smaller aperture settings, perhaps as much so as the stock 18-55mm that came with my D3200, or of my two prime lenses that are also from the 1970s; but at wider aperture settings, it has some rather interesting aberrations and distortions.&nbsp; It's probably not atypical of zoom lenses from its period in time.&nbsp; <a href="http://nikonites.com/education/25527-aperture-depth_of_field-relationship-vivitar-85-205mm-f3-8-tele-zoom.html" target="_blank">See my thread at this link for more about this lens and its optical traits.</a>&nbsp; The 18-55 that came with my D3200 may not be quite up to the quality of my two 1970s-vintage primes, but it's noticeably better across most of its range than my old Vivitar is across most of its range.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bob Blaylock, post: 437514, member: 16749"] Yes, primes were much more dominant then. Any 35mm SLR usually had, as its “standard lens”, a 50mm prime lens. Zooms did exist, but they weren't so common, and were generally not regarded as being comparable in quality to primes. The one example I have is a Vivitar 85-205mm ƒ/3.8 zoom lens, made some time in the late 1960s or early 1970s, that I originally bought to use with my F2. It's actually pretty sharp at smaller aperture settings, perhaps as much so as the stock 18-55mm that came with my D3200, or of my two prime lenses that are also from the 1970s; but at wider aperture settings, it has some rather interesting aberrations and distortions. It's probably not atypical of zoom lenses from its period in time. [url=http://nikonites.com/education/25527-aperture-depth_of_field-relationship-vivitar-85-205mm-f3-8-tele-zoom.html]See my thread at this link for more about this lens and its optical traits.[/url] The 18-55 that came with my D3200 may not be quite up to the quality of my two 1970s-vintage primes, but it's noticeably better across most of its range than my old Vivitar is across most of its range. [/QUOTE]

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