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prime lenses
Primes lenses are lenses with a fi xed focal length and most have
a larger aperture than a zoom lens covering the same focal
length. They’re also often small and lightweight, which makes
them discreet to use and attractive to carry just in case you fi nd
yourself out taking pictures when light levels are falling.
Prime lenses are available in all sorts of focal lengths but
35mm and 50mm lenses tend to be more attractive for low-light
photography. On a full-frame camera, a 50mm lens produces an
angle of view that’s close to what we see with our eyes. However,
on an APS-C format camera it produces an equivalent focal
length of around 75mm, which is great for portraiture, and if the
maximum aperture is f/1.8 you can really throw out the
background. Further good news is that there’s an affordable
50mm f/1.8 lens available for most cameras.
At around £99, Canon’s EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is a very enticing
choice for Canon DSLR users, while Nikon DSLR users might like
to opt for the AF 50mm f/1.8 D for £135. They don’t produce the
height of sharpness, but they’re not bad and they enable you to
get better shots than the average kit lens in gloomy conditions.
There are also quite a few affordable 35mm prime lenses, such
as the Nikon AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8 G, which retails for around
£159. A focal length of 35mm is a great for street photography
on full-frame or APS-C format cameras; on the latter, it’s
effectively a 50mm lens, which makes it ‘normal’ rather than
wideangle, so it’s ideal for capturing a natural view of the world.Fast zoom lenses
Pound for pound (£), prime lenses usually produce better image
quality than zoom lenses because they are optimised to shoot
at one focal length, but they can seem a bit limiting. Of course,
you can use your feet to zoom with a prime lens, but that’s not
always possible and sometimes you fi nd the perfect shooting
angle but just need to zoom in or out a little to get the best
composition. Zoom lenses make life a bit easier, and actually,
unless you’re pixel-peeping, you may not notice the difference
in image quality from a prime lens.
Fortunately for low-light photographers, there are some ‘fast’
zooms around with wide maximum apertures. They might not
be quite as fast as an equivalent prime lens, but they’re called
‘fast’ because they allow you to use faster shutter speeds than
a standard lens. Of course, having a wide maximum aperture
also bumps the price up.
Most pro photographers and many enthusiasts with a full-
frame camera have a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens in their bag, which is
often their everyday workhorse, but APS-C format and Micro
Four Thirds photographers have a few fast zoom lenses to choose
from, too. The Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art (£649), for
example, is available in Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A and Pentax K
as well as Sigma SA mount and it’s specifi cally designed for APS-C
format cameras, giving a focal length range equivalent to around
27-52.5mm. It also produces fantastic-quality images. Meanwhile,
Micro Four Thirds photographers in search of a high-quality fast
zoom should take a look at the superb Panasonic Leica DG
Vario-Summilux 10-25mm F1.7 ASPH (£1,599). It’s effectively a
20-50mm lens with a luxurious feel and image quality to match.LOW LIGHT LENSES Testbench
Panasonic’s
10-25mm f/1.7
is a superb lensPrime lenses are
small, lightweight and
convenient, and can
often give you a few
more stops of light
than a zoom