Very needed advise for newbie

Hello everyone,

I am not new to digital photography but I never had a camera withinterchangeable optics.

In 2004 I bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-F828 - an 8MP monster at thetime and it's served me very well in past 10 years. This camera produced somevery nice photos, but I was always limited with that fixed Carl-Zeiss lens.
I will continueto use Sony for some of my work that I am doing (can’t give up that swivellens) but now I bought D7100 and I have prime Nikkor 50mm f.18, Nikkor 18-55mmand Nikkor 55-200mm
My question iswhen do you use prime vs. 18-55mm in the everyday shooting or as a walk aroundlens? What is the advantage of using prime at all over the zoom lens?
Any opinion,advise, suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

I have a different prime, the 35mm/f1.8, but my kit lenses are pretty similar (18-55mm and 55-300mm).

I've been trying to use the 35mm prime as my walk around lens when traveling, mostly because of it's sharpness. Depending on what type of subjects you're after, I've usually only been switching over to the 18-55 when I needed a FOV wider than what the 35mm could get me.

The 18-55mm isn't a bad lens, so you'll better low light capabilities from the 50mm/f1.8 and better control over DOF with the prime versus the 18-55mm when set to 50mm.

Prime lens are generally better image quality due to being fixed focal length and not trying to perform over a range of focal lengths.

Primes are also usually faster as in they have a wider maximum aperture. The f/1.8 will allow shooting with less light that the f/3.5 max of the 18-55mm or the f/4 of the 55-200mm.

Thank you Eyelight for quick response.

Can say that prime is a good lens to use lets say at the indoor birthday party when light is insufficient and no need for zoom?
And 18-55mm would be better than 50mm prime if I am in the park taking pictures of my dog?

thats the way i use mine, 35mm prime for indoors, zoom outdoors.

Hello and welcome

Hmm ... one other comment on prime versus zoom ... with a prime you need to "zoom" with your feet if you want a closer/further point of view, versus using the lens if you have a zoom. In cramped indoors areas, sometimes the zoom is easier to frame the shot you want, where you might have the room to move with your feet outdoors.

hagani said:

Thank you Eyelight for quick response.

Can say that prime is a good lens to use lets say at the indoor birthday party when light is insufficient and no need for zoom?
And 18-55mm would be better than 50mm prime if I am in the park taking pictures of my dog?

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Yes, maybe, maybe not. Really depends on the subject sizes, working distances, how much light is available, whether or not you can or want to use flash, if you want the background in focus and perhaps a few other things.

If you can always move back to frame a shot, then the 50mm 1.8 would give more light and depth of field control. If you can't move back, then the short zoom is the only option.

I have the 18-55mm, the 55-200m and a 40mm and usually have a reason which is on the camera that varies with all of the above. Indoor party, I would probably reach for the 18-55mm. Outdoor in the park with Rover, probably the 55-200mm, because Rover will be usually away from me a bit. If I had a 50mm 1.8 it would be used when I knew I had room to work and did not need the reach of a longer lens.

I have the 18-55 VR-II that came with the camera and then bought 35mmF1.8. Apart from that I have 50mmF1.8AF that requires a motor in body, so it is MF for me, and 16-85.

For most of walk around situations I use the kit lense. It is as sharp as the 35mm at higher F stops and the zoom gives me freedom to frame without moving around a lot. It is a good lense if the light is good, or you need to use flash. I rarely use the 16-85 as I like the 18-55 better.

The 35mm, I use for low light situations where a flash is not to be used, or for isolation that F1.8-F2.8 gives.

As a daily routine for taking flower shots, I rotate the lenses.

Thank you Charlie for your comment.. Yes I agree with you that in indoors sometime not enough room to step back to take a group shot for example.

I did shots today of an outdoor ceremony and the 18-55 was just magnificent allowing me to zoom out or in (if I needed to get rid of an annoying person). I don't do indoor photography so a fast lens is not a necessity for me.

Thank you Eyelight..

On the same note - I went to a local park yesterday and took same shots but with different lenses. And about one in particular I have a question. It was taken with 50mm. Is it normal to have blur in upper and lower part of the frame and only middle of the frame being focused?

Again I apologize if this question might sound stupid for someone - I never had an experience with prime lens

hagani said:

Thank you Eyelight..

On the same note - I went to a local park yesterday and took same shots but with different lenses. And about one in particular I have a question. It was taken with 50mm. Is it normal to have blur in upper and lower part of the frame and only middle of the frame being focused?

Again I apologize if this question might sound stupid for someone - I never had an experience with prime lens

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In short, no, that's not normal. The only time I've seen that in a photo was when the "Minature Effect" mode was enabled; which is exactly what that looks like to me.

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Horoscope Fish said:

In short, no, that's not normal. The only time I've seen that in a photo was when the "Minature Effect" mode was enabled; which is exactly what that looks like to me.

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Thank you Horoscope Fish!

Now after you mention that I do recall that I was playing around with Effect Mode. Thanks, that took some of the concerns off my shoulders..

hagani said:

Thank you Horoscope Fish!

Now after you mention that I do recall that I was playing around with Effect Mode. Thanks, that took some of the concerns off my shoulders..

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Very welcome... That would be very disconcerting if it wasn't an effect mode!

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I had the same lenses as you, but I just swapped three of my longer ones for the 18-300 that's now my daily. I use the 18-55 for when I need more macro ....not exclusively macro - I have a macro lens for that - and the 35 mm prime I use when I want really clear shots...usually indoors, with a flash....people mostly, or outside at night.

I use a prime when I have plan for a shot in mind, because frankly I tend to get better shots with a good prime.
But a good zoom it awesome for when you have no shot planned, but instead you are getting shots of opportunity. The zoom really stands out with it's versatility when you come on to a scene that just grabs your attention making you want to get a shot of it, and with the zoom you are free to quickly change the focal range as needed to grab that eye catching shot you saw.

Thank you for your response, Patrick

For me getting 18-300 is pretty much like getting again back to "fixed" lens that I have on my Sony which had fixed lens 28-200mm.
With D7100 I am tryingto change that so I have intechangeble optics.

hagani said:

Thank you for your response, Patrick

For me getting 18-300 is pretty much like getting again back to "fixed" lens that I have on my Sony which had fixed lens 28-200mm.
With D7100 I am tryingto change that so I have intechangeble optics.

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To be honest, I had three "intermediate" lenses out to 200mm and just found that over time, I really only used a couple. The prime and macro and the 18-55. I wanted something longer ....then I went to China for a tour, and a colleague had the 18-300 that he never once changed. The newest version is shorter and lighter, plus has a lock to stop it extending when the camera is being carried. So this one is becoming my daily lens.

Patrick Molloy said:

To be honest, I had three "intermediate" lenses out to 200mm and just found that over time, I really only used a couple. The prime and macro and the 18-55. I wanted something longer ....then I went to China for a tour, and a colleague had the 18-300 that he never once changed. The newest version is shorter and lighter, plus has a lock to stop it extending when the camera is being carried. So this one is becoming my daily lens.

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I guess I should try that, maybe spend some money on 18-300 and then if I don't like it just sell it or if I like it get rid of 18-55 and 55-200 and just keep prime and 18-300.
thanks for an advise!